Album This song officially appears on the Anthology 1 Official album.
Timeline This song was officially released in 1995
This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:
Home recordings, aka "The Kirchherr Tape"
circa April 1960
Unreleased song
Unreleased song
From Wikipedia:
“Cayenne” is an instrumental track by the Beatles. It was recorded in 1960, when they were still known as the Quarrymen, and was not officially released until its inclusion on the 1995 album Anthology 1.
According to Paul McCartney, the recordings were made in the McCartney family bathroom in April 1960. The song is not credited to Lennon–McCartney but to McCartney alone, indicating that at this stage Lennon and McCartney had not agreed on the joint writing credit that they used for all of the band’s professional recording career. The track is an instrumental jam similar in style to that of The Shadows. Stuart Sutcliffe plays bass with what critic Richie Unterberger described as an “artless thump”. “Cayenne” is a 12-bar blues composition in the key of d-minor.
“Cayenne” and two other homemade Quarrymen recordings, “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” and “You’ll Be Mine“, were included in Anthology 1, a collection of Beatles rarities and alternate tracks from 1958 to 1964. They are the only officially released Beatles recordings to feature Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. Sutcliffe, John Lennon’s close friend from art college, joined the band in 1960 as the bass player and played with them in Hamburg in 1960 and 1961 before leaving to concentrate on his art studies. Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962.
From the Anthology1 liner notes:
Cayenne is an instrumental composed by Paul McCartney. A good number of the earliest titles written by either Lennon or McCartney, or both, were instrumentals, written in the late 1950s when tunes without a lyric were prevalent.
From Beatles Bible:
The tune had existed on bootlegs for some time prior to its official release, in a version lasting 2’30”. The Anthology 1 version was slightly sped up and faded out prematurely, with a running time of just 1’14”.
Official album • Released in 1995
1:14 • Demo • B
Paul McCartney : Guitar John Lennon : Guitar George Harrison : Guitar Stuart Sutcliffe : Bass
Session Recording: circa April 1960 • Studio Paul's House Forthlin Road Liverpool
Streaming • Released in 2016
1:14 • Demo • B2016
Paul McCartney : Guitar John Lennon : Guitar George Harrison : Guitar Stuart Sutcliffe : Bass
Session Recording: circa April 1960 • Studio Paul's House Forthlin Road Liverpool
Unofficial album • Released in 1996
2:30 • Demo • A
Paul McCartney : Guitar John Lennon : Guitar George Harrison : Guitar Stuart Sutcliffe : Bass
Session Recording: circa April 1960 • Studio Paul's House Forthlin Road Liverpool
Complete Home Recordings 1958-62
Unofficial album • Released in 2002
2:31 • Demo • A
Paul McCartney : Guitar John Lennon : Guitar George Harrison : Guitar Stuart Sutcliffe : Bass
Session Recording: circa April 1960 • Studio Paul's House Forthlin Road Liverpool
The Silver Beatles - Lapis Lazuli
Unofficial album • Released in 2010
2:20 • Outtake • A
Paul McCartney : Guitar John Lennon : Guitar George Harrison : Guitar Stuart Sutcliffe : Bass
Session Recording: circa April 1960 • Studio Paul's House Forthlin Road Liverpool
Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012
This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.
The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.
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