The first version of what was then called “This Bird Has Flown” was cut during the opening day of sessions for Rubber Soul and featured Harrison’s new discovery, the sitar. The band weren’t happy with it, so nine days later they returned to tape three more performances. On take two, John Lennon’s acoustic guitar, Paul McCartney’s bass, Ringo Starr on drums and Harrison’s drone-style sitar sit on track one. Harrison layered more sitar on tracks two and three, with the Lennon/McCartney vocals recorded on track three. Rather than opening with the verse melody as the final version does, this arrangement leads in with double-tracked sitar playing the tune of the bridge.
George had first been exposed to the sitar during the filming of Help! and became increasingly curious about Indian music. During a meeting with members of The Byrds in Los Angeles, David Crosby spoke about the music of Ravi Shankar, which prompted Harrison to explore his recordings.
Harrison later explained how the instrument came to be used: “It felt very familiar to me to listen to that music. Around that time I’d bought a cheap sitar in a shop called Indiacraft in London. When we were working on ‘Norwegian Wood’, it just needed something and it was quite spontaneous. I picked the sitar up and kind of found the notes. We put it on and it seemed to hit the spot and that was it.”
The rare recording is drawn from the forthcoming Rubber Soul Special Edition, newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell. The expanded collection opens the studio doors on the making of one of the band’s most pivotal albums, bringing together 24 early session recordings — including 20 previously unreleased takes and three previously unreleased home demos — alongside the album’s new stereo mix, original mono mix, original Capitol U.S. album version and the contemporary ‘Day Tripper’ / ‘We Can Work It Out’ single.
In other news, The Beatles recently confirmed 3 Savile Row as their first-ever official fan experience, opening in 2027 at the historic Apple HQ.
The Rubber Soul Special Edition is available to pre-order now on multiple LP, CD and Blu-ray formats via The Beatles’ official store.
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