There is a tape that exists out there of the Beatles performing the backing tracks for John Lennon's latest composition at the time - and his contribution to the "Magical Mystery Tour" session - namely the bizarrely titled : "I Am The Walrus".The backing track recording took place at EMI Studio 1 in London on September 05 1967. The instrumentation included John Lennon on guide vocal (off-mic) and electric piano, Paul on bass guitar, Ringo on the drums and George Harrison on electric guitar.
Takes 07, 08 and 09 as well as a bit of rehearsal are crammed onto the tape with take 07 being performed about halfway through the song before it breaks down. Take 08 is shorter when the musicans stop during the first verse. Finally Take 09 is much better with the song being performed to the end. After this, we can hear some of the rehearsal performance from a previous attempt.
All being said, eventually the backing track would be kept after take 16 (discussed in the next section) whereby the instrumentation would change with Paul hanging up his bass and playing tambourine; the bass guitar being added later in the recording process.
Here is take 07:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmJV7qstSdc
Here is take 09:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ree--6eZZ5o
As you can hear, the mix is not very good but these are very rough early takes supposedly through studio monitors. You can also hear these recordings in section from the bootleg CDs "Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 03" as well as "Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 06" on CD as well. The complete section of takes 07, 08, 09 and rehearsal can be found on the CD "The Complete Controlroom Monitor Mixes Vol. 02".
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