Report: Unreleased George Harrison tape sells big

Omega Auctions

We don't have confirmation of the final price from Omega, but we have a report that the "Hello Miss Miss Molly Bee" tape sold Sept. 11 for £14,000, which comes out to about $18,440 USD. That doesn't include buyer's premium. (Thanks, David.) 

The tape, which Omega said had never previously heard in public was recorded in 1968 on to a reel to reel tape and was made for his good friend Mary Bee. It described the song as very much in the Indian style of music that George was heavily influenced by and was produced around the time of his first studio album ‘Wonderwall’. Here's a short clip. Unconfirmed reports say the song was linked to Donovan and sounded similarly like his song "Peregrine," but the auction house made no mention of that. 

Here's the Donovan song if you want to compare. 

Unreleased George Harrison song being auctioned

We have no knowledge of what this is, but Omega Auctions says it's an unreleased George Harrison song, "Song to Miss Mary Bee" from 1968 from around the time of "Wonderwall". The estimated value is 10,000 GBP - 20,000 GBP. 

Here's the description:

GEORGE HARRISON UNRELEASED RECORDING - of a track entitled "Song to Miss Mary Bee" along with a reel 2 reel recording of his "Wonderwall" album, postcards sent by George and his wife Patti Boyd to the vendor and a 6 page letter from Patti to the vendor. This incredible recording was made especially for the vendor whose name is "Mary Bee" back in early 1968 and was sent to her by George and Patti along with postcards and other recordings during 1967 & 1968. The song was recorded on an Emidisc Reel 2 Reel tape in 1968 at "Kinfauns" and is very much in the Indian style of the music that he was heavily influenced by and producing around the time of his first studio album "Wonderwall". In addition to the "Song for Mary Bee" which is approximately 2 minutes long there are other recordings of tracks that George would have been working on with The Beatles at the time. The case of this tape has writing on which reads "Tape to Mary Bee". The "Wonderwall" tape again has writing on the box which reads "Music from the film Wonderwall for Mary Bee". The 6 page letter is a great read and has numerous references to the tapes. Patti talks about George working on the "Wonderwall" soundtrack and at one stage says she can't send a tape of the music but then corrects herself (after speaking to George) to say that "George will tape his music". She also says that George has "just come into the kitchen singing Mary Bee, Mary Bee about to make a lovely cup of tea". There are 3 postcards from Patti & George included in the lot which are all addressed to Mary Bee and have been sent from India. The postcards mention where George & Patti have visited, how they are having their first yoga lesson and that she has been thinking of Mary when meditating. On one George has written "Hello Mary - love George". One of the postcards also starts by asking "Did you get the tapes?". Includes a letter of provenance from the vendor along with her transcribed lyrics for the song.

The Beatles in this week's Billboard

In the Sept. 2-15 issue of Billboard magazine that hit the stands Thursday, the Beatles make a few appearances. In the Top Rock Albums chart, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" sits at #23, up from #25 the previous week. In Top Album Sales, "Sgt. Pepper" ranks at #34, up from #43.  And on the Billboard Top 200, "Sgt. Pepper" rates at #125, down from #124, while "Abbey Road" sits at #149, up from #167 and "The Beatles 1" is at #147, up from #165.

Then there's the full page ad above from SiriusXM promoting the open listening for the Beatles Channel and the rest of the Sirius lineup now going on through Sept. 5.

And don't miss the best Beatles talk on the internet with this week's edition of "Things We Said Today," with yours truly, Allan Kozinn and Ken Michaels. It's available on for download on Podbean and iTunes and streaming on YouTube and theTune In Radio app.

Help Jackie Spencer find 'Little Georgie'

Liverpool Beatles tour guide Jackie Spencer is desperately searching for "Little Georgie," a Beatles doll with a lot of sentimental value that she lost last week. "He was a gift given to me from Jaclyn King in Orlando. Since then he's become a well traveled little icon visiting New York, California, all over the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, and more," she told us. 

"I lost him on a Beatles Ale Trail after we'd been to Wales all day (Thursday) to see Bangor University where the Maharishi held his conference, then Portmerion where George had his 50th birthday party," she continued. "He always came along when I had children on tours. They loved him. On the Beatles Pilgrimage Ale Trail back in Liverpool, we visited The Philharmonic Dining Rooms, Ye Cracke and The Jacaranda. (It) was at the end of the evening I realized he wasn't in my bag anymore. 

"I've had him since 2013. He's become quite a cult figure. Since I lost him I've had loads of replacement offers from really kind Beatle fans. I have a replacement in the wings and Beatle people have been so kind offering to replace him for me." 

However, she's really hoping to get the original back. If you can help her, contact her at jackie@beatleguide.com.  

Beatles internet station honored

Matt Burley of Fab4Radio.com tells us the station has been selected to be a featured station by Stream Licensing Inc. in its oldies category. Fab4Radio.com airs our "Things We Said Today" program on the weekends. 

"We take pride in the selection of featured stations, and you should as well as it is a great accomplishment and it stands as proof of your hard work and dedication to this craft and is recognized by your industry peers," they said.

Congratulations to Fab4Radio.com. 

The two-volume version of Mark Lewisohn's 'All These Years: Tune In' finally coming to U.S.

The Beatles - All These Years - Extended Special Edition: Volume One: Tune In, the two-volume version of Mark Lewisohn's "All These Years - Tune In," which was only available in England until now, will be released here Nov. 7. You can order it at this link.

"“I’m delighted to be able to announce that the ‘extended special edition’ of Tune In – the ‘all I wrote’ version – is to become fully available in North America from Nov. 7, 2017,” Lewisohn told us via email. He told us the release here comes thanks to his publishing partners and said this version will enable readers to learn more about the Beatles' early history from his valuable research before volume 2 is released. No date has been announced for that.

More from Lewisohn here.

"To Tell The Truth" -- which girl met the Dave Clark Five!

This is fun. This show aired Nov. 1, 1965 and the first person the panel has to guess is the winner of a contest to meet The Dave Clark Five in London. The questions are funny in themselves, especially when Orson Bean talks about his love for rock 'n' roll and Peggy Cass asks the contestants to guess "Sam the Sham and the ..."

Enjoy.