"And Your Bird Can Sing" - Take 2

The first attempt at a new "John song" from the session completed on April 20 1966 from EMI Studio 2. This first attempt for "And Your Bird Can Sing" had been officially released and basically unheard of before the mid 1990's when it was released on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD title "Anthology 2".
This is take two containing a vocal overdub from both John and Paul for backing. It seems that there was something causing them both to break out into laughter for some reason or another. The song is in a lower key than what would be the second attempt along with a slightly different arrangement. The guitars in this are killer. Instead of an overdub or double tracking for the solo and the riffing; it's both George Harrison and McCartney playing together !! Very cool indeed.
The CD mix of the song allows one to remove the "laughing vocals" using the Out of Phase process if one chooses to and it's been done in certain cases on certain bootlegs in order to present the song without the annoyance of laughter but just the pure first version.
I've included a link below which contains the second the third track of the song: on the second track is Paul's bass and a tambourine added by Ringo. The third track contains the previous vocals (including John's lead vocal) as well as the attempt at the "laughing" overdub by John and Paul. The third track also contains the guitar solo and the end by Paul and George.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApI7YXQTVZQ

"Paperback Writer" - Takes 1 and 2

The Beatles entered EMI Studios number three on April 13 1966 for a late evening/overnight session in order to try and record a basic track recording for the new Paul McCartney composition "Paperback Writer". After recording the basic track for George Harrison's "Love You To" in the afternoon, the Beatles took a well deserved dinner break and were back for the session later that day and into the next day.
The initial backing track consisted of Paul and George of guitar (Paul using his Epiphone), Ringo on drums and John Lennon on tambourine. Amazingly, it only took two takes to get the backing track right. The first take consists of a mistake during the first verse where there is a chord switch and the switch from G to C comes in with hesitation (enough to stop the take).
Take two of the backing track is the one that is used on the commercial take, the single, etc. The instrumentation is the same as take one with the completion of the song until the end. Overdubs were recorded the next day in the same studio on April 14 1966 consisting mainly of vocals, backing vocals and bass guitar. On the bootlegs, the overdubs have been added in so you can hear the vocals, etc. During the intro, you can still hear Ringo tapping his drumsticks in order to keep time as in the backing track this was done before the vocals were added. On the commercial version, the tapping was faded down during the vocals only periods. The mono mix of the song lasts a little longer than the stereo mix of the song. Also, on take two of the bootlegs, the song does not fade out but plays until the song collapses - you can also hear a bit of jangle piano playing at the end . The jangle piano ended up not being used in the song.
Various bootlegs contain both takes one and two including: "Ultra Rare Trax, Volumes 5 and 6" (vinyl) and on "Unsurpassed Masters, Vol. 3" (compact disc). I've included a youtube link.
On a final note, "Paperback Writer" would be the only tune from 1966 that The Beatles would perform during their final world tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jp_7q78PLY

"Got To Get You Into My Life" - Take 5

On April 07 1966 into April 08 1966 - during the late evening past midnight into the early , early morning - The Beatles entered EMI Studios and used room Studio3 for two tasks:
The first task was to add some home made tape loops, some guitar and other effects onto the existing take 3 of "Tomorrow Never Knows" in order to fill up some tracks by looping the tapes over and over in various areas of the studio.
The second task was to record a new song written mainly by Paul entitled "Got To Get You Into My Life" which was inspired (according to Paul) by his habit of smoking pot and his love for the weed.
Here we have take 5 of the song - an early version - including an acoustic guitar, some drums by Ringo and a studio organ played by (it's been said) George Martin. Some vocals are also added: Paul sings the main line while both George Harrison and John Lennon add to the backing vocals.
This version of the song can be found on some of the "Alternate Revolver" bootlegs and is available commercially on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 2". I've included a link to the tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4KnMaxN81k

"Tomorrow Never Knows" - Take 1

After a very long, lengthy break (for The Beatles)...my gosh, almost three months.....the group re-convened to start work on the follow up LP to "Rubber Soul". On April 06 1966 using EMI studios 3, the first song recorded for inclusion on the new project was entitled "The Void" (also known as "Tomorrow Never Knows"). This track would end up closing the "Revolver" LP when released.
On this day three takes of the backing were recorded with take three being the commercial version we all know and love. However, the first take includes Ringo and Paul on drums and bass respectively hashing it out along with a tape loop. The timing is a bit weird and goes out of sync while John records his vocal over take one.
This bit of the song ended up commercially in thirty years later on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 2". There are also a few bits of the tune and the same take that appear on the "Anthology" DVD as well during a playback by George Martin.
The famous tape loops would be added to the backing for take 3 the next day on April 07 1966.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaF4GGAvf3I

