Was that an unreleased Beatles song played for the first time on radio show? (6/24/2014)

By Steve Marinucci
6/24/2014

A song that everyone who has ever seen a Beatles movie knows about was played in full for the first time on the June 22 edition of “Chris Carter's 'Breakfast With the Beatles'” on KRLA-FM in Los Angeles with the revelation the song may indeed be an unreleased Beatles song.

The tune, known as “Train Music,” is the song that is heard in the Beatles' first movie  when Ringo turns on the transister radio while the group is on the train in the early scenes in “A Hard Day's Night.” Dave Morrell, author of “Horse-Doggin': The Morrell Archives, Volume 1,” who was a guest on the show, said that the song, about 30 seconds long, was found in a box called “The Beatles.”

That's substianted a bit by an unconfirmed posting on “The Beatles Bible” describing what appears to have been a past auction on eBay. “The cardboard EMITAPE box is 5 inches in size, & has a piece of green colored Twickenham Film Studios paperwork partially attached to the back of the box, with several other torn off pieces of the old paperwork housed inside the box, this green paper is quite brittle from age, one can make out the words 'Hard Days Night' handwritten on the faded document.”

But the big question, of course, is the song by the Beatles? In the book “Way Beyond Compare,” author John C. Winn reports that film producer Walter Shenson verified the song was done by the Beatles, though the interview seems not to be available anywhere. From the sound of the song, it was made to appear as not being by the Beatles.

Host Chris Carter also believes it's the Beatles. “I think it's 'them' for the following reasons: It sounds like them. The tape box said 'The Beatles.' If it was another group, that other group would have claimed it was them sometime in the last 50 years! It was found along with other music not used in the film by George Martin.

“And lastly I trust the sources Ron Furmanek and and Dave Morrell. The big question is why it's not noted in the Beatles recording history data. My guess is it might have been recorded during a George Martin Orchestra session. It was just recorded 'live' and did not have a track sheet.”

As Ron Furmanek told us by email, “Why not?  Until someone comes up with the 100% positive proof of who it actually is, why not believe?”