My Imagination

For the Majid Jordan song, see The Space Between (Majid Jordan album).

"My Imagination" is an unreleased improvisation by the Beatles, recorded on 6 January 1969 at Twickenham Film Studios during the early Get Back sessions.^[2]

"My Imagination"
improvisation by The Beatles
Recorded	6 January 1969
Studio	Twickenham Film Studios, London
Genre	Rock; psychedelic rock
Length	≈ 7 minutes (≈ 3:21 + 4:13)
Composers	Lennon–McCartney, Harrison, Starkey[1]
Producers	George Martin (session supervision); Michael Lindsay-Hogg (film unit)

The performance runs for about seven minutes, combining two logged fragments that form a single continuous take captured on the film crew's Nagra reels.^[3]

Background

The recording took place on the third day of the Get Back project, when the group was rehearsing new material while being filmed for what later became the Let It Be documentary.^[2] The day's work alternated between early versions of upcoming songs and spontaneous jams such as “My Imagination”, reflecting the unstructured atmosphere of the Twickenham stage.^[4]

McCartney's vocal performance features bursts of intense, wordless shouting reminiscent of Primal Therapy-style expression, a technique Lennon later employed on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.^[2]

Recording

“My Imagination” appears in session logs as DDSI 6.25 (3:21) and DDSI 6.26 (4:13).^[3] The recording was made live to mono on Nagra recorders operated by the film crew under director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.

Although later catalogues split the jam into two fragments, audio analysis indicates no real break, suggesting it was performed as one uninterrupted improvisation lasting about seven minutes.^[5] No further take of the piece appears in subsequent sessions at Apple Studios.

Musical style and composition

The improvisation is riff-driven and groove-based, built around a repeating blues-rock figure similar to Bobby Parker's Watch Your Step, a motif the band had previously drawn on for "I Feel Fine".^[4] The performance has a loose, spontaneous character that captures the Beatles’ attempt to rediscover their live ensemble chemistry after years of layered studio work.^[2]

Availability and in media

The recording has never been officially released by Apple Records, but it circulates on unofficial compilations documenting the January 1969 sessions, including Thirty Days (Vigotone / Yellow Dog) and A/B Road – January 6, 1969 (1–2).^[6] A short excerpt is featured in Part 1 of Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back, during the Twickenham segment.^[7][8]

Personnel

According to The Paul McCartney Project, which lists the complete session line-up for 6 January 1969:^[3]

• John Lennon – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Paul McCartney – bass guitar, vocals
• George Harrison – lead guitar (possibly with Moog textures)
• Ringo Starr – drums

Legacy

Although largely unknown outside collector circles, “My Imagination” offers a revealing glimpse of the Beatles during a period of creative transition, moving from elaborate studio construction toward direct, spontaneous performance.^[4]

Its hypnotic, minimalist groove has been likened by researchers to elements of the late-1960s underground sound typified by the Velvet Underground, though no direct influence has been documented.^[4]

Renewed exposure through the 2021 Get Back documentary prompted new interest among historians and listeners in the group's informal Twickenham rehearsals and Lennon's early experiments with emotionally unfiltered singing.^[7]