Aha... Good point... Thank you!!
The most "strange" solo in The Beatles early days is Harrison's one on 'Till There Was You'. I have always thought that Jim Gretty was behind that solo...
Xosé
Yeah, I always loved the solo in Till There Was You. I have never heard the original, or whichever version it was that the Beatles copied their version from. Maybe there's a version of that song which has that exact same solo and George just copied it note for note?
? It has a very "jazz" feel to it and they are using major 7th chords etc which aren't usual in straight rock n roll patterns.
I suppose it was McCartney's influence, getting them to add these show tunes into their set, which was one factor which set them apart from other groups. They could cater to all age groups rather than just play rock n roll for teenagers - just look at the Royal Variety Show, where they played Till There Was You (for the older generation) and then went into Twist And Shout (for the kids). It's very clever marketing.
And The Beatles would then re-use all these non-rock chords in their own compositions - even early songs like Ask Me Why have some really nice chord sequences and harmonies going on. They were very clever young men and knew exactly what they were doing when they gathered all these different influences and re-used them in their own songs.