Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. The Beatles spent much of their day on January 25, 1969 recording George’s Harrison’s fun little twelve bar blues ditty “For You Blue.” Along with a lot of practice rehearsals in between takes, they recorded twelve proper takes on that day and it was the only day they worked on the song throughout the rest of the their time working as a complete band. George plays acoustic guitar while singing the vocal in a corner of the room while Ringo Starr steadily delivers the drumbeat. Paul McCartney played piano on the track with paper laid across the inside of the piano to give it a less dominating sound. John Lennon brings the track to life with the lap steel guitar accompaniment which he plays using a shotgun shell as a bottleneck.

The version of “For You Blue” that we hear on the Let It Be album is take 7, however George rerecorded his vocal track nearly a year later on January 8th, 1970. A cleaner sounding mix of this same take and newer vocal was also used on 2003′s Let It Be…Naked.

This week’s BROW treats us to an alternate version prepared for use in the Let It Be film. This is actually an edit created from three other takes recorded on Jan. 25, 1969, including the main part of the song coming from one take previous to the one on the album (i.e. take 6). Although a verse was trimmed off of the end, an extended instrumental intro is created by editing in part of the instrumental break from take 9.

The Beatles - For You Blue

George Harrison recording "For You Blue", Jan. 25, 1969

Extra info: “For You Blue” had a working title of “George’s Blues (Because You’re Sweet And Lovely).” When Phil Spector remixed the song for inclusion on the Let It Be album, he added a spoken introduction by John Lennon taken from dialog recorded at Twickenham Studios in early January where John says “Queen says no to pot-smoking FBI members.”

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

1) Let It Be (Remastered) – 2009 remaster of original 1970 LP, featuring “For You Blue”

2) Let It Be… Naked 2003 CD with special “stripped down” versions of the Let It Be album without the Phil Spector mix on the original 1970 release, and featuring “For You Blue”.

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

No related posts.

Welcome back for another edition of The Beatles Rarity Of The Week. After the filming of their surprise concert on the roof of Apple during the cold afternoon of January 30, 1969, The Beatles thought they had enough footage for their Let It Be documentary film. Well, almost anyway. There were still a few songs not appropriate for the rooftop show that they knew should be covered in the film with finalized versions. Those three numbers were “Two Of Us”, “The Long And Winding Road” and “Let It Be”.

So on the following day, The Beatles and Billy Preston returned to the Apple basement to perform these songs for the camera until they had releasable takes. “Two Of Us” was worked on first and knocked off fairly quickly. The other two required a bit more time. The final results of these recordings are seen in the Let It Be documentary just before the rooftop show which is used to wrap up the film.

This week’s BROW comes from a warm-up rehearsal from this January 31st session, recorded just before getting serious with the initial takes of “Two Of Us” were made. While in a skiffle mood, with acoustic guitars in hand, Paul McCartney leads the group into a singalong medley of Lonnie Donegan’s “Take This Hammer” which continues with Donegan’s “Lost John” with both John Lennon and Paul singing. George Harrison then joins in to steer the band into Johnny Cash’s “Five Feet High And Rising”. After they’ve played about as much of the song as they remember, Paul moves them into the musically similar tune “Bear Cat Mama” (a Jimmie Davis number from the 1930′s). Keeping the same backing, John leads them into the chorus from Koerner, Ray and Glover’s “Black Dog”. This is a traditional song that’s melody was later appropriated for the chorus of his own song, “Crippled Inside” that made it’s way onto his Imagine album in 1971. George and John then go into a few bars of Carl Perkins’ “Right String, Wrong Yo-Yo”. To wrap up the medley John duets with Paul for a verse of their own “Run For Your Life”, the closer for their 1965 Rubber Soul album. The medley ends with a brief reprise of “Black Dog”. The audio dropouts heard here are a result of the source tape coming from an extraction from an old stack of camera reels. A proper studio recording of the warm up sessions was not considered a necessary expense at the time.

By the end of the day, The Beatles had completed acceptable takes of “Two Of Us”, “The Long And Winding Road” and “Let It Be”, all three of which were used in both the film and Let It Be album in 1970, thus bringing to a close the so-called “Get Back” sessions of January 1969.

John Lennon, January 1969

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

1) Let It Be 2009 remaster of original 1970 Let It Be album.

2) Let It Be…Naked – 2003 remastered stripped down version of original 1970 Let It Be album, w/bonus Fly On The Wall EP containing studio chat and session fragments.

