DO THE BEATLES HAVE DEEP CUTS?

02/06/26

The short answer to this question is no--or rather the simplest answer. The Beatles are arguably one of the biggest, most well known, most talented, wettest panty making bands of all time. Their concerts literally smelled like wee after they played. Paul claims that he never smelled it, but that he believes that it's true. Okay, we're getting off track. The Beatles. Biggest band ever. Yes.

Apple Music has a "deep cuts" playlist on The Beatles artist page that most Beatles fans would not consider deep cuts. Again, taking into consideration their immense popularity and devoted fandom, their tracks have been heard the world over. Interestingly, and just as I thought, the tracks featured on Apple Music's deep cuts playlist are mostly alternate takes, demos, and live recordings. I will admit, there were some songs that I hadn't heard before (alternate/live takes don't count). Mostly old Quarrymen numbers that were included on Anthology I. This further underscores the importance of the question: Do the Beatles have deep cuts?

If you take a look at a lot of artists, at least the ones deemed popular enough to have Apple Music artist playlists attached on their page, their deep cuts playlists often don't include live tracks or alternate versions. There are some exceptions to this of course...there are previously unreleased tracks only recorded live or alternate versions that completely flips the song on its head. For the vast majority though, the deep cuts playlist includes songs from albums that have been passed over by the laymen, but sniffed out by their bloodhound fans. Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins deep cuts playlists are full of b-sides with the occasional demo thrown in. 

As of now, it looks as though The Beatles don't have any deep cuts--ones that aren't Quarrymen tracks stripped off some demo reel from 1960, that is. But what would other people describe as a Beatles deep cut? 

This question came to me on Monday night when I was trying to figure out what I was going to play for my show the next day. I didn't want to do another garage night. I wanted to focus on something specific, something with more of a theme. I landed on doing Beatles tracks because I'm still thinking about Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles and how much I loved the stories in it. I didn't want to do just any Beatles songs, I wanted to find ones that a lot of people hadn't heard before. But how do you do that with one of the biggest bands ever? The question stuck in my mind. Limited by my Beatles on wax collection, I had to dig through the tracklist to determine what I was going to play. Here's what I landed on:

"Hold Me Tight" - Meet The Beatles!

"Think For Yourself" - Rubber Soul

"What Goes On" - Rubber Soul

"I Want To Tell You" - Revolver

"Got to Get You Into My Life" - Revolver

"Getting Better" - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

"Fixing A Hole" - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

"Flying" - Magical Mystery Tour

"Baby, You're a Rich Man" - Magical Mystery Tour

"The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" - White Album

"Mother Nature's Son" - White Album

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" - Hey Jude & single release

"One After 909" - Let It Be

"The End" - Abbey Road [Not technically a deep cut but I wanted to end the show with it]

I added "Rain" and "All You Need Is Love" at the end just to fill time even though they aren't deep cuts. Sgt. Pepper's was probably the hardest to pull songs off of. Everything on the record is a well known song. I think I just chose some of my favorites instead of the obvious standouts like "L.S.D" or "A Day in the Life" (which I wouldn't have chosen anyways because they're still chart toppers). 

I opted to call these songs "cuts", omitting the "deep" part entirely. I had the lovely Samantha Uribe in the studio with me on Tuesday during my show, and she mentioned that she hadn't heard a lot of what I was playing. I would consider her an appreciator of The Beatles, one that knows much of their best work (popular and not), but not an insane deep diving fan like myself. Though I will say, this was a relatively shallow dive. In contrast, my parents both contended that they'd heard all except maybe one track. From what I can gather, "Flying" was probably it. It's a little known instrumental from Magical Mystery Tour--a remarkable performance of vocalizations by Ringo. 

I was raised on The Beatles, as was my father before me. My dad mentioned that the bulk of those who know The Beatles probably hadn't heard a lot of the tracks I played, minus the aficionados. To me they're like every other great Beatles song; a masterclass in pop music. 

I guess the Apple Music deep cuts playlist makes sense though. In order to find the real deep cuts for non-casual listeners, you have to dive all the way into the archives to find live recordings, studio outtakes, and home demos. That's what it takes to find songs that most people have never heard before from the one of the most popular bands of all time. 

This was a short post, and I apologize profusely for that fact. I've been losing my drive with all the academic bullshit that I've started to do over the last few weeks. Thankfully, I had two shows/displays of artistry/kickass musicians doing their thing inspiring me to write a few thousand words for the final weeks of January. Hopefully my posting doesn't become sparse this month. At least this post got out on time right?

"I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in, and stops my mind from wandering." | See you next week...

Cheers,

Jack