Maybe the greatest moment of Peter Jackson's gigantic 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back is the scene where the cameras capture Paul McCartney writing the Beatles classic "Get Back," seemingly on the fly. It's absolutely crazy to see this guy picking these notes and words out of the air, knowing that most of us have been hearing this song for our entire lives. And while we don't get to actually see it happening, we now get to hear the Beatles running through "Day Tripper," another song that feels like it has always existed, when it was still a work in progress.
Later this year, the Beatles will release a deluxe box-set edition of their 1965 album Rubber Soul, which includes recordings that have somehow never been released until now. They've already shared their first take of "Michelle," and now they've released their "songwriting work tape" of "Day Tripper," a song that didn't actually appear on the original version of Rubber Soul. Instead, it came out as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out" in December 1965.
In the newly shared version of "Day Tripper," we hear Paul McCartney and John Lennon playing the song together on acoustic guitars at Lennon's house. They hadn't written the central guitar riff yet, and they were still audibly figuring everything else out, too. The two-minute recording includes a bunch of false starts and moments where they break down giggling. It's a wild ride. Listen below.
The reissued version of Rubber Soul is out 10/2 on Apple Corps/Capitol/UMe.
