Wild Wonders (partially found full versions of unidentified songs from bootleg tape; 1970s-1986)

Status: Partially Found

"The Wings - Wild Wonders Tape" is the name given to 10 songs of varying quality, all misattributed to both The Wings & Paul McCartney. The tape was recorded in the '70s and '80s, and there has been a dedicated online search to track down the songs' high-quality versions, their names, and authors.

History

Around the mid-80s, the tape began circulating among Beatles tape collectors. Scott Belmer, who wrote several books on The Beatles, reviewed the contents of the tape in his newsletter, "Belmo's Beatleg News".

In 1989, L.R.E King mentioned the tape in his book "Fixin' a Hole".

“Some parts sound a little like Paul and co., but the sound quality is abominable and seems to be deliberately distorted, which is certainly a reason to be suspicious. Extremely dubious.”

In 2001, a user known as Randwolf2 launched “The Beatles Tapes,” a website focusing on documenting and debunking alleged unreleased Beatles recordings. Randwolf2 later categorized these recordings as "Outfakes," a term used to describe songs that are misattributed to a particular band or artist. The user later released “LIES - Volumes 1 - 6,” a downloadable album featuring some of the most notable and sought-after outfakes in the Beatles fandom, including “Please Come Home.”

On February 24, 2023, YouTuber Beyond Obscure posted an audio restoration attempt of the tape, and on October 16, LMW user Spade uploaded a restoration attempt of “Please Come Home” to YouTube, followed by the entire tape on November 24, drawing renewed attention to the mystery.

On July 19, 2024, YouTuber Abstract2k featured “Please Come Home” in the 5th episode of his series 5 Lost Songs From The Internet.

Track List

The dates of the songs' releases listed on the bootleg tape are likely all inaccurate, as evidenced by the fact that 3 identified songs were released several years later.

Placeholder Track Title	Status	ID	Date
"Signs of Love"	Lost	?	1978
"Please Come Home"	Lost	?	1977
"The Best is Yet to Come"	Lost	?	1975
"Go for the Beer"	Lost	?	1978
"Looking into Love"	Found	Neal Ferraro & Len Rothberg - Lookin' Into Love	1974 (actual date: 1978)
"Shake Up your Engines"	Found	Neal Ferraro & Len Rothberg - Shake Up Your Engines	1974 (actual date: 1976-1978)
"Need A Guarantee of Love"	Lost	?	1974
"Runaway Teenager"	Lost	?	1979
"Jimmy Takes A Ride"	Lost	?	1978
"Relax in Bed"	Found	X-Offender - Relax In Red (Demo)	1978 (actual date: 1984)

Identified Tracks

Tracks 5 & 6 were confirmed to have been written by Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg around 1977. For a long time, high-definition audio versions of the two tracks remained lost. However, in March 2024, Neal himself uploaded the proper versions of the songs online.

Track 10, identified as Relax In Red by X - Offender, was written in 1984. The version of the song that circulated on bootleg tapes has been confirmed as a demo of the final, more polished version of the song which was released on the band's only known EP in 1986 under Granet 707 Recordz.

Theories

One possible theory is that these songs were performed on 102.3 FM WBAB Homegrown Hour, a radio show which featured underground local bands based on Long Island. These songs were then taped by bootleggers, and then intentionally distorted to hide the fact that it is not Paul McCartney or Wings.

Availability

Only tracks 5,6 and 10, have ever been fully identified. all of the songs on the tape are in horrible quality, As of February 2024, the rest of the tracks are either partially found or lost.

Audio

Beyond Obscure's restoration of the tape.

Spade's restoration of the tape.

5 Lost Songs From The Internet