We recently did a special sit-down interview with the legendary Peter Asher, which we'll feature more of in two additional future articles coming very soon (they'll be linked here when they're published) in which he will discuss his tour and the wonderful stories behind some of Peter & Gordon's songs.
But one of the highlights of the interview was hearing the story of how Peter & Gordon came to do "World Without Love" and seeing Paul McCartney's actual handwritten lyric sheets you see pictured in the slideshow.
- See Paul McCartney's original handwritten two pages of lyrics to "World Without Love" in the slideshow
- New interview: Peter Asher goes on the road with his music and his memories
Here's what Peter told us about "World Without Love":
"The story was that we'd heard the song. Paul (McCartney) had played it in passing just as we were sitting around. It was unfinished. It had no bridge. We liked the song. He mentioned it was kind of an orphan song and the Beatles weren't going to do it. But he offered it, I believe, to Billy J. (Kramer), who decided it wasn't right for him.
And then it was a little while after that. Gordon and I had been working clubs. We'd been approached by an A&R guy called Norman Newell from EMI and offered an audition. We did the audition. '500 Miles' was the song we did. He was very keen on it at that time. They were imagining us as a little bit more of an English version of Peter, Paul and Mary or the Kingston Trio, that kind of thing.
"So we passed the audition and got a record contract, signed it and were set for our first day in the studio. It was that point that I went back to Paul and asked if the orphan song was still an orphan and it was. And I said could we do it and add it to our first day's session? And he said, yes we could. So, at that point, we had to prevail upon him to finish the song, which he did and delivered just in time."
At this point, Asher showed us a folder with the two pieces of paper you see here.
"When he first gave it to us, he gave us that (pointing to the first sheet with the title). And then when we prevailed on him to write the bridge, he gave us that (the second sheet)."
- Related reading: Our earlier interview with Peter Asher
Comments
Very cool !
Good stuff!!!
I hope that you asked the all-important question of whether Peter Asher has (or had) a demo tape by Paul of A World Without Love!!
I didn't, but the Fab Fourum did during their recent interview with Peter and he said there's no demo of it.
How smart was he to save that all these years? Thought more of Paul's talent than his sister did. She threw out notebooks filled with song lyrics during a spring cleaning. I weep thinking about that.
I love seeing those pages and love seeing how he wrote the chords near the lines.
Did you get to touch them Steve?
Barbara: Honest, having them in my view was daunting enough.
Wow! Great scoop, Steve! Peter is a nice guy and what a find to let you see those handwritten lyrics.
This is lovely. Thanks so much for sharing this. I feel so fortunate to have had two opportunities to see Peter & Gordon before Gordon passed on.
I would have had the hand written papers framed. I would love to see Peter Asher, he difinitely is a part of Beatle history, with Paul living in their home and Paul dating his sister. Nice story, really enjoyed it.
You should interview Georgiana Steele-Waller Gordon 's 2nd wife
she was there from the start of Peter and Gordon I love your interview with Peter
Cheers I am a huge fan (*!*)
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