January 25, 2013

Paul McCartney's 1964 demo of "World Without Love."

Presented by Peter Asher — the Peter of Peter and Gordon who had the hit single version of the song — who is playing it as part of the shows he's doing these days:



Peter was the brother of Jane Asher, who famously dated Paul McCartney at the height of Beatlemania. The Lennon-McCartney songs recorded by Peter and Gordon — "A World Without Love," "Nobody I Know," "I Don't Want To See You Again," "Woman" — were written by Paul.

What about "I Go to Pieces"? That was a nice Peter and Gordon song. It was written by Del Shannon, who also wrote "Hats Off to Larry" and "Runaway," and who committed suicide in 1990. Peter's Gordon — Gordon Trueman Riviere Waller — died of a heart attack in 2009.



Peter does his Austin Powers imitation at 2:33.

25 comments:

McTriumph said...

Lip Sync!, great song, great memories.

edutcher said...

You hear it every now and again on XM Radio.

And, yeah, P & G benefited greatly from baby sis' dating a Beatle.

(my sister was soooo jealous of her)

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It's safe to say Paul didn't meet Jane at a singles bar.

kjbe said...

BTW, Peter's hairstyle was still in Richland Center in 1972, per spouse's senior high photo.

madAsHell said...

Bad Lip Synch!

That video must have been captured on 35mm film.

Big Mike said...

I always enjoyed Peter and Gordon's "Lady Godiva." Which goes to show that before I became a dirty old man I was a dirty young man.

Charlie Currie said...

The mid-century modern stage props would be quite popular in my neighborhood. My home too.

cheers

Charlie Currie said...

The mid-century modern stage props would be quite popular in my neighborhood. My home too.

cheers

Anonymous said...

The Beatles also wrote and recorded in demo "Bad to Me" a big hit for Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. The Beatles thought that "Bad to Me" wasn't good enough for them. Love the guitar riff and I play it to this day..
Beatle Demo is here: John singing.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLm_FMelIck&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode+1&safe=active

edutcher said...

Mike, we all did.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

We also have Peter Asher to thank for bringing James Taylor into Apple Studios and producing his first and many of his subsequent albums.

Cog said...

Very cool of Peter to put this on Youtube. The two were almost roommates at the height of Beatlemania, their bedrooms side by side on the attic floor of the Ashers house. Paul has said they often talked into the late hours, listening to records and discussing books. It was all part of Paul widening his horizons at that time.

bagoh20 said...

Young male pop stars have the same hair today 4 decades later. Biebermania

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid and heard everything on a tiny, tinny radio, I assumed "Bad to Me" was by The Beatles.

It was amazing how The Beatles were so prolifically good they could let strong songs go to others or only to singles release.

Nathan said...

"at 2:33"

At . . . the conclusion of the clip?

Dave in Tucson said...

Peter was the brother of Jane Asher

And presumably still is (aren't they both still alive?)

Anonymous said...

Peter also produced albums by Linda Ronstadt who has a brother named Peter, who used to be the Tuscon Police Chief

Anonymous said...

Here's a more fleshed out version of "World Without Love" with John on lead vocal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0QhxHG83NE

Anonymous said...

Skip ahead to 4:05 for "World Without Love".

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

The Beatles had an in group policy to not put singles on their albums. Their reasoning was that fans had already bought the two single 45 rpm songs (A side & B side) and didn't want to make them pay twice for a song they already owned. Nice of the lads, that.

SeanF said...

The Lennon-McCartney songs recorded by Peter and Gordon — "A World Without Love," "Nobody I Know," "I Don't Want To See You Again," "Woman" — were written by Paul.

If they were written by Paul, what makes them "Lennon-McCartney songs"? Weren't they just "McCartney songs"?

LordSomber said...

Del Shannon himself covered "World Without Love" in 1964.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xwuQnnC-9g

And a live version of "I Go To Pieces" on what looks like Hee-Haw(!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibNqFLdwdS4

Alex said...

Interesting how the Beatles' quality control filter was in 1964, they never would have put this out as a single. They were putting out "I Feel Fine" instead.