| Love Me Do |
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"Love Me Do" is an early Lennon/McCartney song, principally written by Paul McCartney in 1958–59 while playing truant from school. John Lennon wrote the Middle Eight .123 The song was The Beatles ' first single, backed by " P.S. I Love You " and released on 5 October 1962 . When the Single was originally released in the UK , it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four. In the U.S. the single was a number one hit in 1964 . "Love Me Do" begins with Blues y Harmonica played by John Lennon, then features Lennon and McCartney on joint lead vocals although McCartney handles the low solo vocal line on the song's title phrase when all the instruments go silent. Lennon had previously sung these sections, but this change in vocals was made when the harmonica part was added, as Lennon needed to play it once the instrumentation started up again on the "do" of "love me do". This was inspired by American Rhythm and Blues artist Bruce Channel with his song Hey! Baby . RECORDING "Love Me Do" was recorded by the Beatles on different occasions with three different drummers:
Most issues of the single contain the Andy White version of the track, which can also be heard on several albums (including '' Please Please Me '') and the '' The Beatles' Hits EP ''. The initial issues of the UK single, however, featured the Ringo Starr version, which is also included on the compilation album '' Past Masters, Volume One ''. All singles printed with the red Parlophone label contain the Ringo Starr version, whereas the singles having a black Parlophone label are the Andy White version. The CD single issued on 5 October 1992 contains both these versions. The Pete Best version remained unreleased until 1995 , when it was included on the '' Anthology 1 '' album. "Love Me Do", featuring Starr drumming, was also recorded eight times at the BBC and played on the BBC radio programmes ''Here We Go'', ''Talent Spot'', ''Saturday Club'', ''Side By Side'', ''Pop Go The Beatles'' and ''Easy Beat'' between October 1962 and October 1963 . The version of "Love Me Do" recorded on 10 July 1963 at the BBC and broadcast on the 23 July 1963 ''Pop Go The Beatles'' programme can be heard on the Beatles album '' Live At The BBC ''. The Beatles also performed the song live on the 20 February 1963 ''Parade of the Pops'' BBC radio broadcast. In 1969 , during the Get Back Sessions , the Beatles played the song in a slower, more bluesy form than they had in earlier recordings. This version of "Love Me Do" is one of many recordings made during these sessions and subsequently appeared on some bootlegs. BACKGROUND INFORMATION On 4 September 1962 Brian Epstein paid for the group to fly down from Liverpool to London .4 They arrived at Abbey Road Studios in the early afternoon, where they set up their equipment in Studio 35 and began rehearsing " Please Please Me ", "Love Me Do" and a song by Mitch Murray and Barry Mason called "How Do You Do It" (originally written for Adam Faith ).6 To a large extent, George Martin had decided to sign the Beatles on the strength of their individual qualities as their songwriting ability had yet to be recognised. Martin said: "It wasn't a question of what they could do {Link without Title} they hadn't written anything great at that time."7 "But what impressed me most was their personalities. Sparks flew off them when you talked to them".8 It was felt that unless they could write something as good as "How Do You Do It", then the Tin Pan Alley practice of having the group record songs by professional songwriters, which was the custom at the time, would be employed. During the course of an evening session (7pm to 10pm in Studio 2) they recorded "How Do You Do It" and "Love Me Do". "Please Please Me" was at this stage quite different to its eventual treatment and was dropped by Martin, which was a disappointment for the group, as they had hoped it would be the B-side to "Love Me Do".9 George Martin made a historic decision when he chose "Love Me Do" to be the Beatles' first single. "How Do You Do It" was number one material, as was overseeing the 6 June audition when he first heard it, and then sent for Martin, who took over the rest of the session.10 It was on the 4 September session, according to McCartney, that Martin suggested using a and Brownie McGhee . I felt it had a definite appeal."11 This then could have been at the earlier 6 June audition with Pete Best . John Lennon had learned to play a Chromatic Harmonica that his Uncle George (late husband of Aunt Mimi ) had given to him. But the instrument being used at this time was one stolen by Lennon from a music shop in Arnhem , the Netherlands , in 1960, as the Beatles first journeyed to Hamburg by road.1213 Lennon would have had this with him at the EMI audition, as Bruce Channel 's "Hey Baby", a hit in the UK in March 1962, with its harmonica intro, was one of the 33 songs the Beatles had prepared. Brian Epstein had in fact booked American Bruce Channel to top a NEMS Enterprises promotion at New Brighton ’s Tower Ballroom on 21 June 1962, just a few weeks after "Hey Baby" had charted, with the Beatles a prestigious second on the bill. Lennon was particularly impressed with Channel’s harmonica player, Delbert McClinton .14 The harmonica was to become an