Published: August 26, 2026 · 1:59 PM EDT
The newly released 1965 home recording captures John Lennon and Paul McCartney developing “Day Tripper” together at Kenwood and previews the upcoming Rubber Soul Special Edition
The Beatles have released “Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Tape),” a rare recording of John Lennon and Paul McCartney developing the song together before its famous guitar riff had been written.
The tape was recorded at Kenwood, Lennon’s home in Weybridge, Surrey, during the period surrounding the Rubber Soul sessions in 1965. Apple Corps and UMG released the recording on August 26, 2026 as the latest preview of the upcoming Rubber Soul Special Edition.
The work tape captures an unusually early stage of the composition. According to Apple Corps and UMG, the song was initially based on an older folk song Lennon had written the previous month, with Lennon and McCartney heard working through ideas together and laughing during the process.
Most significantly, the guitar riff that would later become one of the defining musical elements of “Day Tripper” was not yet present.
The finished version of “Day Tripper” was recorded during an eight-hour studio session, transforming the early songwriting idea preserved on the home tape into the recording released later that year.
“Day Tripper” was recorded during the Rubber Soul sessions but was kept separate from the album. It was released on December 3, 1965 in the U.K. as a double A-side single with “We Can Work It Out.” The official Beatles archive lists Lennon-McCartney as the writers and George Martin as producer.
The single topped the U.K. chart, while “Day Tripper” reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1966.
Listen to The Beatles’ “Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Tape)” below:
The newly released tape will appear on the Rubber Soul Special Edition, due October 2, 2026 through Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.
The release also arrives only days after Apple Corps announced a new global merchandising, licensing and e-commerce agreement with Universal Music Group, further expanding the companies’ relationship around The Beatles catalog.
The expanded collection includes 24 early session recordings, including 20 previously unreleased takes and three previously unreleased home demos. It also features the contemporary “Day Tripper” / “We Can Work It Out” single.
Producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell created a new stereo mix of Rubber Soul. The project also includes the original mono mix, the original Capitol U.S. album configuration and Dolby Atmos mixes, depending on format.
The new stereo mix was sourced from the original four-track master tapes, with de-mixing technology developed by the sound team led by Emile de la Rey at Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films Productions.
“Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Tape)” appears on both the Super Deluxe and Deluxe editions.
For collectors and Beatles historians, the significance of the tape is straightforward. It does not simply offer another alternate studio take of a finished song. It captures “Day Tripper” while Lennon and McCartney were still constructing it, before one of its most recognizable musical ideas had appeared.
More than 60 years after the original single, the recording documents a moment between composition and the version ultimately heard around the world.
Rockum has also explored another unusual part of The Beatles archive: the Christmas recordings the band created for members of its official fan club between 1963 and 1969.
Rockum recently revisited another part of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles archive through the new paperback edition of Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
IMAGE CREDIT: Apple Corps Ltd.
Listen to The Beatles’ “Day Tripper (Songwriting Work Tape)” below:
