Wings - Wild Wonders

ⓘ This lostwave is classified as unsolved.
Wings - Wild Wonders
Year	c. 1987
Status	Partially identified
Original poster	Scott Belmer
Search started	2001
Search community	Various

"Wings - Wild Wonders" is a bootleg tape of misattributed Paul McCartney & Wings tracks. In the 1980s, bootleggers claimed these songs were authentic Wings studio outtakes, later referred to as 'outfakes' by Beatles collectors, likely to promote sales of the tape to collectors.

Based on the identified songs, it is believed that all of the songs on the album were recorded in the late 1970s and early 1980s and aired on the Long Island radio station WBAB 102.3, possibly by Long Island, New York bands. Three of the songs on the tape were bootleg recordings of demo submissions for the station's Homegrown Hour show, which was dedicated to promoting local acts.

History

Since 1987, bootleg tapes titled "Wings - Wild Wonders" have circulated among Beatles tape collectors. Scott Belmer, an author and Beatles historian, first mentioned the tape when he reviewed each track in his January 1988 newsletter Belmo's Beatleg News, and the songs were thought to be genuine. In 1989, another author named L.R.E. King mentioned the tape in his book Fixing A Hole: A Second Look At The Beatles' Unauthorized Recordings, and first theorized that the bootleggers purposefully distorted the audio to conceal the fact that Paul McCartney was not singing on them.

In 2001, Randwolf2 launched 'The Beatles Tapes' in 2001, a website that catalogs and debunks recordings purported to be unreleased Beatles material, officially classifying the Wild Wonders tracks as outfakes. Later, he featured the second song from the tape, "Please Come Home," in his sixth downloadable album, 'LIES - VOLUME 6'.

On July 13, 2018, the full album was uploaded to Youtube for the first time by user BeatlesBootlegs9. The search peaked in popularity in 2023 with YouTube users Antonio's Remastered Works, Beyond Obscure and Spade uploading restorations that brought popularity to the search.

Songs

1) Signs Of Love (Status - Unsolved)

A six and a half-minute instrumental funk/jazz track. No leads have been found, and there is no confirmation of the title, so it could have been made up by the bootleggers.

2) Please Come Home (Status - Unsolved)

A funk-rock song, which is one of the few songs on the album where the singer can be clearly heard. Ralph J Weeks and Arnold Worsley are among the debunked leads discovered from the Cocatalog copyright database, while unconfirmed leads include Dave Schachne, and Bruce & Jan Fields.

ExpandPresumed Lyrics (Verse 1)

I think about you everyday, babe

You're always on my mind

I haven't heard from you, honey

Now I'm wondering why

Nothing's the same without you

I need your tender touch

Just can't go on this way, honey

How I've missed you so much

(Chorus)

Please come home, baby

I feel so wrong alone, darling

Please come home

(Verse 2)

So damn cold in New York City

Colder every day

But I've got this job to do, honey

I can't get to L.A.

You say you love me, darling

But we're so far apart

Can't take this situation

It’s just breaking my heart

(Chorus)

Please come home, baby

I feel so wrong alone, darling

Please come home

(Saxophone Solo)

Please come home (Please come home, darling)

I feel so wrong alone (Don't you know that I feel so wrong all lonely)

Please come home (Please come home, please come home)

I feel so wrong alone

Please come home

I feel so wrong alone

Please come home

I feel so wrong alone

Please come home

I feel so wrong alone

Please come home

I feel so wrong alone

3) The Best Is Yet To Come (Status - Unsolved)

A soul song with indiscernible lyrics due to extremely high bass distortion, with the only easily-identifiable line being the chorus, which only contains the song's title. The only known lead was discovered through the Cocatalog database, a klezmer musician and Long Island resident named Jonathan Dinkin, but the lead has since gone cold due to an inability to contact him. On December 18, 2024, a relative confirmed that Jonathan Dinkin died in 2023; contact is now being made with his wife Aveeya Dinkin.^{[source needed]}

ExpandPresumed Lyrics (Verse 1)

(You know it's fine out in the lifeline?)

(So insecure, it’s out of your head?)

(Not even left and to the right or unsure?)

(I know the best is yet to come, I know?)

(Chorus)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

(If anybody's over, while you were having fun?)

(Look out, the best is yet to come, I know?)

(Verse 2)

(You may no leave I left this big town?)

(You may not know just having fun?)

(You make us happy, without your smile we’d never know?)

(Oh yeah, the best is yet to come, I know?)

(Chorus)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

(If anybody's over, while you were having fun?)

(Look out, the best is yet to come, I know?)

(Bridge)

(Away?)

(Away you’re not too far?)

(Day?)

(Look, everybody’s who you are?)

