The Fab Four: Jingle Bells (date unknown)

 |   |  <1 min read

The Fab Four: Jingle Bells (date unknown)

It may be a bit late now for this one, but the innovative and timeless John Lennon classic Tomorrow Never Knows began life in a very different form.

With Christmas very recent in his drug addled memory (he was smoking LSD on a daily basis and was experimenting with injecting marijuana with his soon-to-be-wife Yokahama Mama) he wrote this very bizarre version of Jingle Bells.

It wasn't his foray into Yuletide songs. Two years he previous he'd turned up in the Abbey Road studios with this unusual but heartfelt idea for covering Frosty the Snowman.

Frosty the Snowman
 

George Harrison -- then begining his lifelong embrace of Kristian consciousness -- was enthusiastic but the other Beatles, especially Paul McCartney who was always something of a spoilsport, refused to have Frosty or Jingle Bells released.

They were recently discovered and appeared on the Hark! album. 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Tall Dwarfs: Ride a White Swan (1998)

Tall Dwarfs: Ride a White Swan (1998)

In the course of researching the folksy-hippie sound of Tyrannosaurus Rex of the late Sixties, before they morphed into the brilliant pixiefied glam rock of T. Rex, I was turning up some... > Read more

Howard Morrison Quartet: Rioting in Wellington/Mori the Hori (1962)

Howard Morrison Quartet: Rioting in Wellington/Mori the Hori (1962)

Recorded live in concert in 1962, these two tracks by the enormously popular Howard Morrison Quartet show just how little things have changed in New Zealand, and how much they have. The... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

David's Spanish lamb and red pepper stew

David's Spanish lamb and red pepper stew

David says this is a deliciously simple recipe that can withstand a few variances in the amount of ingredients used, the only caution being that you use very good quality paprika. The Spanish brand... > Read more

Nidi D'Arac: Taranta Container (Galileo/Southbound)

Nidi D'Arac: Taranta Container (Galileo/Southbound)

The bio of this Italian group who appeared at Womad says they come from "the beautiful city of Lecce" in the far south. Well, as one who has been to Lecce I might debate some of its... > Read more