LONDON -- A lot of things languish in desk drawers but they're usually not things we want to discover -- except of course when they're a rare Beatles recording.
The tape is an early live recording of the fab four singing "Some Other Guy" at The Cavern Club in Liverpool.
Made in 1962 before their debut single was released, the recording was for a programme on Granada TV, according to the BBC, which was never actually broadcast because of legal issues with other acts that were due to be in the show.
The original sound on the filmed TV footage was so bad that a sound engineer was sent to the club to get better audio, which would have then been dubbed over the video. That recording turned out so well that Beatles manager Brian Epstein asked the sound engineer Gordon Butler to make him five acetate copies, according to the Liverpool Echo.
One of the tapes was given by Butler to TV producer Johnnie Hamp and it reportedly sat in his drawer for 50 years. He's putting it up for auction in Liverpool on Nov. 4 with the proceeds going to charity.
NME says only one of the five tapes has been sold -- it was purchased by Apple Records in 1993 for £16,000 ($24,000).