Welcome to another go-round of #AskNat, a new series on TheBeatlesRarity where I chose one or more Beatle-related questions sent in by site-readers to give it my best answer. Feel free to join in with any added information by commenting to the post. Information on submitting your own questions is given below. Thanks are also in order here for those who have already sent in questions – so THANK YOU very much!

This week’s first question comes from one of our long time email subscribers Elliott Marx of Chatsworth California, who makes a quick point and writes:

I always found the story about rejecting Mitch Murray’s “How Do You Do It” to be suspicious. I love the premise of the band putting their foot down and purposely doing a lackluster version of the song as a protest against using outside writers. But multinational record corporations don’t listen to unproven 20 year old artists.

After famously being denied by multiple labels, it seems mind-bogglingly courageous to not just do what your told to do.

On top of that, how did Murray write a song that was so incredibly early-Beatles-esque before the Beatles had even made a recorded impact? I think HDYDI is a great, light weight pop tune. But it really does have many Beatles trademarks within it. Perhaps they arranged the known version to suit their style. Otherwise, it seems that elements of their sound preexisted.

This is a lot of language to simply ask – what is the true story behind that song?

Well, Elliott, the true story goes like this.

The Beatles first EMI recording session on June 6, 1962 convinced producer George Martin two things. First drummer Pete Best was unsuitable for studio purposes (the group took care of this by replacing him with Ringo). Second, none of the material offered by the group, original compositions or covers, was strong enough for a debut single. Martin took this problem into his own hands by searching for a promising new song from London’s talent pool of songwriters. Meanwhile, across town, composer Mitch Murray watched as his new song “How Do You Do It” was demoed by Barry Mason (with instrumental accompaniment by the Dave Clark Five), offered to singer Adam Faith, and turned down. Murray and Mason next brought the demo acetate to EMI’s resident rock producer Ron Richards, who convinced publisher Dick James to purchase the rights to the tune. The acetate sat in Richards’ office until sometime after The Beatles June 6 session, which Richards and Martin co-produced. Both producers agreed that the song might be suitable for the Beatles’ style and mailed a copy to Liverpool so the band could learn the song in time for a session planned for September 4, 1962.

So The Beatles were put in the ironic position of having to rearrange a song performed by future chart rivals, The Dave Clark Five, and there is evidence that they tried out their new arrangement during July and August performances at The Cavern. The response must not have been good enough to give them confidence in the song (based on their recorded performance). They clearly wanted to make it on their own terms rather than become known for parroting the corniness of “professional” song writers. But with no original songs to draw from and cautious at the possibility of upsetting the big-time producers who presumably knew what made a big hit (what they wanted more than anything), The Beatles finalized an arrangement of the song with their new drummer Ringo in the last weeks of August. At the September 4 session, after some rehearsals and Ringo proving his drumming skills, they nailed a recording of “How Do You Do It” in one take. Handclaps were added as the only overdub. Satisfying Martin and Richards, they moved on to recording their own “Love Me Do,” which took 15 takes and although recognized as being superior to Pete Best’s efforts, caused George Martin to have second thoughts on Ringo’s drumming. Holding off on a final decision as to which song was the most worthy to be the debut single, Martin mixed both songs and had a mono acetate made. By the following session on September 11, Martin had declared “Love Me Do” more suitable for The Beatles style and “How Do You Do It” was placed in the vault and forgotten until long after the session tapes had been destroyed. Gerry and The Pacemakers, however, ended up recording the song and taking it to #1 in the U.K. for 3 weeks. For the Beatles September 11 session, professional drummer Andy White was brought in to try a recording of “Love Me Do” with him. For more on that see last week’s #askNat article here. Additional information about “How Do You Do It” was featured in this BROW post.

George Martin's original 1962 acetate for "How Do You Do It"

Stacia in Minneapolis, Minnesota asks:

What’s a couple of your favorite bootleg discs?

