IF NOTHING IS REAL – THEN THE LOST LENNON TAPES CERTAINLY SHOULD BE…
What is being suggested here is certainly a potentially controversial idea as many would oppose it being implemented at all. Yet, many others would accept it and welcome it with open arms and would be excited by the potential possibilities. Here is the idea being presented for discussion… Hopefully, it will be considered by the Lennon Estate as a potential priority item as a future project!
Now and Then
The Lennon Estate’s admirable Lennon boxed-set collections of recent years have helped to preserve and shed new light of this musical icon to both old and new generations. However, many hardcore Lennon fans also have visions of what would they would consider to be a very special project for the Lennon Estate to consider. With the technology now available through the Peter Jackson company that helped to produce “Now and Then,” many knowledgeable Lennon fans who have heard the old Lost Lennon Tapes radio series hosted by Elliot Mintz, are fully aware that there are many more surviving John Lennon demos that exist.
The attraction to fans of course would be that like “Now and Then”, this is new and original Lennon material that has not been heard by a mass audience. Wouldn’t it be a fantastic project for the estate to review the best material in their demo vaults and consider a project whereby the family would choose the proper person or persons to produce a studio LP of finished studio quality Lennon demos that are heard as finished songs using the Peter Jackson technology?
Lost Lennon Radio Series
I have listed below a partial list of demos that have already been heard on underground (bootleg) recordings or on the Lost Lennon radio series or tracks that are speculated to exist that might make for a super LP of new John Lennon material for a mass audience. The key to a project like this is having the right people involved and the right decisions being made about the material in question.
For example, who would be the producer of such a project? Sean Lennon, Giles Martin, Paul McCartney? What musicians would provide the additional instrumentation to complete a studio recording? What songs would be chosen for release, and which ones would need additional contributions to bring the song to completion, if the song lacked a middle 8 for example? If additional lyrics were needed for a song, who would complete it? There is a lot of controversy surrounding such questions as some believe that the demos should remain (only) as John initially recorded them.
However the production, completion, and subsequent release of “Now and Then” seems to belie that notion or intention. It all depends on the decisions being made and who is making them that will create that truth as the end result and which will also define the project’s success! To those who would argue that this idea is scraping the bottom of the barrel, many people used that same argument concerning the release of “Now and Then” and YouTube hits to the video of the song have recently surpassed 55 million views in an 8-month time frame. “A beautiful barrel INDEED”!!!
A small sample of some of the recordings that are either known to exist or speculated to exist:
“Tennessee” – John Lennon’s tribute to playwright Tennessee Williams – There is also a variation of this song/tune called “Memories” which features a superb middle section entitled “Howling at the Moon.”
“Whatever Happened To” – Would love to see a completed John Lennon version of this number completed in the studio using Peter Jackson’s magic. Great guitar work by John on this demo
“She is A Friend of Dorothy’s” is a clever piano-based ditty by John with interesting lyrics that reference gay culture.
“Popcorn” – a tune mentioned in the May Pang book that John had written. May states this was a very catchy tune but unfortunately, it is not known if a tape of this actually exists
“Happy Rishikesh Song” – many speculate John is being satirical towards George and his fascination with Indian culture with this song-catchy chorus
“Life Begins at 40” – a song that John supposedly gave to Ringo in November of 1980 as a demo to record-would fit in nicely as a country and western-themed song for Ringo. Los Escarabajos the Spanish group mentioned before did something clever to their cover of this song. They took the “Howling at the Moon” sequence from John’s unreleased song “Memories” and used it as the middle of “Life Begins at 40” and it worked perfectly to complete the song. Perhaps the producer could produce a John/Ringo duet on this song. Would need a middle section like Los Escarabajos’ version to complete the song-at least in my opinion for whatever that is worth.
“One of the Boys” – a possible John reference to being one of the Beatles. A song that has catchy parts but would need additions to fill out and complete. IMHO
“Not for Love Nor Money” aka “Illusions” – love this tune. With a little development and a few additions would make an excellent song.
“You Saved My Soul” – The Spanish group, Los Escarabajos has recorded a calypso Latin-styled cover version of this song which is great. I believe their version has been posted on YouTube by someone
“You Know How Hard It Is” – A while back on YouTube someone produced a blistering rock ‘n’ roll version of this tune, which was subsequently taken down probably for copyright reasons. With a few additions this would make for a great Lennon rocker.
