Peter Asher's two shows at the Iridium in New York Sunday will include an unreleased Paul McCartney recording of Peter & Gordon's first hit “World Without Love,” Rolling Stone reported Friday.
This variation of the song, originally released by Peter & Gordon in 1964, features McCartney singing the tune by himself on acoustic guitar, the magazine said.
In our exclusive report on this Friday, the demo was described as "thrilling" and an "insight into Paul McCartney's songwriting process."
Asher told Beatles Examiner in an interview the song was not finished when Peter & Gordon originally were offered it.
“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."
Asher told Rolling Stone he discovered the a DAT tape of the McCartney reel-to-reel original in a storage space. There are no plans to release it.
Related: Exclusive: Peter Asher talks about McCartney 'World Without Love' demo
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