"Little Girl" is a home demo recorded by John Lennon sometime in 1965 that went unknown for six decades until it was announced that it would be included on the Beatles reissue album Rubber Soul: Special Edition (2026).
Background and release "Little Girl" was recorded sometime in 1965 at John Lennon's home at the time, and dates to around the same time as "Day Tripper". Very few people knew of its existence until the box set was announced. Not even the band's biggest fans knew of its existence. According to Kevin Howlett, author Allan Rouse was the first person outside of the Lennon Estate and the few people who worked at Abbey Road to have known about the existence of the demo. Giles Martin, who produced the set, found out about the demo when the Lennon Estate gave it to him as a tape reel from Lennon's archives, with John's son Sean Lennon giving it to him and telling him "Oh, and then there's this." A fan sent George Harrison the lyrics to the song written by John on a postcard sometime in 1965 or 1966. The demo never circulated on any bootleg and was never traded amongst collectors. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone believed John was "sighing in Buddy Holly" on the demo. According to Rolling Stone, the demo consists of Lennon solely on vocal and acoustic guitar.
References