After the breakup of the Beatles, Lennon and McCartney only ever had one studio jam session together (Burbank Studios, L.A. March 28, 1974). Not since Abbey Road, in 1969, had John and Paul played together. A rare bootleg was made of the session called, 'A Toot and a Snore' released by a dubious outfit, Mistral Music in 1992.
The bootleg is mentioned in precious few Beatles publications and hardly any Beatles websites provide information on the session. Even when the recordings are mentioned, it's typically stated that Lennon first discussed this session in an interview in 1975. But the actual date, place and time of the interview are never revealed.
The first confirmed account of this session was, in fact, comprehensively detailed with the release of May Pang's book, 'Loving John'.
The session happened purely by chance.
Paul and Linda McCartney dropped by the studio while Lennon was producing Harry Nilsson's album, 'Pussy Cats'.
Stevie Wonder had happened along and an impromptu jam session began.
Lennon (guitar & vocals)
McCartney (harmony & drums)
Stevie Wonder (vocals & electric piano)
Linda McCartney (Hammond B3 organ)
Harry Nilsson (vocals)
Jesse Ed Davis (guitar)
Ed Freeman (bass)
Bobby Keyes (saxophone)
Even May was to joined in... bashing on a tambourine:
"Fung Yee, I want you to play," John had told May, "Grab a tambourine."
(Photo left: Mal Evans, John and May)
May also features quite predominantly on the cover artwork in no less than two places. The bottom image is actually a crop from a photograph of May with John and son Julian ... and the top left corner displays the now infamous kiss at the Troubadour.
Although nothing worthwhile eventuated from this session, 'Toot and a Snore' does provide an intriguing insight into the Lost weekend... freezing a particular point in time.
Fully understanding that these recordings were never meant to be released, it is nonetheless disappointing that this studio session, the last where Lennon and McCartney were to play together, couldn't have produced at least one memorable gem.
As May Pang pointed out in an interview with Ear Candy Magazine:
"I have not heard anything from that session in years. I can still hear the jam in my head like it was yesterday.
"I know people have commented on how awful it sounded - what everyone forgets is that it was not intended for recording but just a fun jam after a first day of a Harry Nilsson recording session. Fans need to back off on criticism for this bootleg. It was not a recording session, just everyone getting together, relaxing and having fun - what is wrong with that?"