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Let It Be – trailer, 1970 Apple has still not ruled out the possibility that in...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Strawberry Fields Forever/Help!/Give Peace A Chance (Lennon medley by Paul) On last week’s BROW I featured Paul McCartney performing a...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Happy Birthday BROW! This week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week is special because...

I thought this would be an appropriate choice for this week’s video feature since the date is September 9th. The Beatles, along with friend and keyboardist Billy Preston, made their final concert appearance at around 1:00 pm on January 30, 1969, on the roof of their Apple headquarters and studio at 3 Savile Row, London. It was an unannounced performance that the London bobbies eventually put a stop to, due to the disruption in the city during the middle of the business day. The Beatles themselves were actually hoping to be arrested for disturbing the peace because it was all being filmed, and that would be the perfect climax of their Let It Be documentary. As it turned out, they were permitted to complete a final version of Get Back before having to stop. The show included multiple takes of Get Back, Dig A Pony, Don’t Let Me Down and I’ve Got A Feeling, along with this performance of One After 909. The Beatles played for 42 minutes before being shut down, and the best 20 minutes are included as the conclusion to the Let It Be film.

One After 909 was actually a song The Beatles revived during their January 1969 Get Back Sessions. Originally titled The One After 909, it was one of the very first songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This was in 1957, during the time when they were part of The Quarry Men. On March 5, 1963, The Beatles recorded it in the studio during the same session when they recorded their From Me To You/Thank You Girl single, but they were not satisfied with the result and it was shelved. Some of this early attempt of the song (takes 3-6) is now on the Beatles Anthology 1 CD set.

The rooftop performance of One After 909, seen here, was also used for the Let It Be LP.

Click the image above to play the video.

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

1) Let It Be (Remastered) – 2009 remaster of original 1969 album, including rooftop performance of One After 909 seen here.

2) Let It Be… Naked – the “stripped down” version of the Let It Be album released in 2003, including One After 909 with the Phil Spector mix “undone” (also includes bonus disc Fly On The Wall with snippets of The Beatles in the studio in Jan. 1969).

3) Anthology 1 – 1995 2-CD set of out-take versions and concert performances of the early days of The Beatles, including a 1963 recording of takes 3-6 of One After 909.

4) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I’ve Got A Feeling (alternate) 0savesSave On January 30th, 1969 after going two and a...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Let It Be (take 27A) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. To this...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Get Back (early rehearsal) Welcome to this week’s BROW. During the first half of...

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. A well-known period of Beatles history known as the Get Back Sessions filled the entire month of January 1969. During this time, movie cameras rolled while The Beatles rehearsed their new material, as well as covered a massive host of oldies that they learned during their formative years. Most of the new material ended up being released the following year on their swansong LP release, Let It Be. These sessions culminated on January 30th with a surprise Thursday afternoon lunchtime concert on the roof of their London-based Apple Headquarters on Savile Row.

The video footage of the sessions and concert were originally planned to be used for a television special but instead were later used to create the Let It Be film. An album, originally to be called Get Back, was also planned but became temporarily shelved, until it was reworked in 1970 by Phil Spector to become the Let It Be album. On January 31st, there were three songs that needed to be completed that were not appropriate for the previous day’s rooftop performance – Two Of Us, The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be. Unlike the earlier informal part of the sessions, The Beatles were to perform directly to the camera and attempt to record releasable takes. Two Of Us was polished off quickly while The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be took more time to get right.

After too many consecutive performances of The Long And Winding Road, John Lennon, needing a change of pace, breaks into a new song that is the subject of this week’s BROW. John had only introduced I Want You to the band a few days before, on January 28th. Of course, it ended up on the Abbey Road album later in the year, but at this point it is only a very basic track and does not yet have the “She’s So Heavy” refrain. It wouldn’t be until the following month that the band would begin any serious recording for I Want You, and while very undeveloped at this point, I have chosen this particular performance of the song because of several interesting attributes. I will address a few here and you’re certainly free to add more in the comments, if you like.

First off, there is the matter of the lead vocal. Paul, obviously needing the break from “Winding Road” as much as John, is inspired enough by John’s leading guitar lick that he elects to sing this Lennon-vocal number himself. John is apparently happy to let him continue and keeps hammering out guitar chords. Most are used to hearing John sing this tune on the Abbey Road album, so hearing it with a McCartney vocal is an interesting variation.

Secondly, there are some interesting keyboard fills thrown in by Billy Preston here. Billy had already been playing with the band for over a week, including the rooftop concert. Billy did not play in the Abbey Road sessions, so, like ‘vocals by Paul’, ‘keyboards by Billy’ is another interesting variation.