(Guitar Solo)

(Verse 3)

(Before we meet get high 'till next time?)

(You overplayed this tune ???)

(I'm moving on onto loves friends I know?)

(Look out, the best is yet to come, I know?)

(Chorus)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

(If anybody's over, while you were having fun?)

(Look out, the best is yet to come, I know?)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

The best is yet to come (The best is yet to come)

4) Go For The Beer (Status - Unsolved)

A hard rock song with a disputed chorus, with some listeners hearing "Go for the feels". There have been no leads found.

ExpandPresumed Lyrics (Verse 1)

Something tells me that there’s too many songs about love

(It doesn't mean that my ideas to know are above? (and gone?))

I stick around a lotta landings and fit like a glove

Oh, won’t you save me when the end comes and push comes to shove

(Chorus)

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

(Verse 2)

Baby I don't like it when the boyfriend gives me hints of the news

There isn't reasons, though we don't want to hear about (blues?)

You wanna learn, you wanna burn, (while the elders refuse?)

(And for radios, dialing time and time, there's nothing to lose?)

(Chorus)

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

(Bridge)

Someone keeps aside the melancholy deep inside

Way beyond the sidelines

But if you follow so, you’ll only bother keeping her

Locked within the sidelines

(Guitar Solo)

(Chorus)

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

(Bridge)

Someone keeps aside the melancholy deep inside

Way beyond the sidelines

But if you follow so, you’ll only bother keeping her

Locked within the sidelines

(Verse 1)

Something tells me that there’s too many songs about love

(It doesn't mean that my ideas to know are above? (and gone?))

I stick around a lotta landings and fit like a glove

Oh, won’t you save me when the end comes and push comes to shove

(Chorus)

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

Go for the feel/fear

It’s the only thing that’s real

5 & 6) Lookin' Into Love/Shake Up Your Engines - Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg (Status - Solved)

Lookin' Into Love and Shake Up Your Engines, were two songs recorded by Long Island musicians Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg in 1977. On July 13, 2023, a copyright entry for a song titled 'Lookin' Into Love' was discovered in Cocatalog by YouTube user BaroneseBon. Upon contacting Ferraro, he confirmed the song's ownership and provided a high quality recording of the song and 'Shake Up Your Engines', another song from the album.

The songs were recorded in 1977 at Kingdom Sound in Syosset, New York and submitted to RCA Records in Nashville. Both songs were also submitted to radio contests in the late '70s, such as WBAB 102.3's Homegrown Hour show, which may have been the source from which bootleggers stole the song.

ExpandOfficial Lyrics (Lookin' Into Love) (Verse 1)

Say I'm sailing safely homeward

Say loves course is running true

It's everything, that I've been looking for

I find in your eyes soft and blue.

(Chorus)

Looking into love

Tender lines on our faces

Looking into love

It took time for me to do

Looking into love

They'll be no more empty spaces

Looking into love

And saying I'm needing you

(Verse 2)

Say my sails are down to half mast

Say I surrender me to you

I say broken promises, might all be in the past

Looking into love that's holding true.

(Chorus)

Looking into love

Tender lines on our faces

Looking into love

It took time for me to do

Looking into love

They'll be no more empty spaces

Looking into love

And saying I'm needing you

(Guitar/Piano Solo)

Looking into love

Tender lines on our faces (Tender lines)

Looking into love

It took time for me to do

Looking into love

They'll be no more empty spaces

Looking into love

And saying I'm needing you

Looking into love (Looking into love)

Tender lines on our faces

Looking into love

It took time for me to do

Looking into love

They'll be no more empty spaces

ExpandOfficial Lyrics (Shake Up Your Engines) (Verse 1)

Walking hard on the boulevard

Takin' the time to feel real fine

And I know you aren't walking

Back to me

Pay my dues to the avenue

Show that smile though it takes a while

Even though no-one's talking

Back to you

(Chorus)

Shake up your engines

And rattle your trains

'Cause I'm not coming on board

Mr. conductor you can call out my name

I won't be ridin' anymore

(Guitar Solo)

Shake up your engines

And rattle your trains

'Cause I'm not coming on board

Mr. conductor you can call out my name

I won't be ridin' anymore

(Verse 2)

Sittin' trackside suicide

Beating time to a real fine line

And I know it wasn't any

Good for me

I pay my dues to all of you

Walk a mile just to make you smile

But I know that ain't

Really very far to go

(Chorus)

Shake up your engines

And rattle your trains

'Cause I'm not coming on board (I'm not coming on)

Mr. conductor you can call out my name

I won't be ridin' anymore

Shake up your engines

And rattle your trains

'Cause I'm not coming on board (I'm not coming on)

Mr. conductor you can call out my name

I won't be ridin' anymore

(Guitar Solo)

7) Need A Guarantee Of Love (If It's Me You're Thinking Of) (Status - Solved)

A rock song, which is one of the few songs on the album where the singer can be clearly heard. On February 28, 2025, WatZatSong user Rebornjar identified the song as Guarantee [Early Version] by The End after they discovered that it had been officially uploaded to YouTube by a band member on February 2, 2025, who were unaware of the mystery.

