- Length & Evolution: Running over 10 minutes, the track starts as a bluesy take of "Revolution 1" before slowly dissolving into chaotic, psychedelic tape loops, noise, and vocal improvisations.
- Lyrical Ad-libs: John Lennon famously sang the line "you can count me out" and added "in," explaining he was politically undecided at the time.
- Floor Vocals: Lennon recorded his lead vocals while lying flat on his back on the studio floor to achieve a different resonance.
- The Leak: Only two reference acetate copies of Take 20 were originally made in 1968—one of which Lennon took home. In early 2009, a high-quality digital copy of the complete 10-minute take leaked onto the internet and bootlegs like Revolution: Take… Your Knickers Off, thrilling collectors.
- Connection to the Catalog: While the official 2018 White Album Box Set released the foundational Take 18, the legendary Take 20 remains widely sought after by fans as the ultimate document of the Beatles' mid-1968 sonic experimentation.
The song first surfaced on
an Europe-only bootleg
Revolution: Take… Your Knickers Off,
a nod to Lennon saying
“Take your knickers off and let’s go”
before
Revolution 1 (Take 20)
started rolling.
As for how the song leaked out,
that’s an even bigger mystery.
According to
Mark Lewisohn’s book
The Beatles: Recording Sessions,
only two copies
of the take were made
when recording the song
was completed on
June 4, 1968.
One copy left the studio
with Lennon that day,
and the other
remained behind.
It’s unclear which copy
appears on the bootleg,
nor how the
Revolution makers
even acquired it.
The recording is similar to
the White Album version of
Revolution 1,
with various differences
including the absence of
the opening lead guitar.
There are also a number of
sound effects and vocals
which didn’t make
the final version,
including a chorus of
“Mama, dada, mama, dada”
sung by
George Harrison and,
possibly,
Paul McCartney’s
then-girlfriend
Francie Schwartz.
The most fascinating part
of this recording begins where
the album version fades out.
In this mix,
the track becomes a bed
for improvisations and ad-libs,
which later formed the basis of
Revolution 9.
Although it lacks many
of the sound effects
of Lennon’s sound collage,
the links between the
two recordings
can be clearly heard.
This rough mix
was taken away by
John Lennon after it was made.
A previous version
of the mix has been available
for some time but
featured a Yoko Ono
monologue over
the top of much of it.
This clean mix,
of better quality
than previously-heard bootlegs,
is being heralded by
Beatles fans as a
significant find.
Dear Prudence
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