It's 1977, and John Lennon sits at a piano with a handheld tape recorder and a song.
'Real Love' was never released on an original Beatles album. The remaining Beatles reworked it for release in 1996, and while it was obviously a work of love - using instruments from other Beatles recordings, cleaning John's cassette over and over again for noise - it's an entirely different creature. Something was found, and something was lost.
The press of a piano key, the turn of a voice, the lift and clunk of the pedal. There's directness that was cleaned away, later - his voice is bare, and not clotted over by layers of sound. It's much slower, too - speed the song up a full step, and the emotional content is changed. This recording is very simple.
It's John and a piano. And it's wonderful.
(For extra bonus points, have a look at another take, this time on guitar ('it's real life'), and a cover by Regina Spektor!)
A beautiful song.
I really enjoyed the Regina Spektor cover.