BEATLES MAGAZINE: PAUL McCARTNEY ORIGINALLY OFFERED "TWO OF US" TO ANOTHER BAND

Saturday, 21 March 2026

PAUL McCARTNEY ORIGINALLY OFFERED "TWO OF US" TO ANOTHER BAND

During a recording session on January 24, 1969, Paul McCartney closed an early take of "Two of Us" with a whimsical sign-off: "And so we leave the little town of London, England." It was a fittingly stray remark for a track that traveled a long, winding road to its final form.

Originally, McCartney didn't intend for the Beatles to keep the song at all. He had offered it to Mortimer, a forgotten New York acoustic trio, as a potential debut for the band’s Apple Records label. However, the group’s album was buried by the Beatles' polarizing new manager, Allen Klein, leaving Mortimer's rendition unheard by the public until it finally surfaced decades later on a 2021 compilation.

When the Beatles first attempted the track at Twickenham Studios, they were forcing it into a rock mold that simply didn’t fit. The sessions were fraught with tension; the arrangement felt broken, and the creative friction became so intense that George Harrison briefly walked out on the band. It wasn't until they relocated to Apple Studios following Harrison’s return that the song found its soul as an acoustic ballad. The relief was palpable, with Harrison noting during the January 24 session how lovely the song finally sounded after so much "anguish."

This new, stripped-back approach paid homage to the duo's roots. Channeling the Everly Brothers, John Lennon and Paul McCartney jokingly addressed each other as "Don" and "Phil," even breaking into a spontaneous cover of "Bye Bye Love" before refocusing on their own work. It was a rare, lighthearted reprieve in an era defined by legal battles and internal splintering. As they stood face-to-face at the microphone, the lyrics about open-hearted wanderers began to reflect a deeper, more somber reality. McCartney later revealed that the refrain "We’re on our way home" was less about a physical destination and more about a desperate attempt to reconnect with the people they used to be before fame and "chasing paper"—the legal documents tearing them apart—took over.

The definitive version found on the 1970 album Let It Be wasn't captured until January 31, 1969, following their legendary rooftop performance. Even then, it took twelve takes that day to get it right. From there, the track’s journey continued through the hands of engineer Glyn Johns, who compiled two different versions of the album that the band ultimately discarded. Eventually, the tapes were handed to Phil Spector.

Spector chose the January 31 take to open the album, but added a touch of Lennon’s irreverent humor to the intro. He pulled a snippet of nonsense recorded on January 21, where John announces: "‘I Dig a Pigmy’ by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf-aids. Phase one in which Doris gets her oats."

Though the song nearly vanished into the archives of another band, it ended up as a cornerstone of the Beatles' final chapter. For McCartney, it remains a cherished piece of history—a snapshot of his burgeoning life with Linda and a fleeting moment of freedom amidst the closing curtains of the world's greatest band.

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