Additionally, the finalized version of I Want You had such an elaborate production with John’s lead guitar and bluesy solo in the middle, the white noise created by the newest innovation at the time – the Moog synthesizer – and the long buildup that brings the song to the roaring climax of sound that ends in the most abrupt and unpredictable way possible: it just immediately stops. Considering all of these enhancements, it is good to hear a bare-bones version, complete with jam session, to illustrate the loose way the song started out.

Thanks for stopping by this week…

The Beatles, 1969

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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

1) Abbey Road (Remastered) – 2009 remaster of original stereo LP by The Beatles, including I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (w/John Lennon vocal)

2) Additional Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Let It Be (take 27A) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. To this...

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. This week’s BROW highlights an off-the-cuff performance initiated by John Lennon during the Get Back sessions. Most of you probably know that it was this batch of recordings that were later used to produce 1970′s Let It Be album. Early in the day on January 25, 1969, just before beginning rehearsals for Paul McCartney’s song Two Of Us, The Beatles are discussing the filming of a proposed television show of them performing their new material (the television show never occurred though we have the Let It Be film). As Paul continues the discussion with sound engineer Glyn Johns, John begins playing his own modified rendition of I Lost My Little Girl, which Paul claims is the first song he ever wrote. John only remembers the first two lines of the song, so he just repeats them for awhile. Eventually Paul joins in, George Harrison throws in a brief guitar solo and John improvises a few more lyrics to keep it going for nearly 10 minutes. This account of the performance upgrades some early bootleg accounts which only included about 5 minutes of it (catching only the middle of the performance). It sounds like a fun performance, though it apparently has little resemblance to what Paul had in mind with the song. A good place to hear Paul’s version is on his CD Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) which covers his January 1991 MTV Unplugged performance. That CD is getting a bit hard to find now though, since the US pressing is out of print. If you’re interested, The Japanese import may be easier to find.

John Lennon (w/Paul McCartney in the background, Jan. 1969)

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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

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

No related posts.

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week.

To this day, this song still sends chills down my spine. On January 31, 1969, The Beatles were wrapping up their Get Back/Let It Be sessions and had performed their famous rooftop concert the day before. The idea now was to polish off the three new songs for the impending album release that were not performed on the rooftop (i.e Two Of Us, The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be). Take 27A of Let It Be is a virtually flawless performance from that day, marred only by a mediocre guitar solo from George Harrison. The Beatles would return to this track on April 30, 1969 where George would overdub a much better guitar solo onto it. This version made it to the acetate of the Get Back album but (although it has been widely bootlegged), that album ended up being scrapped instead of released officially. More overdubbing occurred on January 4, 1970, when the recording was nearly a year old. This included yet another guitar solo from George, some brass and cello and probably the additional drum parts from Ringo Starr, we hear on the master’s third verse. The single mix of Let It Be released on Apple in March of 1970, includes take 27A, the new overdubs added in January 1970, except for the guitar solo. The guitar solo from the April 1969 overdub was used instead. When Phil Spector created the mix for the Let It Be album, he used the same take 27A but with the January 4, 1970 guitar solo and other overdubs. Phil also extended the final chorus by editing in a repetition of it. That is why the album version is about 11 seconds longer. The version I have presented here is an unaltered account of take 27A (i.e before any overdubs or enhancements). It has a more “naked” sound than the version on the Let It Be…Naked album, which by the way also uses take 27A, but with the guitar solo from take 27B (27B was used in the Let It Be film). Billy Preston’s organ is not buried in the mix here, as it is on the master, and the backing vocals from John and George are much more prominent, as well.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney & George Harrison at Apple Studios, Jan. 31, 1969, recording Let It Be

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

Click below to read about or purchase this related music from Amazon:

1) Let It Be (Remastered)

2) Let It Be… Naked

…and here’s more Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

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

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – an early version of ‘I Want You’ Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. A well-known...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Get Back (early rehearsal) Welcome to this week’s BROW. During the first half of...

After spending the entire month rehearsing and recording the music that would eventually be cleaned up to appear on their final album, Let It Be, The Beatles, after having ended their touring for 2 and half years, surprised everyone by climbing out onto the roof of their Apple headquarters building at 3 Savile Row, London, U.K. on a cold January 30, 1969 lunch break and performed a 40-minute unannounced free mini-concert, effectively disrupting all the business in the area. Billy Preston joined them on keyboards for the show. The performance may have been longer if the London bobbies had not arrived to shut it down. Coverage of about half of the concert is seen at the conclusion of the Let It Be film (currently unavailable commercially) where this footage is sourced. I’ve Got A Feeling is actually a combination of John Lennon’s composition Everybody Had A Hard Year and Paul McCartney’s I’ve Got A Feeling. This live version is actually the same one used for the Let It Be album which would not be released for another 15 and a half months after the show and immediately after Paul McCartney officially quit the band. The show took everyone by surprise, and although The Beatles were on their way out at this point, we were still in a time when no one knew what they were going to come up with next.

