The Beatles Have Found Another Rabbit in the Hat

The Beatles Have Found Another Rabbit in the Hat…

Just when you thought there was nothing left to discover about The Beatles, along comes another little mystery from 1965.

And if you're anything like me, the words “previously unheard Beatles recording” are enough to make you stop whatever you're doing, put the kettle on and start paying attention.

The latest story centres on Rubber Soul, the album that arrived in December 1965 and marked another fascinating step in The Beatles' transformation from mop-topped pop sensations into something considerably more adventurous.

And now there's talk of a previously unheard John Lennon song called “Little Girl.”

Yes, another one.

A New Beatles Song… From 1965?

The story emerged around the forthcoming deluxe editions of Rubber Soul, which are due to be released on 2 October 2026.

The official expanded editions include a newly produced stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, together with a collection of session recordings, early versions and demos that offer a glimpse into how the album developed.

And then there's the intriguing “Little Girl”.

Gold Radio reported that Giles Martin had discussed the recording with MOJO, describing it as a glimpse into where Lennon was musically at the time. According to that report, Martin reconstructed a performance from four separate fragments of Lennon's attempts at recording a demo.

That's quite a jigsaw puzzle.

Imagine finding four pieces of a 60-year-old Beatles recording and being told: “Right, see if you can make a song out of that.”

No pressure, Giles.

Lennon, Rubber Soul and a Changing Sound

The timing is particularly interesting.

Rubber Soul was recorded during a remarkably busy period in 1965. The Beatles had returned from their American and Canadian tour and headed back into the studio in October, with the album completed astonishingly quickly. The original album was released in the UK on 3 December 1965.

But something was changing.

The Beatles were moving away from the straightforward pop formula that had made them famous and were becoming increasingly interested in different sounds, instruments and approaches to songwriting.

George Harrison's sitar on “Norwegian Wood” is perhaps the obvious example, but the whole album has a more mature and experimental feel.

Even Paul McCartney later described the group's attitude as changing and their sound becoming more finely tuned.

And that makes the possibility of another Lennon composition from these sessions particularly fascinating.

So What Is “Little Girl”?

This is where things get slightly mysterious.

The recording is described as a Lennon song outline rather than a completed Beatles master. The reported lyrics suggest a simple love song, although there is also a rather wonderfully Lennon-esque moment where the narrator essentially admits that, if asked the day before, he would have had absolutely nothing to say.

Which, translated into polite radio language, is probably something along the lines of:

“Ask me yesterday and I hadn't got a clue.”

Very John.

According to the Gold Radio report, Giles Martin believes the song provides an interesting glimpse of Lennon's thinking at the time and even suggested that its style could have fitted much later into Lennon's solo career, perhaps evoking the more mature pop writing heard on Double Fantasy.

That's a remarkable thought when you remember we're talking about a recording made when Lennon was still in his mid-twenties.

A Secret Hidden in Abbey Road

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the story is how long the recording apparently remained hidden.

Beatles expert Kevin Howlett told MOJO that the tape was discovered by Allan Rouse, an Abbey Road employee who was known for his role as a kind of guardian of Beatles material.

The recording apparently remained a closely guarded secret.

And that is one of the wonderful things about The Beatles' story.

More than half a century after the band stopped recording together, we're still finding little pieces of the puzzle.

It's rather extraordinary.

For most artists, the archives eventually run dry.

With The Beatles, apparently somebody forgot to check the back of the cupboard.

The Rubber Soul Treasure Chest

The officially announced Rubber Soul Super Deluxe Edition is already packed with material for Beatles obsessives to get their teeth into.

The four-CD edition includes the new stereo mix, a 28-track collection of session recordings, the original mono album and the original US version, along with an 88-page hardback book containing photographs, background information and track notes.

The two-CD Deluxe Edition also includes 16 session highlights, including early versions of songs such as “In My Life,” “Michelle,” “Nowhere Man,” “Norwegian Wood” and “The Word,” as well as work on “Day Tripper” and “We Can Work It Out.”

So even without the mystery of “Little Girl”, there's plenty here to keep the headphones occupied.

And That's Why We Still Listen

This is what I find so fascinating about The Beatles.

I've been listening to their music since childhood, and yet somehow there is always another story, another recording, another photograph or another tiny detail that makes you go back and listen again.

I know Rubber Soul.

I've heard “In My Life” more times than I could possibly count.

I know “Norwegian Wood,” “Nowhere Man,” “Michelle” and “Girl.”

But give me the chance to hear something created during those same sessions that I've never heard before?

I'm there.

Because discovering an old Beatles recording isn't really about finding something new.

It's about finding something old that is new to us.

And perhaps that's the perfect description of the music we celebrate here at In My Life Radio.

The songs may have been recorded decades ago, but somehow they keep finding their way back into our lives.

Sometimes through a memory.

Sometimes through a familiar record.

And occasionally through a mysterious tape sitting quietly in an archive for sixty years.

Now that's what I call a hidden track.

In My Life Radio — every song has a story. Every life has a soundtrack.

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