Well, Stacia, that one is a bit tough for me to answer in terms of any “specific” titles. A look through the inventory section of my site here will show that I do have a lot in my personal collection but I guess it all is too dependent on what I happen to be in the mood to listen to at any given time to make a list of certain ones. I will say though that I am quite fond of many of the CDs out on the “Purple Chick” label, because they are very complete series-type sets that are as complete as possible for a specific period, tour or session instead of being a confusing “hodgepodge” of various recordings. For example there is even an 80+ disc set of the entire Get Back sessions of January 1969 (the set is called A/B Road). All the good and all the bad in one set. It’s quite exhaustive for a casual fan, but for a completeist, such as myself, it is a good thing. Of course I invite anyone reading to list their favorite Beatle bootlegs (and why) in the comments section below.

Thank you Elliott and Stacia for two very good questions!

References used in this post include John C. Winn’s Way Beyond Compare and Bill Harry’s Beatles Encyclopedia.

To submit your own questions to #askNat follow these guidelines:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

To read more or purchase music related to this post check out these Amazon links below:

1) Anthology 1 – 1995 2 CD set of Beatles out-takes and live recordings from the earliest years up to 1964. Includes “How Do You Do It” from September 4, 1962 EMI session.

2) Past Masters (Remastered) – 2-CD 2010 remastered set of Beatles non-album tracks including “Love Me Do” single version with Ringo Starr on drums at the same session that “How Do You Do It” was recorded.

3) Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

No related posts.

Welcome to the first installment of #AskNat, a new series on TheBeatlesRarity where I chose one or more Beatle-related questions sent in by site-readers to give it my best answer. Feel free to join in with any added information by commenting to the post. Information on submitting your own questions is given below.

This week’s first question comes from one of our Twitter readers with the name Kostya221. His question is:

It is fairly common knowledge that the single version of “Love Me Do” by The Beatles has Ringo Starr on drums and the Please Please Me album version of “Love Me Do” has George Martin-appointed session man Andy White on drums and Ringo playing a tambourine. Are there any other Beatles recordings that Andy White plays on?

The Beatles first recordings at EMI Studios occurred on June 6, 1962 while Pete Best was still the drummer. The band recorded both “Besame Mucho” and “Love Me Do.” Both of these songs are featured on Beatles Anthology 1.

After this session producer George Martin told the Beatles manager Brian Epstein that he would be replacing Pete Best on the drums with someone else for any future studio recordings. Ringo Starr became the new Beatles drummer on August 18th and his first studio session at EMI with The Beatles came on September 4th, 1962 when The Beatles recorded “How Do You Do It” written by Mitch Murray and their own “Love Me Do. ” The version of “Love Me Do” recorded here was used on the British single released on October 5, 1962. Ringo played on both of these tracks.

By the next EMI session which came the following week on September 11, 1962, George Martin, although recognizing Ringo as a big improvement over Pete Best, was having second thoughts on his drumming and replaced him with session drummer Andy White. The Beatles recorded “P.S. I Love You’ first (the version that is on the B-side to the “Love Me Do” single and mono copies of the Please Please Me LP). Ringo, wanting to be sure he was on the record, played maracas. Next they did a re-recording of “Love Me Do” still using Andy White as drummer. Ringo plays a tambourine on this recording which was selected for use on the Please Please Me LP. Thirdly The Beatles recorded an earlier and harmonica-less version of “Please Please Me”. This version is available on The Beatles Anthology 1 and has a much tamer drum pattern, again delivered by Andy White. George Martin instructed them to pep the song up and add some harmonies, which they did and when it was recorded again on November 26th of that year. Ringo played drums on this recording and it became The Beatles first number one single.

Andy White, session drummer for EMI, circa 1962

Secondly, Craig from Santa Ana, California asks:

Why do both The Beatles’ Vee Jay and Capitol records in America have identical rainbow colorbands on the record labels when they were not affiliated with each other?

While the colorband design is similar for both Vee Jay and Capitol, they are not identical, as the colors are positioned in different positions around the circular labels (e.g. green is around the 3 o’clock position on a Capitol label and around the 7 o’clock position on a Vee Jay label).

The rainbow label was introduced by Capitol in 1958 with the advent of stereophonic records. Vee Jay apparently liked the design and adapted their own version of the rainbow labels by 1960. Many Vee Jay records did not include the rainbow label design however as it was dependent on which factory pressed the records (Vee Jay used more than one) and other factors. Capitol did not use rainbow labels on the Beatles singles but did on both mono and stereo Beatles albums. Vee Jay used their rainbow labels on both albums, singles and EPs.

