Peter Asher reveals he has another previously unheard Beatles demo

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Peter Asher reveals he has another previously unheard Beatles demo
Steve Marinucci
Beatles Examiner
December 22, 2013

Peter Asher made news early this year with the discovery of a previously unheard demo for “World Without Love” by Paul McCartney that he's been playing at his shows and he told Beatles Examiner he has another Beatle demo that he wants to unveil.

“I have a demo of 'I'll Follow the Sun' that is kind of damaged. Somehow when it got transferred to digital, it got some big digital noises and gap in the middle of it, a Rose Mary Woods gap,” he says. “But I have that which I'll throw in the show eventually at some point or I'll play it somewhere. I think he recorded that at the same time he recorded the 'World Without Love' demo.” Asher played the demo for the first time during his guest host stint Dec. 22 on "Chris Carter's 'Breakfast With the Beatles.'"

“World Without Love” was not sung on “The Ed Sullivan Show” first by Peter & Gordon, but by Bobby Rydell, who himself had covered the song at the same time in a version more orchestrated than Peter & Gordon's. Rydell performed the song on the show a few weeks before Peter & Gordon were to appear.

“They didn't want to have us on because they didn't want the same song on two weeks later,” said Asher, who recalls it didn't really end up bothering them. “We heard something about it, but as soon as we got to America, ours took off and his fell away and we won. We didn't really care. I'm sure if we'd lost we'd be thoroughly pissed off. But we got to number one, he got to number 87, so we were ok with that”

He says he talked to Rydell about a year ago. “I told him 'You and I should do 'World Without Love' together. It'd be kind of funny.'”

But it didn't happen. “I'm not sure he quite got it. I thought it would be a cool moment for the nerdy trivia buffs,” said Asher.

Asher will be among a group of British Invasion veterans that include Donovan and Billy J. Kramer appearing in February at the Fest for Beatles Fans at New York's Grand Hyatt Hotel.


Courtesy Peter Asher



The "World Without Love" demo by Paul McCartney. YouTube