Before The Beginning is a work of art. There are very few songs I've listed to in my life that I would consider to be absolutely perfect. The lyrics are powerful and the music is fantastic. It's also one of those songs where the live version blows the album version away and I LOVE the album version. I also firmly believe that there is nobody else who would be able to do this song the justice it deserves. This is Peter Green's song.
A couple live versions of Before The Beginning:
January 30, 1970:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf7IT69AN3k
April 24, 1970:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDJ24RAcb48
Matt