Capitol LP rainbow label

Vee Jay single rainbow label, 1963

Thank you Kostya221 and Craig for your questions!

To submit your own questions to #askNat follow these guidelines:

1) There is a designated form that you fill out right on the website where you can give your name, location, email address and submit your question. The form is right here and is the same form used to submit requests for BROWs (Beatles Rarity Of The Weeks), but modfied to do both BROW requests and #askNat questions.

2) If you are a Facebook user, you can submit your question right on TheBeatlesRarity FB wall at www.facebook.com/beatlesrarity. If you think about it, try to remember to flag your question with “#askNat”.

3) Similarly, if you are a Google+ user, you can submit your question on TheBeatlesRarity Google+ page at www.gplus.to/beatlesrarity. Google+ supports hashtag searchability so it will be helpful if you preface your question with “#askNat” here too.

4) For you Twitter users, www.twitter.com/beatlesrarity gets you to the right place. Post your question and be sure to add “#askNat” somewhere in the tweet.

To read more or purchase music related to this post check out these Amazon links below:

1) Please Please Me (Remastered) – 2010 remaster of original 1963 stereo album featuring “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You” w/Andy White on drums.

2) Past Masters (Remastered) – 2-CD 2010 remastered set of Beatles non-album tracks including “Love Me Do” single version with Ringo Starr on drums.

3) Anthology 1 – 1995 2 CD set of Beatles out-takes and live recordings from the earliest years up to 1964. Includes early version of “Please Please Me” with Andy White on drums and early version of “Love Me Do” with Pete Best on drums.

4) Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Collector’s Corner – The “Love Me Do” single on Parlophone – The Beatles begin an incredible recording career Excluding the January 5, 1962, Polydor “My Bonnie” single release...

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. Most Beatles fans are aware of the recordings The Beatles made with Tony Sheridan, another English singer/guitarist they regularly backed during their stint at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg. Of the eight songs eventually released commercially, the most popular is My Bonnie, largely because it was the Beatles first recording on commercial vinyl, as well as the song that historically brought them to the attention of their future manager, Brian Epstein. One need only read the liner notes in the booklet for The Beatles Anthology 1 CD set, to know how record producer Bert Kaempfert had visited the Top Ten and was impressed enough with what he heard from Sheridan and The Beatles to get them under a contract and produce some recording sessions with them.

During June 22-23, 1961, The Beatles recorded My Bonnie, The Saints, Why, Take Out Some Insurance On Me Baby and Nobody’s Child with Tony on lead vocals and Pete Best still manning the drum kit. Another recording from these sessions, Ain’t She Sweet, featured John Lennon on lead vocal. There was also an instrumental composed by John and George Harrison titled Cry For A Shadow. When My Bonnie b/w The Saints was released on a single, in both Germany and the U.K., it was requested at Brian Epstein’s NEMS record store, and the resulting curiosity of Brian’s is what led him to the Cavern Club in Liverpool to see The Beatles perform. The rest, as they say, is history.

Many are under the impression that these 1961 sessions in Hamburg were when all of the Tony Sheridan recordings with The Beatles were made, but that is not the case. By the middle of the following year, Brian was already managing The Beatles, and one of the main roadblocks with getting them a record deal was the contract they had signed in Hamburg with Bert Kaempfert. After talks with Brian, Bert agreed to let them out of it if they consented to one more session with Tony, the next time they were in Hamburg.

This is what brought The Beatles back to the same Studio Rahlstedt, where they had recorded the earlier sessions with Tony. The date was May 24, 1962. Pete Best was still with them, and they had also brought along pianist Roy Young, who had been playing with them at their latest engagements at Hamburg’s Star Club. The one person that didn’t make it to the session was Tony Sheridan himself. The Beatles, with Roy, went ahead and recorded two backing tracks for Tony to add vocals to at a later date. One track was a song called Swanee River. Another track, arranged solely by 19 year old Paul McCartney, was Sweet Georgia Brown, the subject of this week’s BROW.

