WOW. Just.....WOW!
Julia....
Thanks for sharing, I've never heard these recordings of this song. It's John Lennon's love song to his late Mother. Look up the song "Julia" on wikipedia, here is an excerpt:
"Julia" was written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and features Lennon on vocals and acoustic guitar. It was written during the Beatles' 1968 visit to Rishikesh in northern India, where they were studying under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was here where Lennon learned the song's finger-picking guitar style (known as 'Travis-picking') from the Scottish musician Donovan.[1]
Donovan said:
He told me he wanted to write a song about his mother. He said, "Donovan, you're the king of children's songs. Can you help me? ... I want to write a song about the childhood that I never really had with my mother." He asked me to help him with the images that he could use in lyrics for a song about this subject. So I said, "Well, when you think of the song, where do you imagine yourself?" And John said, "I'm at a beach and I'm holding hands with my mother and we're walking together." And I helped him with a couple of lines, "Seashell eyes / windy smile" — for the Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland feel that John loved so much.[2]
"Julia" was written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and features Lennon on vocals and acoustic guitar. It was written during the Beatles' 1968 visit to Rishikesh in northern India, where they were studying under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was here where Lennon learned the song's finger-picking guitar style (known as 'Travis-picking') from the Scottish musician Donovan.[1]
Donovan said:
He told me he wanted to write a song about his mother. He said, "Donovan, you're the king of children's songs. Can you help me? ... I want to write a song about the childhood that I never really had with my mother." He asked me to help him with the images that he could use in lyrics for a song about this subject. So I said, "Well, when you think of the song, where do you imagine yourself?" And John said, "I'm at a beach and I'm holding hands with my mother and we're walking together." And I helped him with a couple of lines, "Seashell eyes / windy smile" — for the Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland feel that John loved so much.[2]
What a great addition to the world of Beatles outtakes. There have been bootlegs of tons of material for years (many of which take up a lot of space in the basement), but these do seem like something that escaped the paws of John Barrett, who copied most of what appeared on CDs starting in 1988. I may have to add this 50th Anniversary Edition to the library, when it is available on vinyl.
Neil
Neil