Fancy My Chances With You

“Fancy My Chances With You” is an early Lennon–McCartney composition dating back to the latter half of 1958 — a time when the songwriting partnership was still in its formative teenage phase.

Likely at the end of November 1958, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, joined by Paul’s younger brother Mike McCartney on drums, recorded a version of “Fancy My Chances With You” at the McCartney family home at 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool.

The recording was captured by John’s friend Derek Hodkin, who owned a tape recorder. Sadly, the tape of that early performance has since been lost to time.

Given that the song was never performed live, it’s likely the young Beatles didn’t consider it one of their stronger efforts.

Remarkably, the tune resurfaced over a decade later. On January 24, 1969, during the “Get Back” sessions at Apple Studios, John and Paul broke into a playful, impromptu rendition of the song. Delivered in thick Scouse accents, the performance is rough around the edges but undeniably charming.

That fragment was officially released in 2003 on “Fly On The Wall,” the bonus disc included with “Let It Be… Naked.” Though likely originally titled “I Fancy Me Chances” — making use of some Liverpudlian vernacular— it was formally issued as “Fancy My Chances With You.“

The same recording was re-released in 2021 as part of the “Let It Be Super Deluxe Edition” box set.

I liked classical music and didn’t really know rock and roll. I’d only heard of Elvis Presley. So when John said to Paul, ‘Do your Little Richard…’ and he sang ‘Long Tall Sally’, it sounded incredible there in the front room, a terrific sound, so loud and exciting. It was like they all had party pieces: John said, ‘George, play that bit for Derek…’ I thought George was a bit of a show-off – he played guitar the best and let us know it, but everyone liked it. Then John and Paul started singing a little ditty that went ‘I fancy me chances with you, I fancy me chances with you…’

Derek Hodkin – From “The Beatles – All These Years: Volume One: Tune In” by Mark Lewisohn, 2013

It’s just we all used to sag off every school day. You know, and go back to my house, and the two of us would just sit there and write. There’s a lot from then, you know? There’s about 100 songs from then that we never reckoned, ’cause they were all very unsophisticated songs.

Paul McCartney talking to Michael Lindsay-Hogg – January 3, 1969 – Transcript from Peter Jackson’s film “The Beatles: Get Back“, 2021

Variations

Officially appears on