ExpandPresumed Lyrics (Verse 1)

I hear them talking all the time

So, I, will have to ask myself

Am I just walking on a fine, line, girl?

Are you true to me or someone else?

(Pre-Chorus)

How can I be rest-assured

You're not running 'round?

If it's me you say you're thinking of

Feel it's only fair

To sign away your heart

(Chorus)

Need a guarantee

Need a guarantee

Need a guarantee of love

(Verse 2)

Friends are calling up to say

To me, you're out 'til after three

Thoughts still linger in my mind

So, I'm, on my way to see a notary

(Pre-Chorus)

Maybe then I'll feel secure, you're mine legally

Then it's possible for me to say

When you're all alone

You won't fly away

(Chorus)

Need a guarantee

Need a guarantee

Need a guarantee of love

(Guitar Solo)

(Pre-Chorus)

With a guarantee I'm sure,

You'll look safe and sound

Won't believe the stories I've been told

For me, your guarantee, is worth its weight in gold

(Chorus)

Need a guarantee

Need a guarantee

Need a guarantee of love

8) Runaway Teenager (Status - Unsolved)

An instrumental and the album's shortest track, lasting less than 90 seconds, and has been compared to stock music or a movie OST. No leads have been found, through a recreation has been created by YouTube user senyaiv.

9) Jimmy Takes A Ride (Status - Nearly Solved)

A hard rock song with extremely heavy distortion, making it extremely difficult to make out any of the lyrics. A possible lead had been discovered through the Cocatalog database, "Ginny, Take a Ride" by Gary Pagano and Steven Sollog. This lead was strengthened by the fact that Pagano and Sollog were from Long Island and played in a band called the Sheiks, who were confirmed to have aired alongside Neal Ferraro on Long Island radio.

On December 29, 2024, the song was most likely identified as Take A Ride (1981) by John Simoes and Wayne Hartmann, as they have a song with that title in the Cocatalog database and a person who claims to know John identified the recording as theirs. ^{[source needed]}

ExpandPresumed Lyrics (Verse 1)

(Jimmy/Ginny got to go better?)

Now she's got to know better

Babe you never know it, (you cannot deny?)

(Something's catching you as you take to the sky?)

(Babe you never doubt it, summer's on the way?)

Then you came here rollin' (???), just my little lady

Jimmy's/Ginny's (ways are so good?)

On a motorcycle

Then, he sends (???) to another guy

(Know you're taking children?), but can I get a ride?

(???)

(Open your mind?)

(???)

(Look up at the sky, babe?)

(Chorus)

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride, yeah

(Verse 2)

Jimmy/Ginny gets excited

(And he didn't have to ride it?)

(???, had to leave)

(??? , running out of steam)

Jimmy/Ginny's got to stop them

(All, all night?)

Don't know where she's goin'

(But she don't give a ride?)

(Chorus)

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride, yeah

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride, yeah

(Guitar Solo?)

(Verse 2)

(???, had to leave)

(???, running out of steam)

Jimmy/Ginny's got to stop them

(All, all night?)

Don't know where she's goin'

(But nope, nope, nope, tonight?)

(Chorus)

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride, take a ride

Jimmy/Ginny, take a ride

10) Relax In Red (Demo) - X-Offender (Status - Solved)

Relax In Red, previously known as “Relax In Bed", is a new wave song by X-Offender, released in 1986 and solved in 2012. Louis Portela, lead singer and bassist for X-Offender, has explained that the bootleggers' version of Relax In Red was an earlier live recording from Record-O-Mat Studios in New York, which was submitted to the WBAB 102.3 station's Homegrown Hour show.

ExpandPresumed Lyrics (Verse 1)

Searching through the darkness

Interested if someone's there

Moving like a hungry lion

Your lips could seal a kiss from death

(Chorus)

Relax in red

Relax in red

(Verse 2)

Still feeling undecided

No one knows you are awaiting death

I know you're feeling quite excited

But you're willing to relax instead

(Chorus)

Relax in red

Relax in red

(Guitar Solo)

(Verse 3)

A drink or two, no one remembers

You moved, but with no success

Your love has starved for so many hours

Like a (signal?) dancing in distress

(Chorus)

Relax in red

Relax in red

(Instrumental)

Relax in red

Relax in red

(Instrumental)

References

• Remastered version of the album