Peace Of Mind (The Candle Burns) | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I think I have this album. One side of the label is blank Orange and the other side is blank white. The tracking on the vinyl I have is side 1: peace of mind, lend me your comb, carol, Kansas City , lawdy miss clawdy, shake rattle and roll. Side 2: ed Sullivan show (taped Aug. 14-65 broadcast sept. 12-65), I feel fine, I’m Down , act naturally, Ticket To Ride , yesterday, help. I was researching this album I couldn’t find anything about when I found this page. I wish I knew how to post a picture. I’ma try and figure that out.

Thanx, I was down sizing my record collection and came across this album that from where I found it I got in my early teens. So I started researching it cause I like the Beatles and didn’t recognize it as Beatles so here I am still on my quest lol. Has anybody ever thought to use the equipment cops use to match voice waves or whatever to catch people? Voice recognition I guess?

Billy Rhythm said
Well, many say that they’ve heard George here, but not too many claim to hear Paul.  John sounds like different people for he’s multi-tracked at different speeds, and on atleast one track, in a different direction (backwards).  If you have access to the recording of ‘The Inner Light ‘ which was recorded around the same time as ‘Peace of Mind’, give it a listen, and if you can tune out the Indian Arrangement you’ll find that it’s a barebones acoustic song that’s very similar to this one.  George flies solo on ‘The Inner Light ‘ with a brief backing vocal by Paul towards the end of the song (“Do all without doing”), now copy George & Paul’s harmony to your own mental “clipboard” while giving ‘Peace of Mind’ another listen, and you’d probably be hard pressed to find a match.

 

Here’s another tidbit that strongly supports this song being recorded by John alone at his home studio in Weybridge.  Anyone who has a background in Audio Engineering and has recorded on the older Analog Tape Machines will recognize the distinct sound of starting up the reels, or the “snap/click” noise of pressing ‘Record’.  If you listen closely, you’ll hear the ‘Record’ button start up on the lead vocal track at 0.29 of the video posted above, and to further corroborate this you’ll then notice a “thumping” sound 12 seconds later at 0.41, as though somebody just plumped their bottom onto a chair where the microphone was setup after starting up the machine across the room because nobody else was around to do it for them.  There’s even a “shuffling about” just before the “thump” if you really listen closely that begins at 0.39 of the video.

 

Again, John wasn’t one to mess about with cleaning up (or avoiding) noise on his recordings, listen to any of he and Yoko’s home recordings released by Apple, such as ‘Life With The Lions (Unfinished Music No. 2)’, ‘The Wedding Album ‘, or especially the ‘Two Virgins ‘ LP which was recorded less than six months after ‘Peace of Mind’ was supposedly recorded and you’ll notice the many Audio Engineering “sins”.  ‘Peace of Mind’ actually sounds like a ‘Two Virgins ‘ outtake (actually, it would’ve been far & away the best track!) and was obviously recorded at the same studio in Weybridge.  George’s only real dive into the realm of experimentation on this level was his ‘Electronic Sound ‘ LP released in 1969, but the audio quality is far superior to any of John & Yoko’s offerings at the time.

 

If Paul & George were in fact present during the recording of ‘Peace of Mind’, then I would think that at the very least the recording would’ve sounded much better.  It sounds to me like ‘Peace of Mind’ was recorded by someone who was very stoned and up all night, who had no limits on his imagination (including following the most basic “rules” of sound recording technique), this would indeed sound like John Lennon in late 1967.  Remember that Paul & George both stopped taking LSD around the same time that their Manager, Brian Epstein passed away in August of 1967, whereas John turned to it to escape from this latest reality of having to manage themselves before he finally took an extended break from tripping while in India during the Spring of 1968.  Like anybody who quits drugs, Paul & George likely stayed away from John while he tripped during this period for he would be somewhere else altogether and not on the same level.  It’s just as hard for the one tripping to relate to those who aren’t as well, so John probably avoided them just the same.

 

What does LSD have to do with all of this?  Well, not too many people discuss the actual title of the song itself, which definitely suggests “inner enlightenment” (or, ‘The Inner Light ‘ again) which is often the chief “reason” people experiment with drugs in the first place, but at this point in John’s life he was seeking alternatives to LSD, such as Transcendental Meditation.  I find it difficult to believe that someone would go through the trouble of coming up with a title where the words aren’t taken directly from the lyrics of the song itself (‘Peace of Mind’ was always the title that I saw before the Internet came along, ‘(Candle Burns)’ was added by a Beatlegger later on, I believe).  This is another common trait of many John Lennon songs (‘A Day In The Life ‘, ‘Yer Blues ‘, ‘The Ballad of John & Yoko’, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows ‘, etc.) (yet another similarity to George’s ‘The Inner Light &#39 and if this reel was indeed discovered in an Apple dustbin, it likely had a ‘Peace of Mind’ label on it.  The double meaning of the word ‘Peace’ instead of ‘Piece’ was very John, he loved playing with words and ‘Peace’ was certainly one of his favourite words.

 

The title suggests what John was always searching all his life for, whether it was through Rock ‘N’ Roll , Drugs or Meditation, and on this particular occasion he’s attempting to find ‘Peace of Mind’ during yet another acid trip.  Unlike George’s ‘The Inner Light ‘ where he appeared to have genuinely discovered some answers by journeying inward with his lyrics, John’s ‘Peace of Mind’ looks more to be compromised of mainly outward observations, such as, “hearing the candle laughing” or a “safety pin returning his smile” before the big “just before it’s over, it’s really just begun” revelation at the end.  For those hearing George & Paul (still waiting for someone to notice Ringo!) on the recording, it still doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re in the room with John.  John often brought home recordings that were recorded elsewhere (such as the ‘Rain ‘ tape that he accidentally spooled through backwards) and it’s entirely possible that the others are heard because John was messing around with one of their discarded tapes, but I still can’t hear them myself personally, but I’ll keep trying because I love this song…:-) 

 
The TMOQ “Peace of Mind (The Candle Burns) CD contains both the mono version and a “full stereo” version.  Just curious if anyone heard this.  

        Several years ago I sought out unreleased Beatles songs  because I was going through a depressing divorce and thought the only thing that could bring me back to happiness was to own a NEW Beatles album. Unreleased unique songs  and different songs that stand alone. Not outtakes and live versions.

       There are some surprisingly awesome songs that were never released for one reason or another- these include Hold on I’m Coming(no relation to the hit single by another band) ,  Window Window,  and  A Case of the Blues. 

       The song that has always perplexed me is Peace of Mind (The Candle Burns).  Is it the Beatles or is it not?  There is a closed forum which discusses this at length but I felt it  should be an ongoing debate among Beatles fans.

       I think it is and had it on another Beatles bootleg (20 x4) I owned many years ago.  Curious as to your thoughts.