During their career, The Beatles recorded a number of songs that were never issued until much later after the break-up. Which - if any - of these do you think warranted inclusion either as a b-side or on an album? And what would you have replaced? Below I've compiled a list of songs that were fully recorded and intended to be used by themselves. I have left of the various demo's that were either produced for themselves or for other artists. I've included two songs that were released, but not on their intended albums.

How Do You Do It? (PPM)
Leave My Kitten Alone (Beatles For Sale)
Bad Boy (Help!)
If You've Got Trouble (Help!)
That Means A Lot (Help!)
Wait (Help!)
12 Bar Original (Rubber Soul)
Only A Northern Song (Sgt. Pepper)
Not Guilty (TWA)
What's The New Mary Jane (TWA)
Teddy Boy (Let It Be)

I've also always thought that 'I Call Your Name' was relegated to relative obscurity on the 'Long Tall Sally' EP, and could have been included on AHDN.

Quoted from BlueMeanie

During their career, The Beatles recorded a number of songs that were never issued until much later after the break-up. Which - if any - of these do you think warranted inclusion either as a b-side or on an album? And what would you have replaced? Below I've compiled a list of songs that were fully recorded and intended to be used by themselves. I have left of the various demo's that were either produced for themselves or for other artists. I've included two songs that were released, but not on their intended albums.

How Do You Do It? (PPM)
Leave My Kitten Alone (Beatles For Sale)
Bad Boy (Help!)
If You've Got Trouble (Help!)
That Means A Lot (Help!)
Wait (Help!)
12 Bar Original (Rubber Soul)
Only A Northern Song (Sgt. Pepper)
Not Guilty (TWA)
What's The New Mary Jane (TWA)

I've also always thought that 'I Call Your Name' was relegated to relative obscurity on the 'Long Tall Sally' EP, and could have been included on AHDN.

Great thread, BM!

For my money, Leave My Kitten Alone is as good as any of the covers they did, with possible exceptions of Long Tall Sally, Kansas City, Twist and Shout, and Money.

BTW - In the States, I Call Your Name was not relegated to obscurity, appearing prominently on The Beatle's Second Album. (so to speak).

How Do You Do It replacing Chains
If you've got trouble replacing Act Naturally
That means a lot replacing Tell me what you see
Wait replacing Dizzy miss lizzy
Only a northern song replacing WYWY
Not guilty replacing Revolution 9

I forgot 'Teddy Boy', left off Let It Be.

Quoted from BlueMeanie

I forgot 'Teddy Boy', left off Let It Be.

was junk also intended for an album like abbey road ?

if so id have it instead of Her Majesty and have it somewhere in the medley leaving The End as the album Closer

Quoted from fendertele

How Do You Do It replacing Chains
If you've got trouble replacing Act Naturally
That means a lot replacing Tell me what you see
Wait replacing Dizzy miss lizzy
Only a northern song replacing WYWY
Not guilty replacing Revolution 9

Disagree with all (except maybe WYWY, don't recognize that ...)!.

If you've got trouble has always seemed really weak to me, and I love the harmonies on Act Naturally.

Love John's screamer voice on Dizzy Miss Lizzy (sloppy bleedthrough lead guitar courtesy G. Martin production notwithstanding).

Replace Revolution #9? ... it's like replacing the Eiffel Tower or something.

I do like "How do you do it", but I love Chains ("Bop Shoo Wop, Bop Bop Shoo Wop").

Maybe I'm too much of a sucker for harmonies, and maybe too esconced in my comfort zone!

Quoted from fendertele

was junk also intended for an album like abbey road ?

if so id have it instead of Her Majesty and have it somewhere in the medley leaving The End as the album Closer

As far as I'm aware it was only recorded as a demo.