Tony did make it to the studio a couple of weeks later, on June 7, to add his vocal track to Sweet Georgia Brown, and it appeared on a German EP called Ya Ya later in 1962. This EP, as you may have guessed, has been out of print for almost half a century. Swanee River was never released, and the master tapes have likely been lost forever. There is another recording of Tony Sheridan performing Swanee River, but without The Beatles as the backing band.

A year and a half later, on January 3, 1964, while The Beatles were the hottest commodity on the planet and soon to visit America, Tony replaced his vocal track on Sweet Georgia Brown, this time singing novelty lyrics that actually reference The Beatles by name. The verse previously sang as:

Fellas that she can’t get
Are fellas she can’t get*
Georgia claimed her, Georgia named her
Sweet Georgia Brown

was changed to:

In Liverpool she even dared
to criticize The Beatles hair
with their whole fan club standing there
Ah, meet Sweet Georgia Brown

* Tony should’ve sang this line as Are fellas she ain’t met

This second version is readily available (you can get it from the Amazon link below, or possibly at your favorite music store). The original version, with the initial vocal track by Tony, is not so easy to come by. I give it you now to compare. Thanks for stopping by this week!

Top Ten Club photo (Hamburg) L-R: Stuart Sutcliff, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney (on piano behind Tony), Tony Sheridan

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) In the Beginning – 2000 CD remaster of original 1970 compilation. Contains all eight songs The Beatles did with Tony Sheridan including their first ever vinyl release My Bonnie and Tony’s 1964 updated vocal of Sweet Georgia Brown

2) The Beatles with Tony Sheridan – 2004 film on DVD addressing The Beatles times in Hamburg with Tony Sheridan in 1960-1962.

3) Additional Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Collector’s Corner – U.S. Decca 1962 My Bonnie single…the first Beatles appearance on American vinyl While the last Collector’s Corner article covered the first time...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – My Bonnie (German intro) Welcome to this week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week. Most...
3. Freda Kelly – Beatles Fan Club Secretary, 1963-1972 Liverpudlian Freda Kelly was the Beatles Fan Club Secretary from...

Happy Nat holds a copy of his Decca 31382 My Bonnie single.

While the last Collector’s Corner article covered the first time The Beatles were credited on an American vinyl record, this article covers an even earlier U.S. disc that has The Beatles playing My Bonnie with lead singer/guitarist Tony Sheridan as the front man. The artist was credited as Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers. This was the very first time The Beatles appeared on an American vinyl disc. This Decca single was released in very limited quantities on April 11, 1962.

Background Information
Most fans know The Beatles made several stints to Hamburg, Germany, to play in the red-light district before they finally met world success. The second of these kicked off in April 1961, when they went down to play at the Top Ten Club for the next three months. Another British singer and guitarist playing there at the time was Tony Sheridan, who was often backed by The Beatles, which at the time consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe (bass) and Pete Best (drums). Record producer Bert Kaempfert, who was an A&R executive for Polydor Records and a resident of Hamburg, dropped by The Top Ten Club one night and liked what he saw (or should I say heard?) in both Tony and The Beatles. Bert signed them both to his production company.

By the time the effective date rolled around on July 1, 1961, Stuart had permanently quit The Beatles and Paul McCartney was playing bass. On June 22-23, 1961, Tony and The Beatles made their first professional recording session at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, near Hamburg. With Bert Kaempfert producing and sound engineer Karl Hinze, seven song were recorded:

1) My Bonnie
2) The Saints (When The Saints Go Marching In)
3) Why
4) If You Love Me, Baby (aka Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby)
5) Nobody’s Child
6) Ain’t She Sweet
7) Cry For A Shadow

The first five of these had Tony Sheridan on lead vocal and rhythm guitar. The sixth is by The Beatles without Tony, and John Lennon on lead vocal. The seventh is an instrumental written by John Lennon and George Harrison. An eighth song, Sweet Georgia Brown, was recorded with Tony on lead vocals at another session on May 24, 1962 (although Tony’s vocal was added later, on June 7, 1962).

