‘The Beatles: A fascinating, 10-minute ‘Revolution’ mysteriously appears’:
According to Mark Lewisohn’s definitive book The Beatles: Recording Sessions, this unheard version was recorded on May 30 and 31, and June 4, 1968. Strangely, John Lennon recorded his vocals while lying flat on his back, hoping it might make his voice sound different. The song starts off very similar to the version that was eventually released, but halfway through it veers off in all sorts of strange directions, adding whooping vocals, tape loops, and other sonic embellishments. It sounded great, as you can hear above, but there was a problem: The band quickly realized “Revolution” had potential as a single, and a 10-minute running time would make that impossible. The solution? They chopped it in half. The first part became “Revolution 1,” while the rest served as the basis for the “Revolution 9,” an experimental noise-fest that has long baffled many fans. Mystery solved! When you listen to this complete 10-minute version, suddenly “Revolution 9” starts to make a lot more sense.
