The Beatles Bootleg Recordings - Fake or Disputed Bootleg Songs

Fake or Disputed Bootleg Songs

A number of songs have been incorrectly claimed by bootleggers to be unreleased Beatles songs. Some originated as spoofs or parodies: "Bye Bye Bye" (Kenny Everett), "Cheese and Onions" (The Rutles), "Magical Misery Tour" (National Lampoon featuring Tony Hendra). Some were by obscure artists whose names were subject to misinterpretation, such as John and Paul ("People Say"/"I'm Walking") and John Lennon and the Bleechers ("Ram You Hard"). Some were by groups with a (sometimes intentional) Beatlesque style, such as The Fourmost ("I Love You Too"), The Gants ("I Wonder"), The End ("Shades of Orange"/"Loving Sacred Loving"), Lavender Circus ("N. Bourbaki's Multicoloured Jam"), and Smyle ("It's Gonna Be Alright"); or with a lead vocalist sounding like one of The Beatles, as on "We Are the Moles" (Simon Dupree and the Big Sound as The Moles).

A few "outfakes" have been labeled as Beatles tracks many times:

• "Have You Heard the Word". This song was credited to The Fut, and it was rumored to include some of The Beatles playing with some of The Bee Gees. The actual participants in the 1969 recording were Maurice Gibb, the duo Tin Tin, and Billy Laurie. The recording was so plausible as a Lennon song that Yoko Ono tried to copyright its lyrics as a Lennon composition after his death.
• "The L.S. Bumble Bee". Peter Cook and Dudley Moore combined psychedelic music with lyrics spoofing LSD. It was rumored that Lennon was somehow involved, perhaps as a rebuttal to the controversy about possible drug references in songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", but Moore has denied this; the song actually predates Sgt. Pepper, having been released in January 1967.
• "Oh, I Need You" (also identified as "Oh, I Want You"). This song was purported to have been recorded during early sessions for Abbey Road. The artist has not been determined with certainty, but it is often attributed to the band Mortimer, who signed with Apple Records in 1968.
• "Peace of Mind/The Candle Burns". The song was reportedly found in the Apple trash in 1970, and still has an unknown origin. Some claim it to be an actual Beatles home demo from around 1967, though the lack of any corroborating evidence and the voices on the record have left Beatles experts convinced that it too is a fake.