I’m very happy to have Paul Fitzpatrick from Once Upon A Time In The 70’s guest host my blog today.
Colin Jackson and Paul Fitzpatrick who both run Once Upon A Time In The 70’s grew up in Bearsden, a northern suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. They were school friends from the age of five until in 1974, aged sixteen, Paul left school to start a career working with fashion and sportswear brands. Their paths would not cross again for forty-four years, during which time Colin pursued a career in Banking.
First off thank you to Max for inviting us to contribute to his great blog.
His choice of topic – ‘Choose your favourite Beatle song’, sounded like fun until I tried to narrow it down to just one!
You may have noticed that there’s a trend nay a feeding frenzy of corporations acquiring the rights to the song catalogues of heritage artists.
The life’s work of Bruce Springsteen was snapped up recently for $550 million, a record amount, beating the $350 million paid to Dylan for his catalogue in 2020.
In contrast, the estimated worth of the Beatles back catalogue is valued conservatively at $2 billion, although it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon as the ownership is acrimoniously shared between McCartney and Universal Music.
So, while it’s remarkable that a band who were at their peak seven decades ago are still recognised as the most treasured asset in popular music, it’s probably no great surprise, even if you aren’t the worlds biggest Beatles fan.
I guess that’s what happens when you are the most influential band of the 20th (and 21st) century, with an unrivalled catalogue of songs, hailed by critics and peers alike (if you discount Keith Richards!).
Choosing a favourite Beatles song is no easy feat then, firstly, there are so many to choose from, secondly, it depends what kind of Beatles mood you’re in…
A McCartney mood? Maybe a melodic “Hey Jude” or something more poppy like “Penny Lane”?
Or
A Lennon mood? Something psychedelic like a “Day in the Life” or perhaps a bit more soulful like “Don’t Let Me Down”?
To be honest I found it an impossible task, a Sophie’s choice, so I gave up and approached it from a different angle….
What is my favourite Beatles song that they never released (at their peak).
Now that narrowed it down a tad, and for me there was only one winner –
“Come and Get it” by Badfinger.
I was eleven when Badfinger released it as a single on December 5th 1969, so of course I had no idea that there was any sort of Beatles connection – written & produced by McCartney, released on Apple records, etc.
I just thought it was a fantastic pop song, the kind you can’t get out of your head, the kind you hear other people singing or whistling along to, so uncomplicated with the piano intro and the catchy chorus – two and a half minutes of musical joy.
It’s probably no surprise to learn that the prolific Macca completed his Beatles version in under 60 minutes on arriving an hour early for a recording session for Abbey Road. Most people would probably have read the paper or had a cup of tea to kill a bit of time, but Paul thought he’d use the time to knock out a classic pop song.
The Beatles – Come and Get it
McCartney has subsequently said that Lennon who was present, failed to engage or leave the control room to contribute a harmony vocal. Paul took this as a sign of indifference to his song, so instead of featuring on Abbey Road as Paul intended, it was offered to Badfinger, who recorded it nine days later.
In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald speculates that McCartney’s decision to gift this obvious hit to someone other than the Beatles may have been a loaded gesture, although he denied that there was any hidden meaning in the songs title…. mmm!
Despite the fact that Badfinger’s interpretation is an exact take of McCartney’s demo (as per Paul’s instructions) it’s still my favourite version, due chiefly to the harmonised vocals – if only Lennon had shifted his arse out of that control room!
Badfinger – Come and Get it
Paul Fitzpatrick – onceuponatimeinthe70s.com
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
I remember when Badfinger’s version came out and we thought it was The Beatles…then a really good cover band; and it seemed a little early for a tribute band to appear. I didn’t realize until right now that Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” was actually a Badfinger song.
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Don’t know if it’s true but I read that Harry thought it was a Beatles song as well.
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I had no idea that the Beatles recorded this first. The second video is awesome.
