Wait

It seems that the song Wait was always treated as an afterthought by the Beatles and producer George Martin - and not just once, but twice, in fact.   

Some sources report that the song was written by McCartney as early as February of 1965 in the Bahamas while filming Help!, yet it did not surface until June 17th, which was the last day of sessions for the non-soundtrack side of the album, when one more song was necessary.  For the arrangement, George Harrison chose to use his tone pedal, better known as a wah-wah pedal, with his guitar, a device he had not used since the early sessions for the album on a few tracks back in February.  Only four takes were required to achieve the backing track.  John and Paul then overdubbed the shared lead vocals, except in the bridges, which Paul sang alone, and the song was considered to be complete. 

On the following day, George Martin and engineer Norman Smith were mixing the final batch of songs for inclusion on the Help! LP.  They did make a mono mix of Wait but, by the time they started work on the stereo mixes, they must have already decided that the song would not make the cut for the album.  In its place, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, which had been recorded specifically for the American album Beatles VI, was added to the lineup.

Fast forward to November 11th, the last day of sessions for the group's next album, Rubber Soul.  Three more titles were needed to complete the album.  The Beatles spent the bulk of the overnight session recording new songs by McCartney (You Won't See Me) and Lennon (Girl) before someone suggested digging up the tape of Wait from the vault.  With no other new material at hand, it was considered good enough to make the cut on this occasion, but only after a series of overdubs filled out the overall sound of the track.  

Paul decided to double-track his vocal line during the bridges and add some high harmonies to a couple of phrases near the end of the song.  George pulled out his tone pedal one more time to add an additional guitar part, and Ringo added both tambourine and maracas to the track.  In his excellent in depth look at the song, Dave Rybaczewski advises listening to just the left speaker of the stereo mix to get a sense of how the track sounded at the original Help! session, then add the right speaker to get the fuller sound with the Rubber Soul overdubs.

So, after missing out for a spot on the Help! album, Wait benefited by winding up on the superior Rubber Soul LP.  It sits on side two of both the British and American versions of that album, immediately following In My Life.  This is a fine example of George Martin's uncanny knack for smart sequencing.  The break near the end of In My Life actually helps to set up the start-and-stop framework of the verses of Wait.  As a result, I'm sure that the song has never sounded out of place to fans, most of whom have been unaware of the recording history of the track.  However, it has never appeared on any post-career compilations of the Beatles.