Love Me Do
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| "Love Me Do" | ||
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| Single by The Beatles | ||
| from the album Please Please Me | ||
| B-side(s) | "P.S. I Love You" | |
| Released | 5 October 1962 | |
| Format | 7" (1962, 1982) CD, Digipak (1992) |
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| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 4 and 11 September 1962 |
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| Genre | Rock and roll | |
| Length | 2:22 ("Love Me Do") 2:06 ("P.S. I Love You") |
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| Label | Parlophone R4949 | |
| Writer(s) | Lennon-McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| The Beatles singles chronology | ||
| "Love Me Do" (1962) |
"Please Please Me" (1963) |
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| Please Please Me track listing | ||
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"Love Me Do" is an early Lennon-McCartney song, principally written by Paul McCartney in 1958-9.[1][2] The first single released by The Beatles was "Love Me Do" backed by "P.S. I Love You" on October 5, 1962. When this single was originally released in the UK it peaked at number 17 in the singles chart; in 1982 it was re-issued and this time reached number 4. In the US the single was a number 1 hit in 1964.
The Beatles' version of "Love Me Do" begins with bluesy harmonica played by John Lennon, then features Lennon and McCartney on joint lead vocals (George Harrison sings harmony vocals), although McCartney handles the low solo vocal line on the song's title phrase when all of 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 the harmonica once the instrumentation started up again on the "do" of "love me do".
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[edit] Recording
This song was recorded by The Beatles on different occasions with three different drummers:
- The Beatles first recorded it on June 6, 1962 with Pete Best on drums, as part of their EMI audition at Abbey Road Studios in London.
- By September 4, Best had been replaced with Ringo Starr (producer George Martin did not approve of Best's drumming), and on that day The Beatles with Starr recorded a version again at Abbey Road Studios.
- One week later, on September 11, The Beatles returned to the same studio to discover that Martin was dissatisfied with Starr's drumming, and they made a recording of "Love Me Do" with session drummer Andy White on drums while Starr played tambourine.
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. However, the initial issues of the UK single 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 (recorded on September 4), whereas the singles having a black Parlophone label are the Andy White version (recorded on September 11). The CD single issued on October 5, 1992 contains both of these versions of "Love Me Do". 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 July 10, 1963 at the BBC, and broadcast on the July 23, 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 February 20, 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.
[edit] Background information
On 4 September 1962 Brian Epstein paid for the group to fly down from Liverpool arriving at Abbey Road Studios early afternoon where they set up their equipment in Studio 3 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).[3] George Martin had decided to sign The Beatles partly on the strength of their personalities; their songwriting ability had yet to be recognised. It was felt that unless they could write something as good as "How Do You Do It", then the Tin Pan Alley route, which was the norm then anyway, would be taken.[4] So 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 to be the B-side to "Love Me Do".[5]
Martin made an historic decision when he chose "Love Me Do" to be the single. "How Do You Do It" was clearly number one material as Gerry and the Pacemakers were to later prove, and was far more commercial sounding at the time compared to "Love Me Do", but something made Martin go for their own composition. The song definitely had an effect on the Abbey Road staff on first hearing. Norman (Hurricane Smith) Smith was overseeing the 6 June audition when he first heard it, and sent for Martin who took over the rest of the session.
It was on the 4 September session when Martin suggested using a harmonica, presumably replacing a guitar phrase.[1] John Lennon owned a chromatic harmonica that his Uncle George (late husband of Aunt Mimi) had given to him and had taught himself to play, and so this was used. It was to become an important element of The Beatles' early sound, but prior to becoming recording artists (and subsequently for that matter) The Beatles themselves had not particularly featured harmonica 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 being as it was his idea to introduce it into "Love Me Do", which then led to it being used on "Please Please Me" and "From Me To You". Frank Ifield (a popular yodelling UK male vocalist during the early sixties) had recently had his first number one hit with "I Remember You" in July 1962, which featured a distinctive harmonica intro, as did America's Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby", which had been a hit in the UK in March 1962, and this possibly may have influenced Martin.
However, it was decided that as it was going to be the groups first single, it was important to get things absolutely right, and 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 said that he never intended to slight either Best or Starr in this respect).[6] As a result Ron Richards was in charge for the 11 September re-record and booked Andy White, whom he had used regularly in the past. "P.S. I Love You" was recorded first (this was initially a contender for the A-side, but as there was another song with the same title by Peggy Lee, it was ruled out). 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, is 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.
[edit] Missing master tape
No original master tapes of the September 4 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 recorded copies to exist were the red label Parlophone 45 rpm vinyl records pressed in 1962 from the now non-existent master tapes.
By the time the tapes had disappeared, the song's September 11, 1962 remake featuring Andy White had been released. EMI would not have been too concerned about this as the September 4 take 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.
[edit] Quotations
In 1972, Lennon commented: "Paul wrote the main structure of this when he was sixteen, or even earlier. I think I had something to do with the middle."[2]
In 1982, McCartney remarked: "In Hamburg we clicked... At the Cavern we clicked... but if you want to know when we 'knew' we'd arrived, it was getting in the charts with 'Love Me Do'. That was the one. It gave us somewhere to go."[2]
Similarly Starr in 1976 enthused: "The first record, 'Love Me Do', for me that was more important than anything else. That first piece of plastic. You can't believe how great that was. It was so wonderful. We were on a record!"[2]
[edit] Instrumentation on The Beatles' version
- John Lennon on rhythm guitar, harmonica, joint lead vocal
- Paul McCartney on bass, joint lead vocal
- George Harrison on lead guitar, backing vocal
- Ringo Starr on drums
[edit] Cover versions
"Love Me Do" has been covered by:
- Bobby Vee on his 1964 album 30 Big Hits from the 60s
- Dick Hyman on his 1964 album Keyboard Kaleidoscope
- Sandie Shaw on her 1969 album Reviewing the Situation
- Ringo Starr on his 1998 album Vertical Man
- Flaco Jiménez on his 2000 album Sleepytown
- Madooo on his 2002 album This Day Is Forever
- The Persuasions on their 2002 album The Persuasions Sing the Beatles
- Emmerson Nogueira on his 2004 album Beatles
[edit] References
- ^ a b Miles, Barry, Many Years From Now, Vintage-Random House 1998, ISBN 0-7493-8658-4.
- ^ a b c d Please Please Me. Beatles Ultimate Experience: Songwriting & Recording Database. Retrieved on October 29, 2006.
- ^ Gerry Marsden. Q magazine Beatles Special, p.36
- ^ Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, p.18
- ^ Bill Harry, "The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia", p.528
- ^ Keith Badman. The Beatles Off The Record, p.41
[edit] External links
- Song-by-Song Listing for "Love Me Do"
- Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "Love Me Do"
- Listing for "Love Me Do" at Steve's Beatles Page
- Listing for "Love Me Do" at The Complete Guide to The Beatles' Instruments
- What harmonica did John Lennon use to play the intro to "Love Me Do" and other songs by The Beatles?
| Preceded by: "My Guy" by Mary Wells |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 30, 1964 |
Succeeded by: "Chapel of Love" by The Dixie Cups |