My Bonnie starts out with a slow verse before kicking in with a energetic rock beat for the remainder of the song. One edit has the slow verse sung by Tony in German and the other has him singing it in English.

On October 23, 1961, a German single was released with My Bonnie (with the German intro) on the A-side and The Saints on the B-side. This was the first time The Beatles appeared on commercial vinyl. This German intro version, now the least common, was featured as a Beatles Rarity Of The Week on Dec. 10, 2008, and can be heard here.

On December 7, 1961, the single was remastered with the English intro version of My Bonnie on the A-side. Both the German and English versions had the same catalog number (Polydor NH 24 673), but the German version has the title as My Bonnie (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur) and “Rock” on the label, whereas the English intro version just has the title as My Bonnie and instead of “Rock” says “Twist” on the label. The single did not use the name Beatles and credited the artist as Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers. In January 1962, when it was released in the U.K. (on Polydor NH 66833), it was credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beatles. Of course, the U.K. release contained the version with the English intro verse.

Original 1961 German (Polydor NH 24 673) single of My Bonnie/The Saints (Twist Version)

Although both My Bonnie and The Saints were originally written in the late 19th century, the Sheridan/Beatles arrangements were straight up rock and roll. My Bonnie featured Tony Sheridan on lead vocal and guitar, George Harrison on guitar, Paul McCartney on backing vocals, bass, and some background shouting, John Lennon on backing vocals, and handclaps and Pete Best on drums. The Saints has Tony Sheridan on vocals and rhythm guitar, George Harrison on lead guitar, John Lennon on rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney on bass and background shouts, and Pete Best on drums.

Polydor Records did not set up its label in America until 1969, so the U.S. release of the single ending up going to Decca Records. Decca released their My Bonnie c/w The Saints single in America on April 11, 1962, as Decca 31382. As in Germany, the disc was credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers.

Decca 31382 A-Side Label-My Bonnie by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers

Decca 31382 Label (B-Side)-The Saints by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers

Pressings/Label Variations
The commercial copies of the U.S. 45 used the recently designed black background labels with a rainbow color bar across the center (see picture above). The singles were pressed by Decca’s factories in Gloversville, NY, (identified by a “1″ in the trail-off area of the disc) and Pickneyville, IL (identified by a “2″ in the trail-off area of the disc). The Gloversville labels have the catalog number, file number, “Gema (AMRA)” and the running time printed in silver-colored font in the lower black area, just below the color bar. The rarer Pickneyville labels have the catalog number, file number, “Gema (AMRA)” and the running time printed in silver colored font inside the color bar, to the right of the center hole. Since there were almost no sales or airplay of this record, Decca made very few commercial copies, making this one of the scarcest American Beatles records in existence.

There were also promotional copies of the record pressed with pink labels and black text. The labels use an older design, more heavily used by Decca in the 1950′s. Although these discs are also quite scarce, the commercial copies are the most rare.

Decca 31382 My Bonnie single w/sleeve (front)

Decca 31382 My Bonnie single w/sleeve (back)

Re-issue
Soon after Beatlemania swept the U.S. in early 1964, MGM Records secured the rights to four of the recordings by Tony Sheridan and The Beatles: My Bonnie, The Saints, Why and Cry For A Shadow. On January 27, 1964, MGM issued their version of the My Bonnie single. It still had The Saints as the b-side but with the artist listed as The Beatles with Tony Sheridan instead of Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers. It came in a large green picture sleeve with The Beatles in very large white font. The slow English intro verse was edited out of the MGM version, so that it would start out rocking. The catalog number was MGM K13213. As one might expect, unlike when Decca’s release came out, this time it charted in the U.S. and peaked on the Billboard singles chart at number 26 on March 14, 1964. MGM also issued an entire LP containing all four of their Tony Sheridan/The Beatles recordings named The Beatles With Tony Sheridan And Their Guests (MGM E/SE 4215). The additional tracks on the album were by Tony Sheridan with other back up musicians.

