Hear a Snippet of The Beatles' Unreleased 1963 Demo of "What Goes On"
A rare, unreleased demo of The Beatles' "What Goes On"—recorded in 1963 and featuring John Lennon on vocals—has surfaced on on eBay through Parlogram.
Though the song would not be released by The Fab Four until 1965's Rubber Soul, the song actually predates The Beatles. Lennon originally wrote the song all the way back in the late Fifties, for his pre-Beatles group the Quarrymen.
Lennon kept the song around, and—according to Parlogram—even considered recording it with the group as a follow-up to their breakthrough hit, "Please, Please Me," before dropping it in favor of the single's eventual follow-up, "From Me to You."
The song continued to kick around though, and the band eventually recorded it for Rubber Soul with rewritten verses, a solo from George Harrison, and Starr on lead vocals.
The demo—which is currently up for auction—features Lennon on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, with Paul McCartney providing harmonies. You can hear a snippet of it—recorded directly from the acetate—below.
For more information on the demo, you can examine the listing for yourself here.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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