Welcome to The Beatles Rarity Of The Week. This time around I’m having a look at an often overlooked gem from John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy album. “Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him” was written and sung on the album by Yoko with background vocals throughout by John. It was recorded in sessions that took place at New York City’s Hit Factory studio during August of 1980, just a few months before John was taken from us. Additional material from these sessions that was not finalized for the Double Fantasy album was released in January 1984 on the album Milk And Honey. In October of 1984, a single was released in the U.K. with a new rendition of “Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him.” It is, in actuality, the original version with Yoko’s lead vocal mixed out and John’s backing vocal brought up in the mix to make him the lead singer. The single’s B-side was another song composed by Yoko titled “It’s Alright” and is sung by John and Yoko’s son Sean. Both sides of this single also appear on a compilation tribute album to Yoko titled Every Man Has A Woman. This album contains covers of Yoko’s music by other artists, such as Eddie Money, Harry Nilsson, Elvis Costello and Roseanne Cash, as well as John and Sean, and was released to commemorate Yoko’s 50th birthday.

For this week’s BROW, I’m offering up a third mix of the song that was never officially released. It begins with the John Lennon vocal version but halfway through picks up Yoko’s vocal track blended with John’s in the form of a duet. The backing track is the same as on both officially released versions but ends abruptly due to it being sourced from a “raw” mix tape that was never polished up. That’s no reason to keep it from you though, so here it is.

John Lennon & Yoko Ono, 1980

Extra info:

1) A slowed down and even “spacier” sounding mix of this track with predominantly Yoko’s vocals appears on the stripped down 2010 remaster version of Double Fantasy.

2) Without finding the original 1984 vinyl releases, the John Lennon vocal version appears on a 1990 UK CD box set called Lennon, and it also appears as a bonus track on the 2001 remastered CD of Milk And Honey. However, it does not appear on the newest (2010) Milk And Honey remastered CD, which contains no bonus tracks.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Double Fantasy (2010 Remix + Original) – 2010 ‘stripped” mix of original 1980 LP, plus original mix remastered. Includes two versions of “Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him”.

2) Milk And Honey (2001) – 2001 remaster of original 1984 LP containing John Lennon vocal version of “Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him” as a bonus track (note: there is a also a 2010 remaster of this CD with no bonus tracks).

3) Double Fantasy (w/bonus tracks) – 2000 remaster of original 1980 LP, featuring “Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him” plus bonus tracks.

4) Kisses on the Bottom – Paul McCartney’s NEW “Kisses On The Bottom” CD (released Feb. 7, 2012).

5) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

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