Early Origins
According to Beatles biographer John T. Marck, "Real Love" originated as part of an unfinished stage play that Lennon was working on at the time titled "The Ballad of John and Yoko." The song was first recorded in 1977 with a hand-held tape recorder on his piano at home. Eventually the work evolved under the title "Real Life", a song Lennon would record at least six takes of in 1979 and 1980, and then abandoned. The song was eventually combined with elements of another Lennon demo, "Baby Make Love To You".
In later versions, Lennon altered portions of the song; for example, "no need to be alone / it's real love / yes, it's real love" became "why must it be alone / it's real / well it's real life." Some takes featured an acoustic guitar, while the eventual Beatles release had Lennon on the piano. The song eventually released in 1996 most closely reflected the lyrical structure of the early demo takes of the song.
Lennon appears to have later ignored the song, which remained forgotten until 1988, when the sixth take of "Real Love" appeared on the Imagine: John Lennon film and soundtrack album. The song was also released on the Acoustic album in 2004. The demo with just Lennon on piano was released in 1998 on John Lennon Anthology and then later, on Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon.
Read more about this topic: Real Love (The Beatles Song)
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