What's the New Mary Jane

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"What's the New Mary Jane"
Song by the Beatles
from the album Anthology 3
Released28 October 1996
Recorded14 August 1968, 26 November 1969
GenreExperimental
Length6:12 (released version)
LabelApple Records
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin

"What's the New Mary Jane" is a song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and performed by the English rock band the Beatles. It was recorded in 1968 during sessions for the double album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"), but did not appear on that album.

Recording

An early acoustic demo of "What's the New Mary Jane" was recorded in late May 1968, at George Harrison's Esher home. It featured Lennon singing an octave higher than the final cut, placing the chorus at the very beginning as well as throughout, and switching the words "cooking" and "groovy" in the second verse:

She liked to be married to yeti, he cooking such groovy spaghetti.

As opposed to:

She liked to be married with yeti, he grooving such kooky spaghetti.

Another member of the Beatles can also be heard shouting "What's the new Mary Jane? Oh, my goodness!" near the end of the demo. This variation is notably shorter than the released version, clocking in at around 2:40.

The final version of this song was recorded on 14 August 1968 during the recording sessions for the Beatles tenth album

I Will
" and in stereo on 14 October before being added to the shortlist for the new album. However, during the album's final mixing stage, it was dropped due to time constraints, bringing the album down to 30 songs.

During an interview, Lennon commented on "What's the New Mary Jane", saying, "That was me, Yoko, and George sitting on the floor at EMI fooling around. Pretty good, huh?"[citation needed]

Release

After the release of

Sessions in 1985, but the album was cancelled due to objections by the surviving Beatles. The song, more than six minutes long, was not made available until 1996, on Anthology 3. The much shorter first take of the song, without the sound effects added by Lennon and Ono, was later included on the 50th anniversary reissue of The Beatles in 2018, along with the May 1968 demo.[2]

Song structure

The song has three verses and a chorus ("What a shame, Mary Jane had a pain at the party") and then about 3 minutes consisting of

avant garde
sound effects. The track ends with a comment from Lennon: "That’s it, before we get taken away". (Part of the word "away" is cut off.)

Magic Alex

In a 1969 interview with

Apple Electronics and friend Magic Alex with writing half of the song,[3] though this credit was later revoked without explanation.[citation needed
]

Influences on other musicians

The UK band What's the New Mary Jane took their name from this song. The band released their debut album Turq in 2023.

Personnel

Personnel per The Beatles Bible[1] except where indicated

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "What's the New Mary Jane". The Beatles Bible. 16 March 2008. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
  2. ^ Howlett, Kevin (2018). The Beatles (booklet). The Beatles. Apple Corps Limited.
  3. ^ "John Lennon Interview: New Musical Express 5/3/1969". Beatles Ultimate Experience. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  4. ^ The Beatles (White Album) Super Deluxe Edition
Bibliography
  • Lewisohn, Mark (2010). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Chicago Review Press.
    ISBN 978-1-56976-534-0
    .
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