Number 8 - Stand By Me

Beatle involvement:  

John and Paul

Listenability: 2 out of 5

On 28 March 1974 John, Paul and several other musicians were involved in a drug affected jam session that was never intended for public release. Almost 20 years later a bootleg recording of the session surfaced under the title ‘A Toot And A Snore’. Unfortunately it has more historical value than musical value. The ‘highlight’ is take 3 of ‘Stand By Me’. John starts on lead vocals and after about 40 seconds in Paul joins him and the pair trade vocals for about one minute before John’s voice disappears. Paul’s vocal performance isn’t the best, possibly because he is playing the drums and singing at the same time. A third voice can be heard later in the track for anyone who is still listening. You can significantly improve the listenability of the track by clicking pause on the YouTube video at the 3 minute mark!

What they said about it:

Paul:

It’s very difficult to remember those days, because it was all a bit crazy and everyone was getting 'out of it', but yes, John was doing some recordings in L.A. and I showed up. It was a strange session. The main thing that I recall, apart from the fact that Stevie Wonder was there, is that someone said "What song shall we do?" and John said "Anything before '63. I don't know anything after '63." Which I understood because it's the songs from your formative years that you tend to jam. I'm always doing old Bo Diddley tunes, or Elvis songs like "That's Alright Mama". Anyway, it wasn't a very good session, and I don't think we recorded much of interest, but I ended up on drums, for some reason. And, no I don't have a tape of it.

John: 

I jammed with Paul. I did actually play with Paul, yeah. We did a lot of stuff in LA. But there were fifty other people playing, and they were all just watching me and Paul! 

Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC2 - 1975

May Pang:

I was playing tambourine with Mal Evans. . . . All of a sudden I looked up and said, “Paul?” John turned around and said, “Oh, hello, Paul.” It was like they’d seen each other just the night before.  John hadn’t seen him in a couple of years at that point.  Then Paul’s heading to the drums; he just went to Ringo’s drum kit and started to jam. Stevie Wonder happened to drop by.  Stevie’s on the electric piano, Linda’s on the Hammond B3. . . . Everybody was just hanging out and jamming.

 We had no clue he was coming, all of a sudden we turned around, and Paul was there. 

Taken from McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin

 Question: I've recently heard the bootleg, "A Toot and a Snore", which is of the famous recording session of John and Paul in 1974 (which is mentioned in your book). A version of "Lucille" is on the record, but not the version of "Midnight Special" which you mentioned in your book. Paul recently mentioned that "Midnight Special" was recorded. Have you heard any of the tapes from this session?I have not heard anything from that session in years. I can still hear the jam in my head like it was yesterday. I know people have commented on how awful it sounded - what everyone forgets is that it was not intended for recording but just a fun jam after a first day of a Harry Nilsson recording session. Fans need to back off on criticism for this bootleg. It was not a recording session, just everyone getting together, relaxing and having fun - what is wrong with that? 

Taken from Ear Candy Mag. Interview with May Pang by Ronnie.

 Other Bits and Pieces

Paul and John also got together the next day after the jam. Several photos showing John and Paul together were taken on this day.