Five best Beatles offcuts that should have been released
It’s nearly impossible to pin down the exact number of songs The Beatles wrote together. The official count sits at around 213, covering the tracks recorded and released between 1962 and 1970. However, given the band’s extraordinary prolificacy—not just during their active years but even before their rise to fame—the true figure is likely much higher when factoring in the countless unreleased tracks, rough demos, and early song ideas that still float around in the band’s mythic archives.
Some of these unreleased tracks eventually took form later down the line. Plenty of George Harrison’s songs that only ever existed as demos in the world of The Beatles were eventually released as official recordings in his solo works. All four members squirrelled away ideas and off-cuts that were rejected by the group, later revisiting them in their solo works in a new form.
But even before the idea of going solo was even a slight possibility, when the band were going all in during their early days, the word ‘prolific’ didn’t even feel strong enough. John Lennon and Paul McCartney especially were tireless right out of the gate, and before they had any record label ready to release this music, it just kept stacking up and up and up, meaning that there are so many songs that never got a finished product or an official release.
Among them are some truly great tracks. Capturing the band’s early inspirations and following them through their various evolutions, from blossoming rock and roll fans to spiritual experimenters, there is an unreleased nugget of gold for each era and all aspects of the band’s merging influences. When it comes to Leave Five especially, it’s a crime they never made it to an official tracklist.
The five best unreleased songs by The Beatles:
‘In Spite Of All The Danger’
As one of the first songs The Quarrymen ever wrote and recorded, before eventually assuming the form of The Beatles, ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ was a sign from the very beginning that they were onto something special. Still performed live by Paul McCartney, it clearly remains not just as a dear and personal song with memories of his true musical origins, but as a composition he’s still pretty proud of.
And for good reason, too. As far as The Beatles’ early rock and roll sound goes, ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ is a great example. The melody has real grounding to make it instantly catchy, the lyrics are sweet and adoring, and the well-made bare bones of the track heard on the Anthology demos feel like it could have easily been translated into any era. It could have existed as is on one of their earliest records, but it’s also easy to imagine it sparked up with guitars or stripped back into a classic piano ballad for a refresh on Let It Be.
‘Like Dreamers Do’
Straight out of the gate, there was absolutely no stopping Paul McCartney. Right after meeting John Lennon, the pair were already prolific. All their time was dedicated to performing gigs or gathering around a kitchen table to share scraps of songs they’d written, figuring out how to turn them into hits together. Some of those songs eventually made it onto their debut album, but some, unfortunately, were left behind.
‘Like Dreamers Do’ was one of the unlucky ones, written way back in 1959. Perhaps the song felt somewhat cursed as it was performed and cut as a demo as part of their failed audition for Decca. However, while one label wasn’t impressed, another was, as the early recording of this track helped secure their eventual deal with EMI. It would have sat so pretty on Please Please Me as a gorgeous, classic rock and roll tune that perfectly encapsulates the band’s early energy, bridging mainstream radio-ready hits and the more countercultural, youth-led worlds of rhythm and blues. But it was passed over, doomed to live forever as an unpolished demo, never knowing what greatness Ringo Starr’s jazz-informed drumming might have brought to the tune.
‘Child Of Nature’
Get halfway through ‘Child Of Nature’, and you’ll ask yourself, “Wait, what song does this sound like?” Now change up the lyrics of “I’m one of nature’s children” to “I’m just a jealous guy”, as the song later found life as Lennon’s solo piece, ‘Jealous Guy’.
But originally, the song was a folk-informed, spiritually led tune that perfectly captures The Beatles in their late 1960s phase. Written in 1968 on the band’s trip to India to study with the Maharishi, ‘Child Of Nature’ was inspired by the same lecture that led McCartney to write ‘Mother Nature’s Son’. Amid the major tracklist arguments that plagued The White Album, McCartney’s track won out. And while the world should be glad to have the track this tune eventually morphed into, fostering so many amazing covers like Bryan Ferry’s or Donny Hathaway’s, it would have been interesting to see what the original take could have turned into.
‘Besame Mucho’
Four lads from Liverpool taking on a 1930s Mexican classic should not work. Paul McCartney, a white Scouser, has absolutely no business tackling this song with such swagger, but here we are. Around him, the early band, in their pre-Ringo Starr days, play a genuinely electric instrumental packed with genuine excitement and gorgeous tension that would have sounded incredible in its polished album form if Starr got involved and they had more time to get it down on tape properly.
Even in its loose demo form, it’s one of the most fun off-cuts from the band. The very fact that they dared to take on the cover in their Decca audition also speaks volumes for their guts as a band and the boldness with which they were already approaching their artistry as they refused to stay in their lane as classic British rock and rollers.
‘Cry For A Shadow’
In the band’s early days, before any record deals and the world knew their name, The Beatles boys were so prolific that it was impossible to give all those great tracks their moment in the sun. Even later down the line, when they had the capacity to put out really anything they wanted and were swelling their records into triple discs, it was still impossible to keep up with how many songs they were writing. However, in the 1960s, they were especially evolving in hyperspeed as they built a mammoth back catalogue while figuring out their sound.
‘Cry For A Shadow’ is one of the most interesting off-cuts and one that speaks to a whole different branch of their artistry. While we hear a lot about Lennon and McCartney’s early compositions, this one is credited to Lennon and Harrison, giving an insight into the guitarist’s early work. As an entirely instrumental cut, it’s also a look into a different side of the band as they were busy moonlighting as a backing band, taking major inspiration from The Shadows. Not only could an instrumental piece like this have elevated any one of their earliest albums, but even way later down the line, a revisit of this track would have sounded great morphed into any era.
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