On This Day in 2009, The Beatles’ 10-Minute Version of “Revolution” Leaked

Sixteen years ago today, Beatles fans everyone got a happy surprise. On Feb. 26, 2009, take 20 of “Revolution” leaked, giving fans a previously unheard 10-minute peek into the recording sessions for the band’s 1968 release, The White Album.

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At the time of the leak, Entertainment Weekly, citing Mark Lewisohn’s book, The Beatles: Recording Sessions, reported that the unheard track was recorded by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr over three days in the summer of ’68.

Lennon recorded his vocals while lying flat on his back to change how his voice sounded, according to the outlet.

The 30-track album includes both “Revolution 1” and “Revolution 9.” The previously unreleased recording was a combination of those two tracks. The band, EW reported, thought the 10-minute song had single potential, but worried the run-time would negate that possibility.

With that in mind, The Beatles opted to to split the song in two. The first half of the lengthy track became “Revolution 1,” while the latter half helped to inspire “Revolution 9.”

Even Beatles experts were bowled over by the surprise leak.

“As someone who’s heard, I’d say, 99.8 percent of the Beatles music that has leaked onto bootleg, this is really interesting,” Richie Unterberger, author of the book The Unreleased Beatles, told the outlet.

How Did The Beatles’ Recording Leak?

There’s no definitive answer to how the recording made its way online. Per Rolling Stone, the song first surfaced on the Europe-only bootleg Revolution: Take Your Knickers Off. The title was a nod to Lennon saying “Take your knickers off and let’s go” before take 20 began, the outlet reported. 

Lewisohn’s book, EW reported, claimed that two copies of the recording existed. Lennon went home with one copy, while the second remained in EMI Records’ hands.

While it’s possible someone stole the now-vaulted copy, it seems more likely that Lennon’s copy of the recording was the one that leaked.

“That’s not so far-fetched,” Unterberger said. “John kept a lot of his tapes. Who knows if it was someone rummaging through Yoko [Ono’s] stuff in an unauthorized capacity, but it’s possible that she still had that tape.”

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