Quoted from BlueMeanie

As far as I'm aware it was only recorded as a demo.

wasnt to sure as i had read this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_(song)

but thought id check as i know how accurate wiki can be

Quoted from fendertele

Only a northern song replacing WYWY
Not guilty replacing Revolution 9

NO WAY!! I like Only a Northern Song but it can't touch Within You Without You. I think the anthology said that Northern Song was going to run between Fixing A Hole and She's Leaving Home. I can see that actually. and it's not like the album runs long so I think you could throw it on there without replacing anything. but personally, I like it where it is: not on Pepper's.

as for Revolution 9, I like it and like where it's at. but for the sake of argument, if you're going to replace it, it runs long enough to include Mary Jane and Not Guilty. but I wouldn't like that. Not Guilty isn't that good if you ask me. as for Mary Jane, and the original poster's question, I can see that as a b-side if one of the songs from the White Album was released as a single. I can see it backing Guitar Gently Weeps or something

i don't understand how If You Got Troubles was rejected. i have the Anthology CDs and that song is on it. i personally have a love for that song.

Of the unreleased ones, "Leave My Kitten Alone" is the best of the lot, but the somewhat ramshackle playing suggests that a few more takes were in order to get it into releasable shape. The rest were quite rightly shelved. "That Means A Lot" sounds like Paul trying and failing to rewrite "Ticket To Ride," with awkward transitions and provisional lyrics sticking out: "Love can be deep inside / Love can be suicide," for example. Awkward transitions are also the problem in "Not Guilty," a song I rather like nevertheless.

"If You've Got Troubles" sounds like another of Paul's songs about Jane Asher, but it's only half thought out. I like Ringo's full throttle crash-and-burn take of it, though: he was apparently determined to either force the song to work or demolish it once and for all. He maybe manages both, I think. "12 Bar Original" is filler and altogether too much like "Green Onions." "What's The New Mary Jane" is a private in-crowd joke that's lazily performed and goes on for far too long. "Teddy Boy" is a throwaway for which a decent Beatles take doesn't exist.

Of the released songs, "Wait" and "Bad Boy" are capably done, but "Only a Northern Song" is laden with ennui and was deservedly left off Pepper.

Sorry to sound so negative about the unissued songs! I'm happy these are now available, and I do listen to them, but the decision to send them to the tape vault at the time of their making was the right one, I think.  

My two cents:

"12 Bar Original" screams "Filler!", especially as it's the length of two songs.  It might have passed for a b-side, but that's about it.

"Kitten" also seems to be filler. "Beatles For Sale" is already 1/4 covers; did they really need another one?

"How Do You Do It" is just lame, though they deliberately did it that way.  Maybe if they had put some effort into it it might have gotten released, but the version that's out there was better off being shelved.

"Not Guilty" I think would have fit in quite well on the White Album.  It could have replaced "Long Long Long" or "Savoy Truffle", preferably "Long...", since I like "Savoy" better!  IMHO, the version that George released in 1979 is too soft and mushy.

"What's The New Mary Jane" is too "far out" to have fit on a Beatles album.  B-side or Plastic Ono Band album/single yes, but not for the Beatles.

I've never been crazy about "Bad Boy" or "Wait" but as filler they're OK.  (Obviously, "Bad Boy" wasn't filler but you get my point).

"If You've Got Trouble" and "That Means A Lot" could have been good songs, but they needed a lot of work to get to that point and the Fabs apparently didn't have the time/patience to complete them.

I like "Only A Northern Song" and I think it might have fit between "Fixing A Hole" and "She's Leaving Home". One George song per side would have worked.  But if it meant dropping "Within You", then I'd have to keep "Within You".

Leave My Kitten Alone would have fit in on Beatles For Sale and would have been a better solution than Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby, Mr Moonlight or Honey Don't imo. I Call Your Name could have been the 14th song on A Hard Days Night, never understood why it wasn't on the album. Bad Boy is an okay recording with great vocals by John and Wait was nicely redone to fit in on Rubber Soul. I'd love to hear the version they did for Help!, as I think there's worse songs on that album than Wait. The rest is forgettable and understandably rejected by The Beatles.

Quoted from fendertele

was junk also intended for an album like abbey road ?

"Junk" was written in India in 1968, I believe, and was first demo'd at George Harrison's house along with a lot of other White Album songs just before sessions for that album began. There's a take of it on Anthology 3. I think Paul mentioned that it was intended for Abbey Road in the interview that was issued along with the first release of McCartney, so there might have been some thought given to using it on that one, too, unless he was just mistaken.  

I never really liked teddy boy