The 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ cult 1968’s record White Album will be celebrated with Super Deluxe Edition that contains an impressive amount of unreleased material including session takes and early acoustic demos. Recently we had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the goods that this edition contains through three previously unreleased versions of the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
The first version is titled “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Acoustic Version, Take 2) and features George Harrison, who wrote the song, on guitar and Paul McCartney on harmonium. It was recorded on July 25th, 1968 and contains lyrics that were later discarded from the album version: “I look from the wings at the play you are staging / As I’m sitting here doing nothing but aging.”
The second version is a demo that was recorded at Harrison’s bungalow in Esher.
The third and final version is a 2018’s mix.
The 50th Anniversary edition of White Album will be available on November 9th. Besides seven discs that will contain 50 session takes and demos among other material, the edition will also come with an array of additional bonus content including a 164-page book of rare photographs, reproductions of handwritten lyrics, written pieces by Paul McCartney, Kevin Howlett, John Harris, and much more.
