Your Voice: Are there more Beatles songs waiting in the vault?

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Re: Nov. 2, 2023: "Final" Beatles song released: "Now and Then," written by John Lennon in 1978.

In 1994, Paul McCartney was given two cassette tapes by John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono that included at least four home demos John had recorded: "Free as a Bird," "Real Love," "Grow Old With Me," and "Now and Then." ("Grow Old With Me" had already appeared on John and Yoko's posthumous album Milk and Honey in 1984.)

The three surviving Beatles released completed versions of two songs as part of their multimedia retrospective project, "The Beatles Anthology:" "Free as a Bird" (1995) and "Real Love" (1996).

A software sound system developed by director Peter Jackson and his team, used throughout the production of his 2021 documentary series "The Beatles: Get Back," used this state-of-the-art technology again to completely separate Lennon's vocal in "Now and Then."

(This technology should now be used to enhance Lennon's voice on "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," as both vocals sound "thin" by comparison.)

Did one of the cassette tapes that Yoko gave Paul also include Lennon's 1980 demo, "You Saved My Soul (With Your True Love)"?

Lennon recorded two takes of this song, sometime between Nov. 14 and Dec. 8 – the day he was shot and killed in the archway of the Dakota Apartments, his New York City residence.

Listen to Lennon's first take:

American literary critic and music historian Kenneth Womack writes in John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life: "Singing against a driving electric rhythm guitar part, John composed a love paean for Yoko. Referencing the self-destructive tendencies he briefly displayed in his September 1979 audio diary, he thanked his wife for acting as his salvation.

"With a trace of rockabilly in his voice, he sings that 'only you saved me' from jumping out of his New York apartment window."

Does this version of You Saved My Soul (With Your True Love) include contributions from the real Paul, George and Ringo?

Enquiring Beatles fans like me want to know!

David Buckna

Kelowna

Thumbnail photo credit: Getty Images