The Beatles’ long-awaited ’80s-era compact disc reissues had already touched on a number of classics, perhaps most notably Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but there was something missing.
Lots of things, actually. The group was known for releasing non-album singles at such a regular pace that not one but two discs of unreleased material remained, including huge hits like “Love Me Do,” “I Feel Fine,” “Paperback Writer,” “Hey Jude” and “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” among others.
Past Masters arrived on March 7, 1988, to remedy things, boasting all of those singles and much, much more. Let’s dig into five must-hear cuts that are a little lesser known, courtesy of Kit O’Toole’s Deep Beatles series:
‘YES IT IS’
When the Beatles entered the studio to record songs for the Help! soundtrack, they were clearly looking to further expand their sound. “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and even the title track reveal a vulnerable side to John Lennon, a willingness to explore deeper subject matter such as insecurity and isolation. While it did not appear on the soundtrack album, “Yes It Is” was recorded at the same time as the two other songs, and represents an important stage in Lennon’s artistic evolution.
Lennon dismissed “Yes It Is” as “me trying a rewrite of ‘This Boy’ but it didn’t work,” in his 1980 Playboy interview. Paul McCartney told biographer Barry Miles that he helped Lennon with the track during a writing session at Lennon’s Kenwood estate. “It was his inspiration that I helped finish off,” McCartney told Miles. “‘Yes It Is’ is a very fine song of John’s – a ballad, unusual for John.”
The Beatles began work on the track during a Feb. 16, 1965 recording session, with engineer Norman Smith assisting George Martin. Interestingly the group had also completed “I Need You” on this date, with George Harrison playing volume-pedal assisted guitar parts on both songs. The Beatles completed the rhythm track in 14 takes; next, Harrison, Lennon, and McCartney spent three hours nailing their harmonies, all singing together in one microphone.
Take two surfaced on Anthology 2, with Lennon’s guide vocals over the rhythm track. The final version was released as the B-side of the “Ticket to Ride” single on April 19, 1965. Rolling Stone ranked “Yes It Is” at No. 99 of their “100 Greatest Beatles Songs,” explaining how it contains “some of the most intricate vocals of any Beatles song; like ‘This Boy,’ it was an attempt to mimic the three-part harmonies of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.”
The comparisons to “This Boy” are obvious; after all, both are wistful ballads with lush, tight harmonies. However, “Yes It Is” adds another level of sophistication in terms of lyrical content and arrangement.
Read more here: “Yes It Is” (1965)
‘OLD BROWN SHOE’
Recorded during the Abbey Road sessions, “Old Brown Shoe” remains a quirky George Harrison’s composition that displays his great love of wordplay. While the Beatles released the track as the B-side to the May 1969 single “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” “Old Brown Shoe” dates back to the Get Back sessions and represents an important aspect of Harrison’s songwriting: humor.
In his autobiography I, Me, Mine, Harrison recalled composing the song on piano — an atypical method for his writing process: “I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don’t really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites. … Again, it’s the duality of things — yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etc.,” he said. Harrison and the Beatles (including guest Billy Preston) first attempted the song on Jan. 27, 1969, returning on Jan. 28 and 29. These early versions differ only slightly from the final rendition, demonstrating how Harrison fully envisioned “Old Brown Shoe” from its earliest stages.
A victim of the Get Back sessions frustration, “Old Brown Shoe” was shelved, only to be revived on Feb. 25. On his 26th birthday, Harrison recorded solo demos of “Old Brown Shoe,” “Something,” and “All Things Must Pass,” with “Old Brown Shoe” featuring vocals, piano, and several guitar overdubs.
It took almost two months before the group revisited the song; on April 16, Harrison recorded a second demo in the morning, and the Beatles completed four takes by that evening. John Lennon provided rhythm guitar and backing vocals, while Paul McCartney contributed piano, guitar, and vocals. Ringo Starr was on drums, as usual. Harrison played a seemingly uncommon (for him) instrument: the bass. In a 1988 interview for Creem, he stated “that was me going nuts. I’m doing exactly what I do on the guitar.”
To achieve a more intimate sound, Harrison recorded his lead vocals in a corner of the studio; this technique faintly echoes the recording method he used on “Not Guilty,” a White Album outtake. Two days later, an additional Hammond organ part performed by Harrison replaced Lennon’s rhythm guitar track. Ultimately, “The Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe” single was released on May 30 in the U.K., and then June 4 in the U.S.
Read more here: “Old Brown Shoe” (1969)
‘BAD BOY’
American R&B singer/songwriter Larry Williams never achieved tremendous fame in his own country, but British bands fell for singles such as “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” “Slow Down,” and “Bad Boy.” These raucous tracks were played by numerous British Invasion bands, including the Beatles. John Lennon, a particular fan of Williams’, sang lead on their covers of all three aforementioned songs. “Bad Boy” in particular allows Lennon to unleash his unrestrained rock vocal style; the roughness in his voice is on full display.
The witty and occasionally risqué lyrics must have appealed to Lennon’s sense of humor: Indeed, Williams’ original version of “Bad Boy” emphasized the silliness of the track, undercutting some of his edgy lyrics. (He even exaggerated the title words to zany effect.) An earlier take, however, suggests that Williams originally envisioned the song as a straightforward, New Orleans-tinged rocker.
The Beatles recorded “Bad Boy” expressly for the U.S. market, where it appeared on the Beatles VI album in 1965. (It would not see U.K. release until 1966 as part of the compilation A Collection of Beatles Oldies.) Squeezing in recording sessions immediately after filming Help!, the Beatles recorded “Bad Boy” along with “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” on May 10.
