A lost 1960s audio recording of the Beatles playfully reviewing rock ‘n’ roll singles and chatting about Elvis Presley on a television program has been presented to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The recording of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison speaking on a December 1963 broadcast of the BBC’s “Juke Box Jury” was made by a viewer using reel-to-reel tape, the state broadcaster said Sunday.
A BBC spokeswoman said the tape was not of broadcast quality, but was “marvelous to have.” The BBC said it would try to match the recording with a silent film of the same program from its archives.
On the show, which featured a panel of guests who picked pop songs as either “hits” or “misses,” the Beatles reviewed new singles by artists including the Swinging Blue Jeans and their early hero, Elvis Presley.
“I love his voice and I love all the records like ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, but I don’t like the songs now,” Paul McCartney sniffed at Elvis’s “Kiss Me Quick” on the tape.
A young George Harrison added: “Elvis is great but the songs are not for me.”
But the “Fab Four” correctly predicted the song would be a chart hit.
John Lennon was upbeat about “I Could Write A Book” by The Chance: “It’s right good that one, it’s the bestest gear, that’s the sound boys,” he said through the screams of fans, who drowned out the world’s biggest pop band through much of the recording.
But both song and band failed to make a mark on the charts.
The BBC, which recorded few early broadcasts of “Juke Box Jury,” has appealed to those who might have captured early broadcasts on tape to rummage through their attics.
The Beatles, who made several appearances on BBC radio and television in the early years of their career, released a collection of many of their live performances on their 1994 album “Live At The BBC.”
