Julian Lennon made his musical debut at age 11 playing drums on his father’s first studio version of “Ya-Ya”. The 1974 recording would appear as the last track on John Lennon’s ‘Walls and Bridges’ album. This short, casual version of the song features just Julian on drums, and John on piano and vocals.
May Pang later recalled that Julian was disappointed when he found out the recording would make the ‘Walls and Bridges’ album, telling his father “If I’d known, I would have played better”.
“Ya-Ya” was originally performed by Lee Dorsey in 1961 and later covered again by John in a full length version on his “Rock ‘n’ Roll” album.
Click the Play button to hear the version with Julian:
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Running just 23 seconds long, “Her Majesty” is the shortest song in the Beatles official catalog. It was originally to be placed between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” on their Abbey Road album. Paul McCartney decided that the sequence didn’t work and the song was edited out of the medley by studio tape operator John Kurlander. Kurlander placed the edited out song after fourteen seconds of lead out tape at the end of the Abbey Road master tape. The original intention was to not have “Her Majesty” appear on the album, but they liked the “accident” and decided to keep it.
Click the Play button (arrow) to hear the song in its entirety:
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