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6.27pm
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15 February 2015
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What a lovely little song this is! I rather wish they’d done it properly instead of giving it away– the guitar work alone is criminally tasteful. I remember someone here saying it was like a melody you’d always known, but didn’t know about till now, or something like that (all of the Beatles’ songs were like that, when I first heard them). For me it recalls Do You Want To Know A Secret in its structure and melodic pattern– the intro with those strums, the repeating melody line, and that middle eight which is quite unlike the rest.
Under the comments of one particular YouTube incarnation, someone wrote, ‘This song will never be bad to me, or anyone for that matter!’ I concur. 
([{BRACKETS!}])
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6.55pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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One of my favourite Lennon demos, @Beatlebug, and a shame that no Beatles version exists (despite the many claims on YouTube for fakes being real). It could easily have fitted onto With The Beatles . But then, Billy J. Kramer did a good version, and John was a big supporter of Billy.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
12.40pm
28 March 2014
Offline Yep, another fine Gem, that most people have never heard! 
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7.48am
22 December 2013
Offline Ron Nasty said
One of my favourite Lennon demos and a shame that no Beatles version exists
Don’t know what documentation exists for this recording, but I’m hearing more than just one guitar (more noticeable toward the end) which suggests to me that it’s more than simply a “Lennon demo”, unless of course John overdubbed the second guitar himself but the sound quality doesn’t quite match Abbey Road ‘s standards and it’s unlikely that John possessed his own recording equipment to pull it off at the time. The recording sounds like someone pressed the recording button on a crude recorder while he & Paul (the “lead” guitar sounds more like Paul’s bass playing to me) quickly laid it down for presentation to Billy J. Kramer.
This notion that all four Beatles have to be playing on it to “qualify” as a “Beatles version” is nonsense. John & Paul had a pact that regardless of who “wrote” a song, it went out as Lennon/McCartney. I subscribe to everything that they recorded whether together or separately as Beatles’ recordings, with the only exceptions I can think of off hand being Paul & George’s soundtrack scores for ‘Family Way’ & ‘Wonderwall’ which were projects spearheaded by others not involved with the group. ‘Electronic Sound ‘ very likely wasn’t even George’s playing to begin with while John & Yoko’s ramblings are just that, John & Yoko’s.
‘Bad To Me’ could’ve been written especially for Billy J. Kramer, or it could’ve been one of the many Beatles’ songs like ‘One After 909 ‘ that were just kicking around. There’s also the possibility that The Beatles could very well have performed this song live, and on more than one occasion, there’s no extensive documentation to prove or disprove this. We do know that dozens of recordings went out under the guise of Beatles while they were together where only one of them were present and ‘Bad To Me’ appears to atleast have more than one of them involved in its inception while they were working together as a group, no different than ‘Dehra Dun’ which I also consider to be a “Beatles version”, not a “Harrison demo”….:-)
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Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I thought Ron meant Beatles version as a recorded studio version instead of a home demo. Do we really need another discussion on what makes a Beatles recording a Beatles recording or not, everyone knows where everyone stands after ‘Free As A Bird ‘ and ‘Real Love ‘.
As for the Beatles playing it live, they never did, it was composed solely for Kramer and was never considered to be a Beatles number. I think Brian asked John to do so.
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Ron Nasty, Beatlebug"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
9.02am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline @Billy Rhythm We do know lots of the things you suggest we don’t, and they are well documented.
The song was written in April 1963 while John was on holiday with Brian in Spain. It was written with Billy J. Kramer in mind. The demo dates from May 1963, and it may or may not feature a second guitar from George or Paul, but it was recorded for Billy and the Dakotas to learn the song from. The Beatles never performed it live (their set lists from the beginning of 1963 on are well documented).
My point in saying that there is no Beatles version is that there are many fakes that exist of a band version claiming to be a Beatles version, when they are merely a mix of John’s demo and the Dakotas backing. I was not suggesting that a John solo recording could not be considered a Beatles track, but rather those fakes of Lennon with a band backing him on this is not, despite the claims you can find on multiple YouTube videos, a Beatles recording, but a fake.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
9.25am
22 December 2013
Offline meanmistermustard said
Do we really need another discussion on what makes a Beatles recording a Beatles recording or not
Evidently we do when someone comes along and states that “no Beatles version exists” when there is, in fact, a version that’s readily available as part of The Beatles’ Official Apple Catalogue. If ‘Bad To Me’ was included in ‘The Lost Lennon Tapes’ archive then I stand to be corrected for it is indeed a “Lennon demo”, but I don’t believe that it was included as part of that broadcast. With all due respect, if the discussion doesn’t interest you then there’s plenty of other threads for you to participate in here…:-)
9.52am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline Again, @Billy Rhythm, you are misquoting me. I merely said that there is no Beatles band version of it, despite claims to the contrary such as this:
However, the inclusion of a period demo, probably recorded in Dick James studio, as a guide for Billy J. Kramer, on an official Beatles archive release, doesn’t make it a Beatles recording. No more than the Quarrymen demos are Beatles recordings. Especially given the circumstances of its release. It is simply a period demo by John of a song that was not intended for The Beatles, about to fall out of copyright in Europe, and included on a release to prevent it becoming public domain.
"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
11.08am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline Billy Rhythm said
meanmistermustard said
Do we really need another discussion on what makes a Beatles recording a Beatles recording or notEvidently we do when someone comes along and states that “no Beatles version exists” when there is, in fact, a version that’s readily available as part of The Beatles’ Official Apple Catalogue. If ‘Bad To Me’ was included in ‘The Lost Lennon Tapes’ archive then I stand to be corrected for it is indeed a “Lennon demo”, but I don’t believe that it was included as part of that broadcast. With all due respect, if the discussion doesn’t interest you then there’s plenty of other threads for you to participate in here…:-)
I didnt say it didn’t interest me, i said do we need another discussion after the similar circles that have been traveled in the ‘Should “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” count as canon Beatles Songs?‘ thread?
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
7.33pm
28 March 2014
Offline Your all Bad To Me….. 
Merry Xmas everyone! 
BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms!
9.12am
Moderators
15 February 2015
Offline Every time this thread comes up I start singing ‘The birds in the sky would be sad an lonely if they knew that I’d lost my one and only…’
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