Beatles Bootlegs
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Beatles Revolution Take 20 Surfaces
February 24, 2009
A long rumoured "Take 20" of the Beatles' Revolution has surfaced. Mark Lewisohn had described it in his exhaustive and detailed The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970 from 1988. Since word got out on this in late February 2009, the YouTube version has been yanked due to a complaint from EMI. I had a chance to download the MP3 and give it a listen, and it's amazing! Well worth the wait. Listen to it here.
From Beatles Examiner:
- A newly surfaced outtake of the Beatles' song "Revolution" from a bootleg CD is causing much discussion and buzz among Beatle fans on the internet.
- The song, RM1 of take 20, recorded June 4, 1968, clocks in at around 11 minutes and starts with an engineer announcing the take then John Lennon saying, "Take your knickers off and let's go." It also gives sonic evidence, as was documented by Mark Lewisohn in "The Complete Beatles Recording Session," that a lot of experimentation and improvisation went into "Revolution" before it was trimmed to the tighter version that was released on the White Album.
- The song then begins as "Revolution 1" does on the White Album, but the guitar strumming is extended. The differences continue with Lennon vocal experimentation and previously unheard sound effects. The end of the track features an almost comic chorus of "Mama, Dada, Mama, Dada" sung by Paul McCartney and George Harrison. None of this, of course, appeared on the White Album.
