Lennon's Piano on The Beatles' "Something"

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

It's hard to find much evidence of Lennon playing on a Harrison song after Revolver...I mean, he certainly did ("Go, Johnny, go!")...but his presence isn't very obvious, and he completely sat out some of them.

I was just amazed to read he actually played piano in "Something", which was at one point an 8-minute opus. Check this out from Wikipedia:

The original draft that the Beatles used lasted eight minutes, with Lennon on the piano towards the end (which was recorded later as Lennon was not present during the first few sessions). The middle also contained a small counter-melody section in the draft. Both the counter-melody and Lennon's piano piece were cut from the final version. Still, Lennon's piano was not erased totally. Some bits can be heard in the middle eight, in particular the line played downwards the C major scale, i.e. the connection passage to Harrison's guitar solo. The erased parts of Lennon's piano section later became the basis for Lennon's song "Remember."

Source

That blows me away! Has anyone ever heard that earlier version, or is it lost forever? I find it especially astonishing that Lennon's bit was eventually the basis for "Remember".

So...anyone...to quote "Hey Bulldog"...do you know any more?

[deaconblues]

I don't know how much I believe the claim of an eight minute take. The paragraph isn't sourced and the demo version on the Anthology is nearly exactly the same length and structure as the final version.

[beatlefreak]

There does exist a version similar to what is described. It originally came out on a vinyl bootleg titled Abbey Road NW8, and identified as Take 37. I'm unsure if it has ever come out on CD - I've never seen it. Keep in mind that this is not an alternate take of Something. The Beatles by this time had ceased doing repeated takes of songs - They would do one or two takes of a backing track (often re-recording over the previous attempt) until they got one they could use, then simply add to/delete from it to build the final master.

Take 37 is the take used for the final master, just an earlier version minus some of the overdubs (stings, background vocals and such). It is organ and piano heavy, guitar light, and is very heavy (read dreary) sounding. It is the full version of the song, and at the end there is a coda (similar to Hello Goodbye), consisting of a three chord piano phrase. This is repeated over and over for about two and a half minutes. Before everybody gets all excited, it's nothing to write home about. It's repetative (read boring), and consists of piano (hammering out the three chords), drums (just keeping the beat), guitar (endless minor noodling) and a very insistant monotone bass line played by Paul (at least I believe it's Paul). The coda eventually fades out (thank God) without ever resolving itself, and does not add to the song. It's no wonder it was left off the album.

As for the counter melody described, I don't remember any instance of it in take 37. And yes, the piano phrase at the end is somewhat reminiscent of John's Remember.

[deaconblues]

Thanks, Kris. Found it on YouTube...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pAUBBYCOc

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Yeah, that piano phrase is exactly "Remember", isn't it? Just slower. You can almost feel Lennon thinking about where he should take the next chord...

[bottom4]

I find this very interesting, John not playing on George’s tracks that is, given the strong relationship George and John had post Beatles…

[nukebass]

This sounds like a post session jam that really has nothing to do with the original recorded song. It is neat to hear what was probably the beginnings of Remember, since that is one of my favorite Lennon songs. Was Lennon present at the final recording of Something? I know he was in a car accident and missed a number of the songs, but I don't know which ones.