Holy Grail Recording #7 - Norwegian Wood take 3

In this series, In The Life Of...The Beatles presents the top 10 unreleased recordings of the Beatles.

For whatever reason, John Barrett neglected to make a tape copy of take 3 of the superb "Norwegian Wood (Third Bird Has Flown)" when dubbing copies of certain session tapes while he documented Beatles recordings for the Beatles at Abbey Road studio tour that occurred in 1983. Mark Lewisohn, one of the few to have heard it, described it as follows: "Take three was predominantly acoustic, with two acoustic guitars and Paul's bass, and nothing else bar vocals from John and Paul. This take saw the introduction of the acoustic opening which was to remain for the final version. Take four was that final version, with sitar reinstated."

Here's take 4, where John shows that he can master the guitar intro: "I showed ya!"



Next installment: June 9