What's The New Mary Jane
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"What's The New Mary Jane" is a song written by John Lennon and performed by The Beatles. It was recorded in 1968 for the album The Beatles (aka "The White Album"), but never used. "What's The New Mary Jane" is similar to "Revolution 9" in many ways. It has two verses and a chorus (which is repeated about 9 or 10 times throughout the song) and then about 4 or 5 minutes of avant garde sound effects. The track ends with a comment from Lennon: "Let's hear it, before we get taken a[way]" before the tape ends abruptly.
The song's original intention other than inclusion on The Beatles was to be issued as a single by The Plastic Ono Band alongside "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)", which was issued as the B-side of The Beatles' "Let It Be" single in 1970. The song was held off another 25 years, during which time it gained a certain aura of mystery. A heavily edited version of the recording was finally officially released on the 1996 compilation Anthology 3. This song can also be found on quite a few different bootleg albums including Esher Demos, From Kinfauns to Chaos, Ultra Rare Trax Vol.5, and What A Shame, Mary Jane Had A Pain At The Party, which is an album that is solely dedicated to this song.
Later, Lennon commented on "What's The New Mary Jane", saying, "That was me, Yoko, and George sitting on the floor at EMI fooling around. Pretty good, huh?"
Another belief is that the song was influenced by Syd Barrett, the early leader of Pink Floyd, who were recording at Abbey Road Studios at the same time as The Beatles in 1967. A long-standing legend states that Barrett actually appeared on and co-wrote the track, leading to the song's tenuous inclusion on many Pink Floyd bootlegs. However, nobody who was actually present at the recording has ever corroborated this.
The only chords used in the song are: D, G, Gm, and A.
The phrase Mary Jane is generally considered to be slang for marijuana. Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to marijuana (1964) in a New York hotel room when he offered the Fab Four pot as a consequence of his misconception that the lyrics in their hit song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (from Meet the Beatles!) were "I get high" instead of "I can't hide".
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