In 1994, Paul, George and Ringo gathered to record background music for Anthology. They really wanted to instead compose and record new music but according to George, the Beatles had always agreed that if one of them was not in the band, the others would never replace them and “go out as the Beatles,” and that the “only other person that could be in it was John.”
So, Paul asked Yoko if she had any unreleased recordings by John. She sent him cassette tapes of four songs, including an incomplete song, “Free as a Bird”, recorded by John in 1977. John introduced the song on the cassette by imitating a New York accent “Free—as a boid” (bird).
George, Paul and Ringo recorded the song in 1994 at Paul’s home studio in Sussex and John’s cassette demo was incorporated into the final recording.
When they were finished, the three stepped outside to pose for this photo, when a white peacock wandered into the photo.
