Some Other Guy

"Some Other Guy" is a rhythm and blues song, written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and Richard Barrett.^[1] It was first released by Barrett as a single in 1962,^[2] with a backing band featuring an electric piano, an unusual sound in pop music at the time.

The Beatles

The song was part of The Beatles' live repertoire in 1962-63, and a recording was made on 19 June 1963 during a live BBC radio performance by the band at The Playhouse Theatre, London. This recording was first released for purchase by the public on the album Live at the BBC in 1994. The song has special significance in Beatles lore, as it is featured in the only known existing film with synchronized sound showing The Beatles performing live at the famous Cavern Club. The crude, grainy footage features John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing the song's melody in unison on Wednesday 22 August 1962. This is also the first film of Ringo Starr as the Beatles drummer, Pete Best having been discharged the week before. At the end of the song you can hear someone in the audience screaming "We want Pete!"

McCartney stated: "Some Other Guy" is a great song...It really got us started because that's one of the earliest bits of film of The Beatles. It was the song we sang when Granada Television came to The Cavern. It was also a bit of a muso song..."^[3] The song as The Beatles play it is in the key of D, with a slow A-C-D intro and second interval I-♭VII-I on every tonic (and the equivalent for IV and V). The "muso song" reference is thought to relate to the fact that it is a rare early example of a rock and roll song being topped and tailed by a ♭VII-I cadence.^[4]

Personnel

The following is the version that appears on Live at the BBC.

• John Lennon - vocals, lead guitar
• Paul McCartney - vocals, bass
• George Harrison - rhythm guitar
• Ringo Starr - drums

The former Beatles member, Pete Best, also released a cover of the song on his 1965 album, "Best of The Beatles".^[5] Best's version and The Beatles's version sound similar, which is to be expected, since Best was in The Beatles when they all originally played the song.

Other recorded versions

The song was very popular in Liverpool's Merseybeat scene.^[2] Both the original and the version by The Beatles' fellow Merseybeaters, The Big Three ("Some Other Guy" b/w "Let True Love Begin", Decca F11614, March 1963, UK No.37), are part of John Lennon's jukebox. The song was also covered by the pre-Merseybeat/British Invasion U.K. band Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and, later, by Led Zeppelin during a Whole Lotta Love medley in a live concert on 4 September 1970 at the LA Forum in Inglewood, California (a recording of which is found on the famous bootleg Live On Blueberry Hill). Both sides of Barrett's original single were covered by The Searchers in 1963 ("Some Other Guy" is included on the album Sugar and Spice, "Tricky Dicky" is included on Meet the Searchers^[6]).

"Some Other Guy" was also performed/covered by the fictional band The Stray Cats in the 1974 rock film Stardust starring David Essex. The song was subsequently issued as a solo single by Dave Edmunds, who sang lead on the song in the film.

The song was further covered by the Detroit band The Hentchmen featuring Jack White of the White Stripes on lead guitar. The song was released as a 45 on the Detroit label, Italy Records, in 1997. A copy of this record was in John Peel's treasured record box after his death.^{[citation needed]}

John Lennon pays homage to this song by lifting the two-chord intro for the intro to his 'Instant Karma' single.

Parodies

The Rutles' song "Goose-Step Mama" is based on the Beatles' version of this song.

References