The EMI Studios session featured Lennon on lead vocals and rhythm guitar; Paul McCartney on bass and the Hohner Pianet electric piano; George Harrison on lead guitar; and Ringo Starr on drums and tambourine. Since “Bad Boy” had been part of the Beatles’ live set since the early 1960s, they easily completed the song in four takes. The first three takes were rhythm tracks; they then overdubbed Lennon’s lead vocals, Harrison’s double-tracked lead guitar, McCartney’s piano, and Starr’s tambourine onto the final track.
Harrison’s sharp notes pierce through, the guitar style spanning both R&B and rock. Starr’s driving beat and fills introduce Lennon, whose volume and raspiness immediately set the tone. “A bad little kid moved in to my neighborhood,” Lennon sneers. “He won’t do nothing right, just sitting down and looks so good.” Harrison’s guitar answers every line, as if underscoring Lennon’s points about the main character’s rebellious qualities. Along the way, “Bad Boy” paints a vivid picture of the Beatles’ early sound, the rawness that Cavern Club audiences heard.
Read more here: “Bad Boy” (1965)
‘THE INNER LIGHT’
An unlikely B-side to the Beatles’ more commercial “Lady Madonna,” “The Inner Light” represents George Harrison’s ongoing experiments with bridging the rock and Indian music genres. More importantly, it exemplifies Harrison’s impressive growth as a songwriter, expanding upon philosophies previously expressed in “Love You To” and “Within You Without You.” “The Inner Light” can be seen as the final episode in a trilogy, the three songs providing spiritual guidance on how to achieve self-awareness and enjoy the quest for knowledge.
January 1968 became a particularly significant month in Harrison’s career; right before recording “The Inner Light,” he traveled to India to work on the Wonderwall soundtrack. It was George Harrison’s first solo release (and the first solo release by any Beatle) as well as the first album issued by the new Apple label.
Wonderwall symbolizes Harrison’s desire to blend Eastern and Western influences, and “The Inner Light” is an offshoot of that artistic goal. The song’s origins date to October 1967, when Harrison and John Lennon made their second appearance on the Frost Programme to discuss Transcendental Meditation. One of the other guests was Juan Mascaró, a Sanskrit scholar at Cambridge University who subsequently sent Harrison a copy of his book Lamps of Fire.
George Harrison decided to base the lyrics on a passage from chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching that Mascaró had highlighted. Meanwhile, Harrison wrote and recorded the Wonderwall soundtrack, flying out to Bombay, India on January 7, 1968 to complete sessions with local musicians. The basic track for “The Inner Light” was also completed during this five-day period.
The Beatles resumed work on “The Inner Light” on Feb. 6, when Harrison returned to Abbey Road to complete his lead vocals. According to Mark Lewisohn, John Lennon and Paul McCartney had to persuade Harrison to sing the track. “George had this big thing about not wanting to sing it,” tape operator Jerry Boys says, “because he didn’t feel confident that he could do the song justice. I remember Paul saying, ‘You must have a go; don’t worry about it, it’s good.”
The irony, of course, is that this song’s instrumentation is an obvious standout — the percussion immediately demands the listener’s attention — but Harrison’s vocal performance and insightful lyrics actually propel “The Inner Light.” Harrison’s lilting voice carries the melody, which McCartney once praised: “Forget the Indian music and listen to the melody,” he said in 1968. “Don’t you think it’s a beautiful melody? It’s really lovely.”
Read more here: “The Inner Light” (1968)
‘I’LL GET YOU’
“That was Paul and me trying to write a song … and it didn’t work out,” John Lennon said in a 1980 interview. Despite Lennon’s opinion, “I’ll Get You” exemplifies the Beatles’ growing ability to absorb pop and rhythm and blues, then transform them into their unique sound. Featuring close harmonies, a strong Ringo Starr backbeat and intriguing lyrics, “I’ll Get You” should be known as more than just the B-side to the “She Loves You” single.
Originally written as the followup to the hit “From Me to You,” the song has a confusing history. Experts such as Bill Harry claim that Lennon was the primary songwriter, although Paul McCartney recalled it being a true collaboration in Many Years from Now. In 1994, McCartney admitted he borrowed the unusual chord change during the line “it’s not easy, to pretend” from a Joan Baez song entitled “All My Trials.” Later, he told biographer Barry Miles that Lewis Carroll also greatly influenced Lennon’s lyrics.
Believing that the beat echoed “From Me to You,” the Beatles figured a song then known as “Get You in the End” would be a worthy followup. But that changed in late June 1963, when Lennon and McCartney penned “She Loves You” while on tour. On July 1, the Beatles instead spent the first half of the day recording “She Loves You” at Abbey Road, leaving “Get You in the End” for the evening session. Mixing commenced on July 3; the now-retitled “I’ll Get You” was released as the B-side to the “She Loves You” 45 in the U.K. on Aug. 23, 1963. The A-side naturally received more attention and became a massive hit.
Despite being the B-side to such a classic song, “I’ll Get You” receives little airplay today. Why this is remains a mystery, as the track represents how the Beatles could listen to other genres, then incorporate select elements into truly original works. The group made no secret of admiring Motown, and Starr’s strong backbeat suggests that he spent time listening to the Funk Brothers’ envied sound. Lennon’s harmonica, first on prominent display in “Love Me Do,” makes a welcome return.
Many Merseybeat groups listened to American blues, and the Beatles were no exception. Lennon’s harmonica lends a slightly harder edge to an otherwise upbeat, pop-oriented song. Then there are those close Lennon/McCartney harmonies, which echo the Everly Brothers’ patented vocals here. Add in McCartney’s admission of borrowing a chord from folk singer Baez, and what results is a conglomeration of styles that creates a new, fresh sound in rock and pop music.
Read more here: “I’ll Get You” (1963)
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