Picture sleeve for 1964 MGM reissue of My Bonnie single (MGM K 13213)

A-Side of MGM 1964 re-issue My Bonnie single (Bloomfield pressing)

B-Side of MGM 1964 re-issue My Bonnie single (Bloomfield pressing)

The Beatles With Tony Sheridan And Their Guests (MGM E 4215)

Counterfeits
As you may have guessed, like many other rare Beatles vinyl releases, there are also known counterfeit versions of Decca 31382. A known counterfeit promotional pressing has the pink labels like the real ones, but has My Bonnie on both sides of the disc. The matrix numbers are machine stamped on authentic copies and etched in counterfeits.

A known fake commercial copy has the same 50′s style Decca label that the promo copies have, but the background color is gray with silver text instead of pink with black text. For more information on fakes, or to verify authenticity of a copy you have come across, check with any of the dealers I’ve listed near the end of this article.

Worth
Authentic copies of Decca 31382 have become quite collectible over the years. The Price Guide For The Beatles American Records by Perry Cox and Frank Daniels (2007) cites this as a guideline for how much they are worth. (Keep in mind that since this book is some years old, the prices are in all likelihood somewhat lower than what you could expect to buy them for today. Also, mint copies are worth considerably more than near mint copies, but can show no wear, age or signs of being played. (Note: I’m not sure if there are any authentic mint copies of the Decca My Bonnie record in existence.))

Decca 31382 (promotional copy): Pink label promo, Good ($250), Very Good ($625), Near Mint ($2500)
Decca 31382 (commercial Gloversville NY or Pickneyville IL pressings): Good ($1500), Very Good ($3750), Near Mint ($15,000)
MGM K13213 (promotional copy): Yellow label promo, Good ($40), Very Good ($100), Near Mint ($400)
MGM K13213 (commercial, with no ref. to MGM LP # listed on label): Good ($3), Very Good ($10), Near Mint ($40)
MGM K13213 (commercial, with ref. to MGM LP # listed on label): Good ($3), Very Good ($10), Near Mint ($60)
MGM K13213 (unauthorized pressing w/half black-half yellow vinyl): Good ($400), Very Good ($1000), Near Mint ($4000)
MGM K13213 (commercial, with ref. to MGM LP # listed on label): A side publishing credit listed as Hill & Range, Good ($12), Very Good ($30), Near Mint ($120)
MGM K13213 (Picture sleeve): Good ($15), Very Good ($40), Near Mint ($150)

For more information on worth, check with any of the dealers I’ve listed near the end of this article.

Final info/acknowledgments
The subjects of all photographs of singles, albums, album jackets, sleeves, etc. in this article are of actual items within my very own record collection. These items are listed as entries in my own online vinyl inventory as linked below:

1) Polydor 24 673 My Bonnie (Twist version)/The Saints (original German issue single)
2) Decca 31382 My Bonnie/The Saints (commercial Gloversville pressing)
3) MGM 13213 My Bonnie/The Saints (commercial Bloomfield pressing)
4) MGM E 4215 The Beatles With Tony Sheridan And Their Guests (commercial mono LP)

In closing, I’d like to credit the main sources of information used in this post: Bruce Spizer’s The Beatles Swan Song, Perry Cox and Frank Daniel’s Price Guide For The Beatles American Records (6th edition), and the website MyBeatlesCollection.com. I’d also like to thank Heather Lackey for help with the photography that went into this post.

A few dealers in Beatles collectibles:

Perry Cox: email to perrydcox@aol.com
Gary Hein: visit online at www.beatles4me.com
Rockaway Records: visit online at www.rockaway.com.

Please let me hear from you if you have questions, comments, corrections or anything to add about this single. I’d love to hear from you!

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Early Tapes – 2000 remastered versions of all 8 songs form the Tony Sheridan/Beatles Hamburg sessions, plus a few extras

2) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – My Bonnie (German intro) Welcome to this week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week. Most...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Sweet Georgia Brown (w/original Sheridan vocal) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. Most Beatles...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – To Know Her Is To Love Her (Decca audition) Welcome to BROW. It’s a snowy day in my neighborhood....