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undeniably a great song. I had thought McC wrote it specifically for Badfinger with the idea of giving them a leg up to kick off their career, since they were on Apple. Might have been a good Beatles song but all ended well (for music fans) since it certainly brought Badfinger to our attention and gave them a shot at the bigtime (which as Max has at times detailed on this blog, they fell short of due to bad management more than anything)
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Interesting to get the story on this song. I was under the same impression as Dave on this, fate has a way of bringing us a song. Great choice!
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*Excellent* choice, Paul. Nice clear writing and you stay on point. I think “Come and Get It” is a brilliant piece of songwriting with the melody and how it shifts. Like a lake glittering diamonds in the sun. I like how it was enhanced with the harmonies in Badfinger. Love Badfinger’s piano key combo intro also.
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Hey Lisa, I usually find Max or Dave say exactly what I want to before I have a chance to- today you said it for me! The deeper resonating piano intro , the slightly lusher harmonies. Perfectly said.
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🙂 Thanks, Ob!
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Great song Paul. When I first heard it in the late 70s I thought it was The Beatles. Badfinger came so close to that demo just as Paul wanted. Like I said before…I think John would have liked this song much more than Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.
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Lol that’s probably very true!
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My golly that was hard to read about Springsteen and Dylan. I knew about the rights of Dylan but I didn’t know about Springsteen selling out too. God that f&/cking sucks. You can see where this is going. Brave New World anyone? I don’t care if that seems melodramatic.
I had never heard this song before. The Beatles version has a distinct Beach Boys sound to my senses. Good song.
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Yea it surprised me that Bruce done that… he was so protective of his songs and now he did it.
It’s a cool pop song…the Beatles should have recorded it.
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Watch out for a commercial selling some hip new product telling us “your old world is rapidly aging” or a car commercial telling us to “strap your hands ‘cross my engines” (because baby we were born to buy).
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They are some poignant examples of where it’s all heading. Good one Max. I hope you had a good day and the Beatles project rolling along nicely. I like reading th different approaches and perspectives. Well done mate.
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Great share!
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Thanks Beth!
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Badfinger had huge talent but the worst luck ever, mainly due to ‘Management issues,’ shall we say? It could not have ended any worse for them.
(I’ve always liked ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ by them back when they were called the Iveys.)
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I like that one also. I bought their Head First album in 2000 the day it was released….that should have been released in 1975 but after the manager ripped off WB…that didn’t happen…just a sad tale all the way around.
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I agree: John would have liked this a lot better than “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” God knows I did….
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YES! I don’t know why Paul was so smittened with that song for.
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They should have just told him, look, you already hink you’re a better guitar player than John or George and a better drummer than Ringo, why don’t you just record the damn thing yourself? I have a tremendous amount of respect for his talent, but I’m surprised that one or more of the others didn’t throttle him…
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They probably wanted to throttle John at the time also for different things.. but yea I agree with you
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Yet another great take on the subject! And what a great tune! As much as I love The Beatles, I also have to agree the rendition by Badfinger sounds better, even though it’s very close to Paul’s.
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Like Max, I though it was the Beatles the first time I heard Badfinger. I knew Paul had written it, but was unaware of the “rest of the story.” Nice addition to this feature!
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Paul did a good job…it was more than I knew
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Its a great pop song but also put me down as preferring the more committed Badfinger version. Love Badfinger. That said, it should have been on Abbey Road – or even Let It Be – in place of Maxwell or 1 after 909….
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Yea I agree it should have replaced Maxwell’s Silver Hammer….and of course I like the Badfinger version
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Not a bad song but for me, not top notch.
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No it’s not…I bet John would have liked it better than Maxwell.
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They begged him to keep that song off. Can’t tolerate it.
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me either.
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Oh wow, this song brings back memories! When I was a kid I had an electric organ and one of the sheet music books my parents gave me was something like “The Songs of Lennon & McCartney.” For some reason the one song I really learned how to play was “Come and Get It” which I’d heard on the radio. It wasn’t until years later that I learned it was Badfinger and not the Beatles.
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