Back in 1965, Paul McCartney wanted to give a present to fellow bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. So he went to the studio and secretly recorded an “album” full of experimental Christmas cheer.
Characterized more as Paul playing DJ for a radio show, only several copies were ever pressed onto acetate discs. Those discs were thought to have been lost, though bootleg versions were said to have been passed around. But someone recently uploaded the tape, called Unforgettable, to YouTube so you can enjoy McCartney’s Christmas cheer.
Writer Richie Unterberger describes the “left field” tape so in The Unreleased Beatles: Music And Film:
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For years, it had been reported that Paul McCartney recorded an album at home around Christmas 1965 specifically for the other Beatles. Supposedly, it included singing, acting, and sketches, and only three copies were pressed, one each for John, George, and Ringo. In a 1995 interview with Mark Lewisohn, Paul confirmed this in some detail, explaining, “Yes, it’s true. I had two Brenell tape recorders set up at home, on which I made experimental recordings and tape loops, like the ones in ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.’ And once I put together something crazy, something left field, just for the other Beatles, a fun thing which they could play late in the evening. It was just something for the mates, basically.”
Continued McCartney, “It was called Unforgettable and it started with Nat ‘King’ Cole singing ‘Unforgettable,’ then I came in over the top as the announcer” ‘Yes, unforgettable, that’s what you are! And today in Unforgettable…’ It was like a magazine program: full of weird interviews, experimental music, tape loops, some tracks I knew the others hadn’t heard, it was just a compilation of odd things. I took the tape to Dick James’s studio and they cut me three acetate discs. Unfortunately, the quality of these discs was such that they wore out as you played them for a couple of weeks, but then they must have worn out. There’s probably a tape somewhere, though.”
If it ever turns up, it might be the earliest evidence of the Beatles using home recording equipment for specifically experimental/avant-garde purposes—something that John and Paul did in the last half of the 1960s, though John’s ventures in this field are more widely known than Paul’s.
You can listen to the tape above.
[h/t Dangerous Minds]