I’m glad you’re here today for yet another in my ongoing series titled The Beatles Rarity Of The Week. One legendary musician who caught the respect of The Beatles way back in their formative years was Ray Charles – a pioneer who successfully fused 1950′s soul music with R&B, gospel and the blues. Ray’s composition, Hallelujah I Love Her So, first appeared on his debut album, Ray Charles, released on Atlantic Records in 1957. The Beatles performed the song in their early live act, all the way through 1962, as seen by this week’s feature, as well as its inclusion in their Dec. 1962 Star Club performance in Hamburg, Germany, which has come out on various releases over the years.

The source of this week’s BROW is from an even earlier recording of the song, made at Paul McCartney’s 20 Forthlin Road home in 1960. More specifically, it is likely after June 30, 1960, when Paul bought his Rosetti Solid 7 electric guitar, but before August 1960 when Pete Best joined The Beatles as drummer. The band name had recently switched from “Moondogs” to “Beatals” and the line up was John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison on guitar and vocals with Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. An 18 year old Paul handles the vocals on this track. An edit of it can also be heard on the CD Beatles Anthology 1, but there it is sliced down to barely over a minute long. The Anthology edit removes the (rather sloppy) guitar break near the end, along with the final verse. For the sake of sharing a more accurate and complete historical picture, this is the complete recording featured here. In the weeks to come, after the addition of drummer Pete Best, The Beatles would set up residency for the first time in Hamburg’s Red Light district to ‘mach shau’ at the Indra Club for over 6 hours a night. By the time of their return to Liverpool in December, The Beatles were no longer an average group. They had become something special.

The Beatals - Hallelujah I Love Her So

Hallelujah I Love Her So was also recorded by Stevie Wonder, Peggy Lee, Eddie Cochran and Humble Pie.

When The Beatles performed Hallelujah I Love Her So at the Star Club in Hamburg in Dec. 1962, Beatles friend and nightclub bouncer Horst Fascher sang the lead vocal. Horst was a big Eddie Cochran fan – Eddie had also covered the song previously, in 1959.

In 1962, Ray Charles’ debut self-titled album was reissued with the title Hallelujah I Love Her So.

The Beatles recorded 3 Ray Charles compositions during their time together. Can you name the other two?

The Beatles in 1960 (L-R): George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Stuart Sutcliffe

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Anthology 1 – double CD set of early Beatles demos and special recordings released in 1995. Includes an edited version of the recording of Hallelujah I Love Her So featured here.

2) Last Night in Hamburg 28 track collection of Beatles Star Club recordings from late December 1962, includes Hallelujah I Love Her So (with Horst Fascher on lead vocal)

3) Very Best of Ray Charles double CD compilation of 40 all time greats by Ray Charles, including Hallelujah I Love Her So

4) Additional Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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I’m sure many reading this are already familiar with Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast With The Beatles, as it is aired worldwide on around 60 radio stations worldwide as well as a few Internet affiliate stations. For those of you Beatle fans out there who are not, I encourage you to check it out. Besides plenty of great Beatles music, Dennis gives us interview segments, rare recordings, background information about the tracks played, and plenty of extras, bringing the enjoyment miles above just hearing an automated play list of back-to-back music. It’s on the air, it’s on the web, and you can play it on your Iphone or your Blackberry and if you’re a Beatles fan, you’ll love it. Among the web affiliates for the weekly 2-hour broadcast is Fab 4 Radio which is immediately accessible right here on TheBeatlesRarity.com (check out the widget in the right sidebar). Dennis has recently aired his 1000th show, since 1991, and to honor the occasion I had the pleasure of recording an interview with him this afternoon for broadcast on Fab 4 Radio. I spoke with him mainly about his show, his background in radio, his interviews with others in the Beatles’ historical circle (Yoko Ono, Pete Best, Ringo Starr, George Martin, BBC’s Brian Matthew, etc.) and what we could expect from upcoming shows. I suspect those of you who have already tuned in to Dennis’ show will appreciate this the most, but for the rest of you…skip the interview, if you want, but check out the show. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

For more information on Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast With The Beatles visit his website here.

