From: brennan@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Joseph Brennan)
Subject: Re: Get Back / Supposed Beatle Songs
Reply-To: brennan@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Joseph Brennan)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:16:02 GMT

In article <1eid30INN5p3@clover.csv.warwick.ac.uk>
cstadbg@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr M J Brown) writes:

>* First ... has anybody seen the lyrics to the original "Get back", which were
>  along the lines of "Don't dig no pakistanis..." ... They are mentioned in
>  Lewisohn, but as far as I know never published. Have they turned up on a 
>  bootleg / outtakes album?

Yes.  It starts a capella, tune of the verse of "Get Back": "Don't dig
no Pakistanis, takin' all de people's jobs", instruments crash in,
"Get back! Get back! Get back to where you once belonged".  It then
chugs along, not the nice glide of the finished version, but heavier
on the rhythm guitar.  On at least one refrain Paul even cracks his
voice on "get ba-EE-ack", the way Pakistanis speaking English tend to
do.  Sounds pretty racist and cruel.  On the other hand, what do you
make of lyrics in the same take like "what is a Mohican doing in the
USA?  Get back, get back!"-- don't tell me he's serious!  

Another related song, never finished, is known as "the Commonwealth
song", and dwells on subjects very much in the news in January 1969,
such as white supremacist Enoch Powell, immigration from countries in
the Commonwealth, and the political issues of changing Britain's main
trading partner from the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former
British Empire) to the European Community.  "I'd join the Common
Market but it's much too wealthy for me", Paul sings, only to hear
John chip in "too -common- for me", making Paul laugh, say "oh yeah",
and sing it that way the next time-- a moment I treasure because we
actually hear them collaborate on a lyric!  After it stops, tape
rolling, they go right into a partly instrumental, partly spoken
lyric, improvisation known as the "white power promenade", from one of
the repeated phrases, that gradually mutates over several minutes into
John and Paul calling out any nonsense names and words they can think
of, and screaming "Get off!", even "John Lennon! Get off!", ending up
rather like "Dig it!".

>  "Peace of mind (The candle burns)

Very poor recording.  Not the Beatles, based on Lewisohn's research.
The voices are not clear enough to identify, I would say.  This one was
popular on early bootlegs.

>  "Oh I need you" (NOT the George H song on Help) - Trident Records

About 1 minute long, but a complete song, very nice ballad on piano
with a voice much like Paul's.  Again, not supported by Lewisohn.

>  "LS Bumblebee/Bee side"

Definitely Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.  No Beatles involvement.

>  "Have you heard the word/Futting around"

The former is almost surely Maurice Gibb, Steve Kipner and Steve
Groves (the latter two of a group called Tin Tin).  Written by
Kipner--Groves, copyright registered in US 1974, but recorded 1970.
The latter sounds like a completely different band, unknown.

>  "Pink Litmus Paper Shirt"

No known source for this, just a song name.  Copied from one list of
unreleased songs to another.  One of Mark Lewisohn's greatest
accomplishments is to trash all earlier lists and do his own research
in original sources.  

>  "Colliding circles"

The demo of "Circles" does not contain the word "colliding", so
whether this is the same, who knows.

Similar pre-Lewisohn lists had George songs called "Not Anything" and
"Annie".  From Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions" we've learned that
George couldn't decide on titles for many of his songs, and they ended
up with working titles like "Anything", "Nothing", "I don't know",
"Granny Smith" (he had an apple in his hand when asked!), and most
memorably, "Shit".  I'm sure "Not Anything" and "Annie" (?="Anything")
come from this, so it turns out there was a grain of truth!

--Joe Brennan