“Mirror Mirror-” one of John’s songs of self-reflection and self-analysis.
“India India” – one of my favorites of John’s unreleased material and would love to see this tune receive the full studio treatment bringing it to completion. It truly deserves that and MANY who have heard this track have echoed a similar sentiment.
“Mucho Mungo” – there are existing demos of John performing the song in full with an unreleased section that he later decided to abandon. Would love to see the song completed in the studio with the right musicians, the right instruments, and backing vocals.
“Across the River” – another unreleased Lennon tune which might be a good candidate to complete another one of his unfinished songs.
“Many Rivers to Cross” (a Jimmy Cliff Cover-Jimmy wrote the song in 1969) – John does a cover version of this song that his buddy Harry Nilsson also did for the Pussy Cats album. Perhaps, John’s version could be finished in the studio using Mr. Jackson’s magic?
“Be My Baby”– A Phil Spector outtake (One of the Spector session tapes that remains unreleased). Sean did a superb version of remixing “Angel Baby” for the JOHN LENNON. GIMME SOME TRUTH. THE ULTIMATE MIXES release. Perhaps, the same exercise and result can be achieved with this number.
“Bad To Me” – possibly complete John’s existing demo-Finish the demo using John’s original vocal with studio musicians.
“I’m In Love” – the same suggestion applied to John’s demo of “Bad To Me.”
“Serve Yourself” – Have Bob Dylan possibly cover John’s sarcastic answer to his “Gotta Serve Somebody” with a great band or use studio wizardry to create a Lennon/Dylan duet—It will never happen of course, but would love to see it. Would fit in superbly with John’s great sense of humor, especially with Bob possibly answering some of John’s vocal phrases.
“Street of Dreams” – finish it if an actual tape of the songs exists- supposedly co-written with Jack Douglas who claims that a cassette tape of a crude demo of the song exists from Double Fantasy time. John claims he had written a piece during the Beatles years for this song and was going to complete it in 1980. Jack Douglas has discussed this song in several interviews over the years.
“Sally and Billy” – with the right production would make a very good-sounding tune.
“Don’t Be Afraid (Mr. Hyde’s Gone Away)” – another song would love to see as a full studio production.
“John’s demo of What Goes On” The existing demo has different lyrics and a noticeably different part that was excised from the finished song – the existing demo differs radically from the released song. Would love to see what they could come up with as a finished studio production using the demo as the basis for that task. Do not even know if the Estate has a copy of this recording. The person auctioning the demo played an excerpt of the song on YouTube. The demo was offered at auction several years ago.
“Say It Again” – Another possible Lennon tune that could be completed
“My Life” – nice tune that apparently developed into “Starting Over”, but this tune stands on its own separate from Starting Over and could be presented as a studio recording.
“Gone From This Place” – a song in which John sings about dying which was a subject matter that seemingly occupied a lot of his time in 1980-witness “Living On Borrowed Time” as another example.
“Dear John” – autobiographical song. A song where John is telling himself that his life and legacy is certainly assured. Would have loved to see this finished with a middle and an instrumental break.
“Help Me To Help Myself” – another song that deserves the full studio treatment. a song about self-reliance.
This list does not claim to be all-encompassing or comprehensive, just a sampling of what has appeared on the Lost Lennon radio series or has appeared in magazine articles or books over the years discussing unissued Lennon material.
When Westwood One Radio originally announced back in the 1980s they were going to air unreleased Lennon material on a radio series, Musician Magazine did a cover story about it:
A couple of Beatles fans put together this book together in 2009. It is listed on Amazon and details the contents of all of the 218+ episodes of the “Lost Lennon Tapes” radio series:
The man who narrated “The Lost Lennon Tapes” radio series is coming out with his own book in 2024. Perhaps Elliot Mintz will discuss the development of the radio show in his book:
Hoping the Lennon Estate strongly considers this as project on their “TO DO” list. If done correctly (an acknowledged subjective term used in this case), it could be a wonderful addition to the Lennon catalog.
It is known by many Lennon fans that the Spanish group named Los Escarabajos in 2001 released this CD in Spain of their interpretations of apparently many of the songs that they had heard on the Lost Lennon tape series.
What do you think? Would you like to see and hear these songs remastered and released?
Let me know?
Buzz
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