The show can always be caught on Fab 4 Radio on Saturday’s and Sundays. Check the Fab 4 Radio Site for further details.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Since this footage pre-dates even their first 45, Love Me Do, we are lucky it has been preserved at all. This is The Beatles covering the old RIchie Barrett hit, Some Other Guy at the infamous Cavern Club. Granada Television filmed The Beatles with their new drummer, Ringo Starr, on August 22, 1962, to “possibly” use in their series Know The North. The footage was actually not used then, but was aired about 15 months later in November 1963 on the UK program Scene at 6:30. There is a tape stretch in the recording after the first verse. Sorry folks, but it is like that on all versions, to include even the cleaned up version on the official Anthology documentary. On my primary source tape of this recording you can hear someone in the audience screaming “We want Pete!” (referring to former drummer Pete Best) at the end of the song, but that has been truncated out of this film.

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Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. The rockabilly expertise of Gene Vincent inspired this week’s feature. In the summer of 1960, Gene was touring in the UK and apparently captured the respect of the struggling Beatles (then called The Beatals). Later that same year, while on their first visit to Hamburg, Germany to play at the Indra Club in the St. Pauli district, they made a recording during a practice session, where Paul is singing Wild Cat! , recently popularized by Gene. Another track The Beatles covered that was previously covered by Gene was Ain’t She Sweet (originally a hit from the roaring twenties). The line-up of The Beatals at this time was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best. Later when it was discovered that George Harrison was only 17 and therefore too young, under German law, to play in night clubs, the band was sent home.

The Beatles, Hamburg Germany, 1960

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to BROW. It’s a snowy day in my neighborhood. This week’s post takes a look at another snowy January Monday, 47 years ago, when The Beatles, supervised by A&R assistant Mike Smith played 15 songs, carefully selected by their new manager Brian Epstein, for Decca Records in West Hampstead, London in hopes of securing a recording contract. Pete Best was still on drums, and the band was shaky and nervous with so much at stake. Consequently, it wasn’t one of their more spontaneous sessions of the time, however Mike Smith was impressed with them. He had seen them a month earlier at a Cavern Club show and had high hopes. It’s well known history though, that the man in charge, Decca A&R executive Dick Rowe turned the band down flat, citing to Brian that groups with guitars are on the way out. Two of the fifteen songs performed were early Lennon-McCarney originals (Hello Little Girl, Like Dreamers Do) and the rest were covers that they often performed for their stage act. These two originals, along with three others from the session (Searchin’, Three Cool Cats and The Sheik Of Araby) were officially released on the The Beatles Anthology 1 CD set in 1995. The others were not officially released in the US but have been widely bootlegged. To Know Her Is To Love Her (originally To Know Him To Love Him) was written by another big name in Beatles history: Phil Spector, for his first band The Teddy Bears (with lead singer Annette Kleinbard). Here it is performed by a young and nervous sounding John Lennon. Perhaps I should have featured this last week since the date of the performance was New Year’s Day, 1962.

The Beatles (Left to right: George, Pete Best, John & Paul at their Decca Audition, 1/1/1962)

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to this week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week. Most Beatles fans are aware of the early session where the Beatles (including Pete Best on drums) were invited to back up singer/guitarist Tony Sheridan. The resulting Polydor single My Bonnie released first in Germany and later in the UK, became the cause for, then Liverpool record shop manager, Brian Epstein and future Beatles manager to seek them out and meet them for the first time. There are three official mixes of this song. The initial German single (called the Rock version) opened with a slow verse sung by Tony in German. A few months after this, around the beginning of 1962, the single was re-issued in Germany with the slow opening verse sung in English. In Germany this was labeled as the Twist version. Both of these releases were credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers. As the The Beatles’ popularity grew, subsequent releases were billed as Tony Sheridan & The Beatles or as The Beatles (with Tony Sheridan). This song along with others from those sessions were released on many other singles, albums and EPs. Later issuances often truncated the slow intro-verse altogether, creating the third mix that is still heard today. Of the three mixes, the rarest is the Rock version (i.e. the one with the German vocals) since it was only issued on vinyl in Germany and is now long out of print and nearly forgotten, until now, on the BROW.

By the way, the earliest American single release of My Bonnie contained the Twist version and copies of this Decca 45 in mint condition are worth in excess of $15,000.

German first issue of My Bonnie 45, 1961

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Wild Cat (1960 ‘Beatals’ session) Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. The rockabilly...