The Original Beatles Butcher Cover

The Beatles Butcher Cover

The actual photo was never intended to be the album cover for the released album. Paul McCartney had described the photo as being their way of making a statement on the war. The cover was not released in the United States. The U.S. version of that particular album had the same cover as “Paperback Writer”. The production company at the time was Capitol Records and they were going to destroy all of the album covers that carried the butcher photo.

At some point, the Capitol Records changed their mind and decided instead to paste a replacement photo over the original and release it. The replacement photo featured John Lennon and a steamer trunk. These new copies were called the “trunk” copies and people who purchased them would try to peel the replacement photo off in hopes of revealing the original Butcher Cover underneath. Usually they were not successful and only ended up ruining the cover images altogether. If they had left the cover as it was, it would have been worth some money eventually. As is turned out, there were a few of the original cover albums that got out as well as the revised “trunk” copies.

The Cover Up!  The Yesterday And Today Album Cover

Yesterday And Today Album Cover

Today these covers are worth money to people who still having them intact. The original covers with the butchered doll images are referred to as the first state covers while the second release with the paste on cover are second state covers. It is extremely rare to find an original cover copy for this album, but there are some out there. In 1987, the president of Capitol Records who had 24 of the original designed covers sold them. The price today for one of the original covers with the butcher theme goes for as much as $40,000.

If you happen to be in possession of the Beatles Butcher Cover, you can check with a certified dealer in music collectibles to see what the going price for your cover would be. There are several Beatles collectors that will pay top dollar for rare items from the Beatles original days. Even though the onslaught of Beatles mania has been long gone for several decades now, the legend of the group will live on. They were extraordinary musicians as well as pioneers in the field of creating change for humanity. Their controversial music and lifestyles will serve as a reflection of a turbulent time for many generations to come.

Previous albums had been customized for the US and recorded differently for the English version. The Beatles wanted to integrate their music under one sound in recording Yesterday And Today. The Butcher Cover photo was originally intended for a different project. Once released however, the controversy began. After more than three quarters of a million albums hit record stores they were recalled. Throwing them in a landfill was too much of a loss or Capitol Records and they therefore recycled the records with new covers. These new covers, called Trunk Covers were sealed over the original Butcher Cover. Once it was discovered that the sealant was removable, the exposed Butcher Covers became almost as popular as the original covers.

Alan Livingston, Capitol Records reigning president during the 60′s kept 25 copies of the controversial album covers and stored them untouched for 20 years. At a Marriott convention in the mid 80′s Peter Livingston, Alan Livingston’s’ son started a buying cycle that has escalated to unexpected proportions. Sales on Ebay continue to rise and surprise. The different states of condition determine the value of the Beatles Butcher Cover. For every ten mono copies, a stereo copy was made. Therefore, the stereo copies bring the most return. Then the rest are as follows:

Beatles Butcher Cover Prices

In original form – stereo and mono copies with slight variations in shrink wrap condition – $85,000 highest sale

In modified form -

• 1st state Beatles Butcher Cover  – No peeling of the seal
• 2nd state Beatles Butcher Cover – A portion of the seal peeled
• 3rd state Beatles Butcher Cover – Entire seal peeled off

Modified forms of the Butcher Cover version of Yesterday And Today, range from around $4,000-$15,000. Stereo and Mono copies are not as easy to come by as current owners are holding on to their investments while watching the increase in demand for them on Ebay.

As the two most visible Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney may have had two different views on the demand for the Butcher Cover. If John Lennon were here today his sense of satisfaction would possible be on the insistence of freedom of expression, and the right to protest a war that he did not support. Paul McCartney is possibly satisfied with the popularity of the album itself despite the controversy that surrounds it.

As in George Harrisons’ view, Paul McCartney may have a somewhat different view about the Butcher Cover of Yesterday And Today than when he participated in the photo shoot. Whether he was also protesting the war or rebelling against the layout of the album, we learn things over time that support our position or change it. After all, maturity tends to have that affect on a person.

Butcher Cover Caricature

The cover of Yesterday And Today, showed the Beatles in butcher’s jackets, adorned with raw pieces of meat, dismembered baby dolls, glass eye balls and other assorted massacre sundries. When delivered to DJ’s around the country for playtime, out cries of disgust of the jacket photo, began a scurried recall of the albums to fix the problems. Within 5 days time the album was re-released with many of the 750,000 Beatles Butcher cover with a pasted on new cover right over top of the old picture. The new cover had a steamer trunk with the Beatles leaning on it.

Early 1960’s Capitol records did not believe The Beatles were going to be a hit, and treated their music accordingly. The company chopped songs off British released albums and repackaged them with B-side music, mixing them with instrumental flip sides all of which seemed to be all in a day’s business for Capitol. However, the company kept pumping out Beatles music at a faster pace than the Home Record Company EMI, in Britain, as fans grew here in America. How did they do it? Capitol placed only 11 songs to EMI’s fourteen on every album, padding soundtracks with instrumentals, and interview clips.

Who Was Behind The Beatles Butcher Cover?

Although it could be believable that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Star were behind the Butcher Cover, it was in fact the photographer that took and conceived of the controversial photos. The Beatles promoters often had wished they could have been verbally censored in the early 1960’s with the Vietnam War and social issues, the fabulous four were usually very outspoken. It was Robert Whitaker the photographer that decided to depict the Beatles in the strange and unusual photos. A series of four photos were intended to show how they had risen to fame and were idolized, but it needed to remind all that they were just men. However, in true 60’s form, you had to be there to get it.

A case of the original albums were taken and stored away by then Capitol executive John Livingston. In 1987, he started selling the collection at a modest price of 35-40,000 each in today’s market that is the minimum price they would get. Many album owners steamed or tried to peel the new covers off to get a look at the controversial cover, at today’s price they surely wish to turn back the clock. The history of the Butcher Cover depending on who is telling the tale is full of conspiracy theories, which is what the 21st century craves and loves.