"The Beatles At Shea Stadium" Overdubs and Sync To Film

The first task for The Beatles in 1966 was to overdub or "sweeten" the soundtrack to the film "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" which had been filmed back in August of the previous year during their tour of  North America. So, they gathered at CTS studios in London on January 05 1966 especially for this task. Most people were not aware of this session at the time.
George Martin supervised the recordings as the Beatles re-played in it's entirety the following songs from the film:  "I Feel Fine", "Help!" and "Ticket To Ride". Paul added bass guitar to the following songs from the film:  "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", "Can't Buy Me Love" "Baby's In Black" and "I'm Down". The overdub was due to a complaint of needing more bottom end for these tunes. John Lennon also overdubbed his organ part for "I'm Down" in order to fortify the performance.
The remaining tunes were also substituted from the original August performance "Twist And Shout" (which was replaced by the Hollywood Bowl Capitol Records recording of 1965) along with "Act Naturally" (which was replaced by the commercial version from the LP recording of the song"). This leaves only one tune that was left untouched : "A Hard Day's Night". The song has dialogue over the performance so in fact the entire Shea Stadium concert was never presented in it's true original audio form.
The Shea Stadium soundtrack has been released in various bootleg forms over the years with titles such as "Shea, The Good Old Days"/ "Shea/Candlestick Park" etc.

"I'm Looking Through You" Take 4

On November 11 1965, The Beatles entered EMI Studios number 2 in order to finish their sixth LP "Rubber Soul" (in the UK). This marathon session saw them record from six in the evening up until seven in the morning - a 13 hour session.
Three new songs were completed including "You Won't See Me" written mainly by Paul and "Girl" written mainly by John. The third song "Wait" was also recorded and this was a joint composition between John and Paul.
The last task at hand was to complete "I'm Looking Through You". This would be the re-made version with the middle eight added. Paul overdubbed a vocal (double tracking it with John on harmony). Also, Ringo played a chord on the hammond organ and gets a credit on the back of the original LP.
The songs were mixed for mono and stereo four days later at EMI on November 15 1965. Interestingly, "I'm Looking Through You" contained two false starts on the acoustic guitar which were left intact on the North American stereo version of "Rubber Soul" whereas the false starts do not appear on the North American version of the LP nor on the UK mono and stereo versions on Parlophone.
I've included a complete mix of "I'm Looking Through You" with the take number being announced by Norman Smith (the recording engineer), the two false starts and the complete recording with no fade as on the record- known as take 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lfz1YSOL2c

Beatle Speech/ Christmas Message

A very busy session carried out on November 08 1965 for inclusion of the George Harrison composition "Think For Yourself". Mainly instruments being the usual Drums, Bass and Guitars. Also recorded this evening were the backing vocals in three part harmony. For some unknown reason; many they decided that they could use some of the chatting from the session to use for their upcoming Christmas message released on a flexi disc for the fan club.
In any event, almost 20 minutes of the Beatles chatting and trying to get the harmony for the song was recorded in mono. Also at the session, more chat was recorded for what would be their Third Christmas message released a month later on December 17 1965 for the Fan club.
In my opinion, I find nothing really fascinating about the speech during the backing vocal session as various issues and inside jokes are discussed, a few passages of "Yesterday"; both as a backing speech and brought up again during the Christmas message when released as a flexi.
Also interesting is that a few seconds of this backing vocal session was used in the movie "Yellow Submarine" in 1968. This includes an acapella three part vocal with no instruments repeated electronically.
The backing vocal speech can be found on bootleg CD "Unsurpassed Masters, Vol. 07" as the final track. Parts of this speech can also be found commercially on the Paul McCartney project "Liverpool Sound Collage" from 2000.
The fan club message recorded after the backing vocal speech can be heard on the official flexi disc "The Beatles Third Christmas Record" (Lyn 948). This can also be found commercially on the Apple LP "The Beatles Christmas Album" (SBC-100) as well as the UK version Apple LP "From Then To You" (LYN 2153/4) .
I've also included the backing vocal speech session below - see link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCnzIJ3Z-3k