Elliott Smith’s recording of “Because” is one of the best Beatles covers ever put to tape — even more so considering this studio footage where he casually adjusts a track on the self-harmonized a cappella part with a banana. But there’s another studio cover floating around (in a folder most likely mislabeled “Basement Tapes”) of its kind. His unreleased take on A Hard Day’s Night single “I’ll Be Back” — missing drum part and all — was likely inspired by the Anthology series, as he even recorded a parody outro for outtake clips of Beatles studio banter beloved on many of those archival tracks (“Paul, you were off.” “No, you were, John.” “No, you were, George.”). Both another great example of the sense of humor we’ve heard from Smith in his Elvis impression and the brilliance in all his work, check it out above.
Ethan Johns, Featured, Jon Brion, Laura Marling, Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams