Revealed: the secret songs of the Beatles
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Your support makes all the difference.SONGS written and performed by the Beatles, yet never heard by the world before, are to be released on CD after 25 years in the vaults of recording studios.
Their existence is one of the music industry's best kept secrets, but the Independent on Sunday has obtained details of the songs.
They include 'Etcetera', a Lennon-McCartney number which Paul McCartney removed from the 1968 White Album, and the only McCartney-Harrison song ever recorded - a doo-wop ballad, 'In Spite Of All The Danger', which they wrote and sang as teenagers in 1958. There is also George Gershwin's 'Summertime' sung by the group, minus Ringo Starr, in a Hamburg recording booth in 1960.
The collection is being put together by George Martin, the Beatles' former producer, who has started selecting the tracks at Abbey Road studios.
While some of the other tracks to be released next year have appeared on bootlegs, nearly all of them will be new to most fans, and they will be on good quality recordings for the first time.
Other songs include 'If You Got Trouble', a Lennon-McCartney number from 1965 sung by Ringo, and 'Watching Rainbows' from the Let It Be sessions.
Also likely to be included is a song, not written by the Beatles, called 'Leave My Kitten Alone' which John Lennon took off the 1964 album Beatles For Sale at the last moment, and a psychedelic instrumental 'Jessie's Dream' which was in the Magical Mystery Tour film but was never released.
There will be the Beatles singing 'How Do You Do It', which Gerry and the Pacemakers took to Number One in 1963 - George Martin had offered it to the Beatles but they preferred 'Please Please Me' - and fans will also be able to hear John and Paul singing a number of Lennon-McCartney songs given away to other artists, including 'Bad To Me', recorded by Billy J Kramer.
Many more are likely to come from the scores of numbers that the group performed in their early days on BBC radio, and occasionally on television. Often these were Chuck Berry rock 'n' roll songs, but another could prove a novelty hit - Rolf Harris's 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport', in which the Beatles harmonise with Rolf.
Andy Davis, the Beatles expert on Record Collector magazine, and news editor of Beatles Monthly - which continues to publish 24 years after the group split up - said yesterday: 'For the first time, George Martin has been given permission to go through all the Beatles' private collections. Who knows what could be there? From a record collector's point of view, this is a dream come true.'
(Photograph omitted)
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