This week’s BROW is a follow up to another that I posted a little over a month ago that you may read here if you like. In the comments of the original Mog.com posting of that entry, fellow Mogger SkyLantern requested the August 19, 1966 Memphis, TN performance of George Harrison’s If I Needed Someone. Due to John Lennon’s recent “Beatles are bigger than Jesus” remark taken out of context by a US teen magazine, The Beatles were already a bit apprehensive about their safety while performing in the Bible-belt southern US, where ritualistic burnings of Beatles records were being organized by churches, radio stations, etc. along with actual life-threats from the Ku Klux Klan. It was during this evening performance of If I Needed Someone when a cherry bomb exploded on or near the stage and each of the Beatles looked at the others to determine which one had been shot. This moment in history was one of the main deciding factors in the decision to quit touring after 1966. The explosion occurs in this recording at about one minute and 12 seconds in. My apologies for the horrendous sound quality of this recording but the source is from a portable reel-to-reel tape machine running somewhere in the chaotic bed of a frenzied audience. My hat is off again to SkyLantern for this historically significant request.

The Beatles: Memphis, TN on August 19, 1966

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Welcome to BROW. There was still a bit of a feud going on in 1971 between Paul McCartney and the other three Beatles over legal matters with Apple and the “big breakup”. In May of that year, Paul released his Ram LP and some of the lyrics to three of the songs on the album, Too Many People, Dear Boy and Three Legs, caught the attention of John Lennon and he interpreted some slightly indiscreet “digs” at him in the songs. In reply, John (being John) took a more blunt approach and penned what he termed “the nasty one” for his upcoming Imagine album titled How Do You Sleep. Not only do this track’s lyrics contain a series of “digs” directed at Paul, but to sprinkle a little extra salt in the wound, George Harrison puts his stamp of approval on the song by contributing slide guitar. Klaus Voormann, a Beatles friend from way back in the Hamburg gig days of 1960, plays bass. He also has played on other Plastic Ono Band releases with John and he also drew the cover art seen on the Beatles Revolver LP of 1966. I will not go into explaining the specific “digs” in any of these songs, but for How Do You Sleep it is quite easy to pick them out if you are not familiar with them already and are also familiar with Paul’s material with The Beatles and immediately afterward. It might even be fun to see how many you can find. This particular recording of the song is take 4, which is much longer than the official version from Imagine, partly because John repeats the first verse at the end. Lennon also included a postcard in the Imagine LP packaging (pictured here) that showed a parody of the Ram LP cover. In Paul’s next album (which was the first Wings album, called Wings Wild Life), he responds to How Do You Sleep with a song written lyrically in the form of a letter called Dear Friend.

John Lennon, 1971

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Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to BROW. Most Beatles fans are well aware that to say producer George Martin played an integral part in the creation of their music might be the understatement of the year. His genius and expertise in production, engineering and other technical matters were not his only influences, as he also played on many of the Beatles studio recordings. The piano solo in John Lennon’s Rubber Soul masterpiece, In My Life, was just one of his infinite contributions. This week’s BROW indicates it was one of the finishing touches of the work, since it appears here to be otherwise completed. In this unfinished recording, we hear in place of the solo, a mellotron or other type of organ that was “filled in” until Sir George got around to delivering the excellent instrumental middle to an already fantastic song.

George Martin (left) with John Lennon around 1965.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
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Welcome to BROW. This past Saturday (April 4th) at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed together for the first time since November 2002, when they were guests at the Concert for George event. Saturday’s event raised 3 million dollars for the David Lynch Foundation‘s cause of teaching one million children the technique of Transcendental Meditation (TM). One of the selections Paul performed at the event with Ringo on the drum kit had never been performed on stage before. Cosmically Conscious was written by Paul in 1968 while The Beatles studied TM in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Many years later, in early 1992 while Paul was recording his Off The Ground CD, he completed a studio recording of this interesting song. However only a short snippet of it appeared on Off The Ground as an unlisted final track. The complete version was released as a b-side on a CD single in April 1993 but that has been out of print since the mid-90′s by which time the first (and only) pressings were bought up. In celebration of TM and the reunion of Paul and Ringo, this is the complete studio version of Cosmically Conscious. The track concludes with a short reprise of another Macca number called Down To the River. For a good description of last Saturday’s show including other performing artists and set lists, visit here.

Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. This time around BROW takes a look back at a box office feature from nearly 30 years ago. Most of you probably remember, or at least have heard of the 1981 best selling movie Time Bandits. This fantasy film was put together by HandMade Films, a company formed by George Harrison and business partner Denis O’Brien in 1979, originally for the purpose of financing the Monty Python film Life Of Brian. Without going into the plot of Time Bandits, I will just say that it was a fairly big seller that starred John Cleese, Sean Connery and Shelly Duvall and was written and produced by Terry Gilliam. It grossed over 42 million and also has a respectable 94% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes web site which I visit from time to time for movie reviews. George Harrison composed and recorded Dream Away specifically for the Time Bandits soundtrack in December 1980 and it was heard over the closing credits of the film. However, the soundtrack was never released. George decided to re-record the song for inclusion on his 1982 LP release Gone Troppo and this is what became the standard version. Here, with a different feel and at a minute and half longer, is the original Time Bandits version of Dream Away. By the way, George has a cameo in the film but I won’t give away the scene.

Time Bandits Promo Poster, 1981

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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