"Commonwealth" is an unreleased improvised song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was performed on 9 January 1969 during the early Get Back rehearsals at Twickenham Film Studios and was documented by the continuously running Nagra audio recorders taping system used throughout the month.[1]
"Commonwealth" emerged during the informal and experimental atmosphere of the early Get Back rehearsals.[2] At this stage the Beatles were developing a new album as a return to live, unembellished performance, a goal repeatedly expressed in contemporary interviews and later session analyses.[3]
Paul McCartney frequently improvised topical lyrics, and on 9 January he began parodying the political language surrounding immigration and the Commonwealth. A handwritten lyric sheet titled "No Pakistanis", reproduced in the 2021 docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, further demonstrates the band’s satirical engagement with immigration themes during this period.[4]
The improvisation occurred during a productive rehearsal day that also saw significant early work on "Don't Let Me Down", "Two of Us" and the developing structure of "Get Back".[2]
Composition, style and performance
The satire drew indirectly on the controversy surrounding Conservative MP Enoch Powell, whose 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech prompted extensive national debate about immigration, race relations and the future of the Commonwealth. Powell's remarks were widely covered in the British press and became a cultural flashpoint.[5]
The performance begins with McCartney delivering a satirical, semi-spoken improvisation over a loose rock and roll backing. This stylistic approach was common during the early Twickenham sessions and appears in other improvisations of the period.[6]
John Lennon joins on electric guitar and later assumes the lead vocal, shifting the improvisation into a louder, more chaotic section defined by repeated shouts of "get off!", which has led collectors to identify the continuation as "Get Off" or "Get Off / White Power". Lennon's shouted delivery closely resembles his vocal approach in the related Twickenham improvisation "Dig It".[7]
Scholars often group "Commonwealth" with other satirical improvisations from the same period, including "Can You Dig It?" and "Madman", both of which combine spoken or semi-spoken vocal delivery with blues-derived instrumental structures.[6] Writers commenting on the sequence within The Beatles: Get Back emphasise that the politically charged language was employed satirically within a free-associative rehearsal environment rather than as a reflection of the band's political views.[4]
Beatles Bible characterises the 9 January material as rooted in a "back-to-basics" rock-and-roll aesthetic consistent with the Get Back project's aims.[2]
Bootlegs
The performance survives in full on the Let It Be Nagra reels and has circulated on bootlegs since the 1970s.[1] A widely distributed unofficial LP lists "Commonwealth / Enoch Powell" at 4:06, immediately followed by "Get Off / White Power" at 5:59.[8] Together, the two segments form an uninterrupted sequence lasting approximately ten minutes.
Session indexing databases and discographic references consistently locate the jam on Nagra reel D3-35.[9]
Personnel
Paul McCartney – improvised lead vocal, bass guitar
John Lennon – electric guitar, backing vocal
George Harrison – electric guitar
Ringo Starr – drums
Legacy
Although never intended for release, "Commonwealth" has attracted attention for its unusual blend of humour, political satire and improvisation.[3] Only a brief excerpt appears in the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back, where it is presented in montage rather than as a complete performance.[4]
Scholars also note that, unlike certain other improvisations, there is no evidence that "Commonwealth" was ever considered for inclusion in the Let It Be album.[1]
This article describes an improvisation documented solely through the Nagra taping system used during the January 1969 Get Back sessions. No official release of "Commonwealth" exists, and all timings derive from printed bootleg sources.[1]
References
1 2 3 4 Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Hamlyn.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
