On the evening of 5th October, with its powerful
transmitter broadcasting to the UK on 208 Meters on the Medium Wave band (AM to
our US readers) Radio Luxembourg played a new song, a simple song, in which the
singers sang the word ‘love’ a total of 23 times. It was raw, it was sexy, and
an almost complete rebuttal of the saccharine, over-produced pap prevalent at the
time. It was “Love Me Do”.
Beatles producer George Martin said when The
Beatles “Love Me Do” was released, on Friday 5th October 1962, it was the day
the world changed, and the world has consistently agreed with him ever
since.
Liverpool, in the North West of England, was
approaching the winter of 1962 with rocketing unemployment rates and the worst
slums in Europe, and yet it was also the world’s biggest port. Even as the
deadly game of bluff, played with nuclear weapons, was enacted as The Cold War
between East and West, some of Liverpool’s’ youth had been reaching out across
the oceans to pursue the rock ‘n’ roll dream, inspired by the groundbreaking
efforts of Elvis Presley in the USA, and, closer to home, the example of do it
yourself music as led by British singer / banjo player Lonnie Donegan.
Read : The
Beatles – Abbey Road
Amidst a bleak economic backdrop, five young men
from Liverpool had been slowly learning their craft in Hamburg, Germany as a
rock ‘n’ roll band (they left one behind). The unbeatable Hamburg
apprenticeship of 4 hour sets, 7 days a week, meant that when the leaner, and
certainly hungrier, quartet returned to their home city, they were able to whip
up excitement in audiences inspired by their musicianship, showmanship and
sheer enthusiasm.
Label head and producer George Martin wasn’t
initially bowled over by the lads’ musicianship or compositions, but he was
impressed with their self-confident insouciance, and something in his gut told
him to take a chance.
Even when the band had signed, they were
determined to be individual, refusing to release a song suggested by George
Martin, even though he assured them it would be a hit. (It was – the song was
‘How Do You Do It?’, a chart-topper in 1963 when recorded by Gerry & The
Pacemakers. History shows that The Beatles’ instincts were correct,
though).
George Martin does deserve credit for his control
of the recording session for ‘Love Me Do’, in which he made a vital change to
the arrangement. It was a very early Lennon–McCartney composition, principally
written by the 16-year old Paul McCartney while playing truant from school,
with John Lennon later adding the middle eight section (starting with “Someone
to love…”) to complete the song, Their practice at the time was to scribble
songs in a school notebook, and, in their dreams of future respect as
professional songwriters, to always write "Another Lennon-McCartney
Original" at the top of the page.
Read : The
Beatles - Yesterday
Having been promised a deal by George Martin in
the spring, The Beatles formally signed to Parlophone on June 4th 1962, and had
their first recording session at London’s EMI Studios in Abbey Road on 6th June
with Pete Best on drums. After Martin expressed concern over Best’s level of
technique, The Beatles returned to London three months later, on 4 September,
with their new drummer, Ringo Starr, formerly of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
A controversial decision at the time in Liverpool, since Best had his own
coterie of personal fans, the band’s decision has been more than vindicated by
the excellent rhythm parts of Ringo since then, but also by a perusal of the
original recorded version of ‘Love Me Do’: Ringo adds the final ingredient to
The Beatles’ mix of originality, the swinging new version sounding like a
completely new song.
"Love Me Do" kicks off with John Lennon playing a bluesy
dry harmonica riff, having learnt to play as a child after his Uncle George
introduced him to the instrument. The actual harmonica being used at this time
was one stolen by the light-fingered Lennon from a music shop in Arnhem, the
Netherlands, in 1960, as the Beatles first journeyed to Hamburg. It has been
much reported that Delbert McClinton, who supplied the distinctive harp riff on
Bruce Channel’s ‘Hey Baby’, taught Lennon to play, but this isn’t strictly
accurate. ‘Hey Baby’ was already in the Beatles’ repertoire, and The Beatles
did open for Bruce Channel when he appeared at Liverpool's Tower Ballroom, but
that was on June 21st, so McClinton merely gave Lennon a few pointers.
Read : The
Beatles – Hi Hi Hi
The song features Lennon
and McCartney on joint lead vocals, in their best Everly Brothers style,
harmonising during the beseeching "please" before McCartney sings the
unaccompanied vocal line on the song's title phrase, ‘Love Me Do’. Lennon had
previously sung the title sections, but this change in arrangement was made in
the studio under the direction of producer George Martin when he realised that
the harmonica part encroached on the vocal, allowing McCartney’s solo voice to
act as a contrast to the harmony work elsewhere.
After first checking into
their Chelsea hotel on September 4th, The Beatles arrived at EMI Studios early
in the afternoon where they set up their equipment in Studio 3 and began
rehearsing six songs including: "Please Please Me", "Love Me
Do" and "How Do You Do It?"
One week later, on 11
September, the Beatles returned to the same studio where they made another
recording of "Love Me Do" with session drummer Andy White on drums,
as Martin was unhappy with the 4th September drum sound, relegating Ringo to
tambourine. The first pressing of the single, however, did feature the Ringo
Starr version, prompting Mark Lewisohn to later write: "Clearly, the 11
September version was not regarded as having been a significant improvement
after all". It was also later included on the compilation albums Rarities
(American version) and Past Masters, Volume One. The Andy White version was
included on the Beatles' debut UK album, Please Please Me, The Beatles' Hits
EP, and all subsequent album releases on which "Love Me Do" was
included. As the tambourine was not included on the 4 September recording, this
is the easiest way to distinguish between the Starr and White recordings.
That first week of October
1962 saw The Tornadoes at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the instrumental
“Telstar”, while The Four Seasons were at the top of the charts in the US with
“Sherry”. The Rollin’ Stones, (as they were known during this period), played
The Woodstock Hotel in Surrey to less than 200 people. The Who hadn’t yet met
Keith Moon, and Bruce Springsteen, who had recently turned 13, had just bought
his first guitar.
So it was with one foot in
the established order of package tours and light entertainment shows, that The
Beatles launched their debut. Compared to modern day promotional activities,
where artists set out on a grueling schedule of radio, TV and press interviews,
The Beatles didn’t really have a plan. The day after “Love Me Do’ was released,
in the afternoon the band made a special 15 mile trip to Dawson’s Music Shop in
Widnes, Cheshire, to hold an instore signing session, and in the evening they
played at the Horticultural Dance at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Birkenhead. The
following day they appeared at The Cavern, Liverpool, and the next was spent
recording a Radio Luxembourg special, The Friday Spectacular, before a live
audience of 100. Still in London, the following day The Beatles made a visit to
the offices of Record Mirror in the hope that someone might review their new
release. To finish the week off, they returned to Liverpool and played a
lunchtime and evening show at The Cavern.
By the end of the month The
Beatles returned to Hamburg for a 14-night run at the Star Club, sharing the bill
with Little Richard. Back in England, over the next two months The Beatles
continued to make the odd radio and TV appearance along with gigs in the North
West.
During this time, airplay
on the single was steadily increasing, and eventually, two days after
Christmas, on December 27th 1962, The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” peaked on the
Record Retailer Top 50 charts, at number 17, its highest position.
So, after a tough year, The
Beatles had at least put themselves in the map. But, unbeknownst to the world,
they had already got in the can the track that would place them at the top of
the tree – ‘Please Please Me’, to be released in January 1963. That was to
break them wide open, but in the meantime The Beatles could spend their last
New Year as normal humans before the madness and mayhem to come.