This traditional Liverpudlian sea shanty about a robbing prostitute provided some much-needed levity for the lads during the tense Get Back sessions, but that didn’t mean it needed to show up on the eventual Let it Be album. Granted, it’s just 40 seconds, too short to be truly offensive, but surely they could have found something better from the nearly 100 hours of material recorded in January 1969.
If you’re listening and thinking to yourself, “These must be the worst Lennon/McCartney harmonies of all time,” consider yourself lucky that you haven’t heard the pair’s 1974 jam session. Yes, John and Paul actually did reunite in the 70s for a night of drug-fueled debauchery and butchering rock and roll classics–and with Stevie Wonder and Harry Nilsson joining in. The fact that these recordings remain so relatively unknown despite such an all-star line-up is a testament to their quality, or lack thereof. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Anthony Cusumano 