important element of the Beatles' early sound, but prior to becoming recording artists they had not particularly featured the instument in their live act. It seems credit then ought to be given to Martin for making it such an integral part of their early records such as "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and " From Me To You ". It was decided, however, that as "Love Me Do" was going to be the group's first single, it was important to get things absolutely right, and the song therefore needed to be re-recorded. Martin was not happy with Starr’s drum sound, and in those days it was not unusual to hire session drummers to fix this sort of problem. Producers then were used to hearing the bass drum "lock in" with the bass guitar as opposed to the much looser R & B feel that was emerging, so professional show band drummers were often used for recordings. George Martin has since said that he never intended to slight either Best or Starr by using a session drummer.15 Ron Richards, in charge for the 11 September re-recording session, booked Andy White , whom he had used regularly in the past. "P.S. I Love You" was recorded first; it was initially a contender for the A-side but was ruled out as there was another song with the same title by Peggy Lee . On this Starr was asked to play the Maracas . "Love Me Do" was then recorded with White playing drums and Starr on tambourine. However, early pressings of the single are the 4 September version—minus tambourine—with Starr playing drums. But later pressings of the single, and the version used for the "Please Please Me" album, are the 11 September re-record with Andy White on drums and Starr on tambourine. This difference has become fundamental in telling the two recordings of "Love Me Do" apart.
RON RICHARDS Interestingly, there are major discrepancies regarding the Andy White session, and who actually produced it. In his book ''Summer of Love'' George Martin concedes that his version of events differs from some accounts, saying: "On the 6 June Beatles’ session (audition) I decided that Pete Best had to go said to Epstein I don’t care what you do with Pete Best; but he’s not playing on any more recording sessions. I’m getting a session drummer in."17 When Starr turned up at the next session with the group (4 September) Martin says that he was totally unaware that the Beatles had fired Best, and, not knowing how "good bad or indifferent" Starr was, was not prepared to "waste precious studio time finding out." Martin, therefore, has this as the Andy White session in which Martin was present, and not 11 September. This definitely contradicts Mark Lewisohn ’s account, as in his book ''The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions'', he has Starr on drums on 4 September and White for the 11 September re-make.18 Lewisohn also says that Ron Richards was in charge on 11 September, which means, if accurate, that Richards was sole producer of the Andy White version of "Love Me Do". George Martin says: "My diary shows that I did not oversee any Beatles recording sessions on 11 September - only the one on 4 September." But, if Lewisohn’s account is correct and "the 4 September session really hadn’t proved good enough to satisfy George Martin," it might seem odd that Martin was not then present for the 11 September re-make. MISSING MASTER TAPE No original master tapes of the 4 September version of "Love Me Do" are known to exist. Standard procedure at Abbey Road Studios at the time was to erase the original two-track session tape once it had been "mixed down" to the (usually Monaural ) Master Tape used to press records. This was the fate of the session tape for "Love Me Do" as well as several other early Beatles songs from 1962–63. However, at some point the mixdown master tape for this song was also lost, and apparently no backup copies had been made—thus, for many years the only extant recorded copies were the red label Parlophone 45 rpm vinyl records pressed in 1962 . By the time the tapes had disappeared, the song's 11 September 1962 remake featuring Andy White had been released. EMI would not have been too concerned about the loss of the 4 September take, therefore, as it was now considered obsolete, and they may not have anticipated ever having any use for it again anyway. Around 1980 , a reasonably clean, original 45 from EMI's archives was used as the "best available source" for the track's inclusion on the Capitol Compilation LP '' Rarities ''. A few years later, a new master tape was struck, this time using another, better-sounding 45 supplied by a record collector, and this has served as the official EMI master tape for the original "Love Me Do" ever since. QUOTATIONS In 1972 , Lennon commented, In 1982 , McCartney remarked, Similarly Starr in 1976 enthused, CREDITS
In the Please Please Me album version:
In version that appears in Anthology 1 album:
COVER VERSIONS "Love Me Do" has been covered by (among others):
CULTURAL REFERENCES "Love Me Do" is mentioned in the Bad Company song "Shooting Star" off their 1975 album, Straight Shooter . It's the first rock n' roll song that Johnny hears. "Love Me Do" is mentioned in the anime Full Moon Wo Sagashite when Mitzuki is talking to Takuto about running away from home and moving to America to sing. CHARTS
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