It’s always intriguing to hear classic songs in their embryonic form. Recently we were floored by an early version of Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run (hosted here) that featured hideously cheesy female backing vocals: thank god they didn’t make the final cut. In that spirit, here’s five first drafts of well-known songs that ended up sounding very different.
Guns N’Roses - November Rain
Axl Rose toyed with this ballad for nine years before it was finally released in 1992. This early version finds his vocal supported by out-of-tune acoustic guitar rather than piano.
[Listen]
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields
This alternate take features different instrumentation and faster, more complex drum fills than the finished version. Listen out for the funky drum break at 2.05, ushering in a wickedly percussive coda, like James Brown gone psychedelic.
[Listen]
Radiohead - The Bends
Recorded at a funereal pace, it’s difficult to square this dreary dirge with the volcanic rock anthem it eventually became. Climaxes with what sounds suspiciously like a flute solo. Ugh.
[Listen]
Oasis – Live Forever
In this demo, Liam Gallagher’s vocals sound shaky and lack bite. When the band came to record the song for Definitely Maybe, producer Owen Morris encouraged them to shorten the intro and save the guitar solo until after the second chorus. Wise move.
[Listen]
Muse – Sunburn
Matt Bellamy originally played the intro on guitar rather than piano, and prefaced the chorus with the faintly pathetic line, “I’ll still feel your glow,” before later settling on the more hard-hitting, “Guilty conscience grows.”
[Listen]
2:57 PM | 19/10/2007
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