An excerpt from an unfinished song lyric written by former Beatle Stu Sutcliffe may be incorporated into a finished song, Liverpool musician Dean Johnson told Beatles Examiner Saturday.
The lyrics to "Sheila" read, in part, “Shall sorrow lean her drooping head, to touch with your dark lightly tread, a flower shrinks from cold and rain, but bright new sun cheeks cheer again.”
“The prose is very poetic with the influence of Keats or Byron, the great English romantics. It's interesting that the level of sophistication is way ahead of early Lennon and McCartney," Johnson says.
“The lyric fragment seems to be linked to this letter and 'Sheila' seems to be Stuart's girlfriend at the time in 1959' (at art school ...with John),” he said. The picture shows a letter to Sheila.
The song was sent to Johnson by an internet radio station in the U.S. that was impressed with his work on a lost George Harrison lyric several years ago. “Perhaps Sheila is still out there,” Johnson said.
Johnson appeared on BBC Radio Merseyside's program “On the Beat” hosted by Spencer Leigh Saturday talking about “The Beatles and Me” page on Facebook that he is involved with. The website features original stories of Beatles encounters. The stories will be published in a book this March. The “On the Beat” show will be available online for a week after the program airs.
Sutcliffe is currently portrayed in "Backbeat the Musical," which recently opened in Los Angeles. The cast includes Leanne Best, niece of former Beatles drummer Pete Best. Last year, the Sutcliffe estate offered a song through its website it said was sung by Sutcliffe, but that was disputed by many who knew him.
The UK Daily Mail reported Saturday that Sutcliffe's entire estate will go on auction this month.
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