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Today, after laying down lead and backing vocals for “Eleanor Rigby” (another day at the office, ho-hum), The Beatles decided to attempt a new version of “I’m Only Sleeping.” But after five takes (one of which appears on Anthology 2) they decided that the remake wasn’t going anywhere, and went back to add vocals to the version recorded on Wednesday.
Sounds simple enough, but, according to Mark Lewisohn:
On this occasion the tape machine was run at 45 cycles instead of 50, thus speeding up John’s voice quite considerably on playback. Just to complicate matters further, the rhythm track onto which John’s vocal was superimposed was taped at 56 cycles and played back at 47 3/4.
So at this point The Beatles were already well along the path to creating songs that could never be played live. And remember, at this point they still had a tour scheduled for the upcoming summer. Of course, everyone knew at this point that a Beatles show was not about the music; you couldn’t hear a thing for all the screaming, and it’s a wonder they carried on with it as long as they did.
In Beatles Heaven, the boys will play small club shows, performing songs from throughout their career, and they will be note-perfect, and yet with an improvisational element and somehow indefinably better. You will be able to hear a pin drop in there, except between songs, when the place will erupt in Shea Stadium–quality pandemonium. Panties will be thrown, and Prince and Billy Preston may drop by for the occasional guest spot. It will be nice.