Click the image above to play the video.

To read more about the new John Lennon releases and/or order your own copies from Amazon, click any of the links below:

1) Signature Box

2) Gimme Some Truth

3) Double Fantasy Stripped Down

4) Power To The People: The Hits (CD & DVD)

5) Power To The People: The Hits (CD only)

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

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I’ve Got A Feeling (alternate) 0savesSave On January 30th, 1969 after going two and a...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I’ve Got A Feeling (with apology) Welcome to BROW. This week I read in the news...

Apple has still not ruled out the possibility that in the future the Let It Be film will be released on a beautifully remastered Blu-Ray DVD. For now, here is a nice medley of footage from it. Enjoy some good old fashioned rock n’ roll from John, Paul, George, Ringo and Billy.

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Going Down To Golder’s Green (1970 out-take) Welcome to the BROW and I’m hoping all of you...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Move Over Ms. L (alternate take) Welcome to another installment of the once-weekly BROW series. Back...
3. Linda McCartney picture show, by Paul Sir Paul McCartney is directing a film based on photographs...

Welcome to this week’s BROW. During the first half of January 1969, The Beatles rehearsed at Twickenham Studios in London, for what was planned to be a television special of them at work on new recordings. It was a tense time for the band and most of the digestible material from these two weeks is seen in the Let It Be film. The Twickenham sessions ended in disaster however when George Harrison walked out with the intention of quitting the band on January 10th. When he agreed to return on the 15th, one of the conditions was that they abandon the television special idea and simply return to Apple Studios to put an album together. That being said, there was still some upbeat moments of good old fashioned rock and roll jams during the period. One such moment was with a stop-and-go rehearsal on the 10th (well before George got irritated and left) when, after a warm up run through of Chuck Berry’s Hi Heeled Sneakers and Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, John breaks into a song only recently introduced to them by Paul called Get Back. John, with the verse structure down pat, just makes up most of the words as he goes along. Paul joins in and provides a little coaching, as George has fun with some enjoyable guitar embellishments, and Ringo gets over-energetic on his drums. After reconvening at Apple Studios, this song was perfected and when released as a single, became the first product to emerge from the much talked about Let It Be/Get Back sessions of January 1969. The single was a number one hit for the band, backed with John’s Don’t Let Me Down. Both tracks, in finalized form, enjoyed some great keyboard accompaniment from the late Billy Preston.

The Beatles at Twickenham Studios, London, January 1969

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!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Let It Be (take 27A) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. To this...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I’ve Got A Feeling (with apology) Welcome to BROW. This week I read in the news...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Suzy’s Parlour (Get Back sessions jam) Welcome to this week’s BROW. This recording is from Twickenham...

Welcome to BROW. This week I read in the news that the Apple building where The Beatles performed their last live show has been put up for sale, with its owners expecting £25 million for it. The five-story building at 3 Savile Row in the Mayfair district of central London, was the former headquarters of the Beatles’ Apple Corps in the late 1960′s after the band bought it for £500,000. The building had already seen some history since it was built in 1735. It was named after Lady Dorothy Savile, the wife of the 3rd Earl of Burlington, and was once bought by Lord Nelson for his mistress Lady Hamilton. Lord Nelson was a British flag officer in the Napoleonic Wars. On January 30th, 1969, The Beatles ended their Let It Be project by filming a short concert on the rooftop of the building, with organist Billy Preston, before being shut down by the local police. In the basement was where the recording studios were set up and used by The Beatles and other Apple artists such as Badfinger and Mary Hopkin. Three days before this historic concert, The Beatles (and Billy) were recording there and this week’s BROW is a short sampling of that session. The official version of I’ve Got A Feeling opened side 2 of the Let It Be album and was one of 3 tracks on the album that was recorded from the rooftop gig. This studio version includes a mistake by Paul that has him starting over after singing a short apology. John decides to use a “cookie-monster style” voice for some of his vocal on this take. Billy’s organ comes through on this take quite nicely. A lot has been written about the Let It Be sessions and the drudgery of playing with a band that is in the midst of falling apart. There were some good moments in there too though, for anyone interested enough to sort through the tapes and find them. This may be one here. You be the judge.

The Beatles w/Billy Preston at Apple Studios in late January 1969.

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!

No related posts.