"The White Album vs. "A Doll's House"..?

[MeanMrMustard]

The original title for The White Album was going to be "A Doll's House", named after the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's 1879 masterpiece.
(original Norwegian title: Et dukkehjem)
Apparently, the boys decided against such a stilted literary title and went w/ the more mundane "The Beatles"--which became nicknamed "TWA" (and eventually stuck).

Personally, I prefer the original concept of "ADH", which gives rise to a million cover-art possibilities, which alas, is purely academic now.

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White Album Facts :


The Beatles was released in the UK on November 22, 1968 as Apple PMC 7067-8 (mono) and PCS 7067-8 (stereo) and in the US on November 25, 1968 in stereo as Apple SWBO 101. The White Album was not released in mono in the US.
The White Album's original working title was A Doll's House, which is the name of Henrik Ibsen's masterpiece play written in the 19th century.


In addition, according to The Beatles Album by Geoffrey Giuliano, an illustration was prepared for the cover of A Doll's House by the famed artist Patrick but the plain white cover was opted for instead. This illustration eventually showed up on EMI's Dutch release of the Love Songs album, De Mooiste Songs.
Recording sessions for the White Album started with the song Revolution on May 30, 1968, and concluded with take three of Julia on October 13, 1968. Mixing for the album was completed five days later on October 18, 1968.

This album marked the first on the then newly formed Apple label, which had made its first appearance as a 45 three months earlier on August 30, 1968 with the Hey Jude/Revolution single, both of which were recorded during the White Album sessions.

Also recorded during the White Album sessions were What's the New Mary Jane and Not Guilty. These two tracks were only available on bootlegs for many years, but were finally released legitimately for the first time 28 years after they were recorded on Anthology 3 in 1996.

The Guiness Book of Records lists The Beatles as having sold "nearly two million" copies in its first week of release in the US.

[mervap]

I'd heard about the trouble they'd had naming this on....I think "A Doll's House" would have worked just fine, so long as the music contained therein remained the awesome collection of songs we know today. The alternate cover shown here was cool also. Given the virtually limitless possibilities presented when naming an album, it's funny that sometimes the artist will go with the simplest concept to put across.

[Paperback Writer]

Cool illustration!  I believe the first few thousand were individually numbered on the jacket. ( I didn't get one of those).
 

[chris]

its amazing...just when you think you know all there is to know about the band...all of a sudden comes this.

thanks MMM, i may have seen that cover art before somewhere...but i didn't know what it was originally for

[MeanMrMustard]

I'd heard about the trouble they'd had naming this on....I think "A Doll's House" would have worked just fine, so long as the music contained therein remained the awesome collection of songs we know today.

oh absolutely! Not a even a thought about any other musical content for TWA

[MeanMrMustard]

Cool illustration!  I believe the first few thousand were individually numbered on the jacket. ( I didn't get one of those).
 

yeah, which instantly reminds me also of the infamous "Butchers" cover for "Yesterday and Today" (which I DONT have, incidentally......  lol)

[MeanMrMustard]

its amazing...just when you think you know all there is to know about the band...all of a sudden comes this.

thanks MMM, i may have seen that cover art before somewhere...but i didn't know what it was originally for

no prob...

Beatle fans share stuff and stick together

[Kylenz]

I read that they had to change the name of the album because it would coincide with the release of the debut album by Family: 'Music In A Doll's House'..

..which by the way is for me the best album of 1968 (and what a year that was for music history!). That Family album has excellent songs, great melodies, imagination, moments of psychedelia and experimentation, moments of flat-out rockin! Moments of jazz (Hey Mr Policeman), moments of swindswept sea-shanty (check out the end section of the opening track 'The Chase').. people have posted audio of the album on YouTube if you want to check it out. One of the best albums ever made in my opinion. A pity that Family never sustained that high level of consistency as time went on. But it is one of the few albums of '68 that challenges the White Album itself for pure quality and craftsmanship!