Production
“Love Me Do” was one of the four songs recorded by the Beatles for the test on June 6, 1962. During the first session on September 4, Martin wanted to add some harmonica and asked: “Can anyone play harmonica? It would be rather nice. Couldn’t think of some sort of bluesy thing, could you, John?”4 John, who usually sang lead, could no longer do it while playing harmonica. Martin then asked Paul to replace him as the lead singer. “I didn’t even know how to sing it.”5 Paul remembered in 1997. “I’d never done it before.… I can still hear the nervousness in my voice!”6 As this version of “Love Me Do” was not satisfactory, the Beatles returned to the studio on September 11.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
The copyrights of “P.S. I Love You,” as for “Love Me Do,” today belong to Paul through his publishing company, MPL Communications Ltd. Originally, Ardmore & Beechwood held the rights of the first single, “Love Me Do”/“P.S. I Love You.” “Paul was able to get these rights back, years later, as part of a subsequent deal with EMI”3 It is hard to believe that Paul is only the owner of two songs written with John out of the entire Beatles catalogue. As for John, he did not own any of them. The two songs have entered the public domain in Europe, thanks to a fifty-year limit on copyrights.
In this second version, which was kept for the record, Paul was on bass and lead vocal, and John was in charge of vocal harmonies and harmonica. It seems that he did not play guitar in this piece. Only George Harrison performed on his acoustic guitar, apparently the Gibson J-160 E. Finally, Andy White, a session drummer hired by Martin to make sure it was a hit, was on drums to replace poor Ringo, who was relegated to tambourine. He was the only musician who ever replaced one of the Beatles in the studio! The eighteenth take was deemed the best. The mono mix was carried out afterwards; then on February 25, 1963, a stereo mix was produced. It is funny that the first version of the single “Love Me Do” (with “P.S. I Love You” on side B) came out on October 5, 1962, based on the September 4 version (version 1), the one in which Ringo plays the drums. The error was quickly corrected and the album’s version featured Andy White (version 2). To distinguish the versions, you have to listen for the tambourine! The version on September 4 did not have any. “Love Me Do” quickly rose to seventeenth place in the British charts.
The Legend
Legend has it that Brian Epstein, the owner of NEMS, the largest record store in Liverpool, bought 10,000 singles to make “Love Me Do” climb in the British ratings. But this story, which was never confirmed, was challenged by many people. In 1963, John exclaimed, “The best thing was it came into the chart in two days and everybody thought it was a fiddle, because our manager’s stores sent in these returns and everybody down South thought, ‘Ah-ha, he’s buying them himself or he’s just fiddling the charts.’ But he wasn’t.”7 In his 1964 autobiography, Epstein stated, “Possible though this would have been—had I the money, which I hadn’t—I did no such thing. [The Beatles] progressed and succeeded on natural impetus, without benefit of stunt or back-door tricks.”8 “Love Me Do” ultimately did not go higher than seventeenth place in Great Britain. In the United States, Vee Jay Records released “Love Me Do”/“P.S. I Love You” on April 27, 1964. A month later, on May 30, the record was number 1 in the charts.
Chromatic or Diatonic?
According to Pete Best, John probably stole his harmonica from a Dutch store while the Beatles were on their way to Hamburg for their first stay. He’d played harmonica since his childhood, but he had a bit of a complex about using a chromatic harmonica. Real blues players only played diatonic harmonicas. John recalled in 1974, “I remember Brian Jones asked me: ‘Are you playing a harmonica or a harp on “Love Me Do” ’? Because he knew I’d got this bottom note. I said, ‘A harmonica with a button,’ which wasn’t really funky-blues enough; but you couldn’t get ‘Hey! Baby’ licks on a blues harp and we were also doing ‘Hey! Baby’ by Bruce Channel.”9
P.S. I Love You
McCartney-Lennon / 2:02
1962–1963
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, bass
John: backing vocals, rhythm guitar
George: backing vocals, rhythm guitar
Ringo: maracas
Andy White: bongos
RECORDED
Abbey Road: September 11, 1962 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 10
MIXING
Abbey Road: September 11, 1962 (Studio Two) / February 25, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineers: unknown for the recording sessions on September 11, 1962
February 25, 1963: A. B. Lincoln
Genesis
“It’s just an idea for a song really, a theme song based on a letter … It was pretty much mine. I don’t think John had much of a hand in it.… It’s not based in reality, nor did I write it to my girlfriend [Dot Rhone] from Hamburg, which some people think.”1 These few words from Paul put an end to a persistent rumor that claimed that “P.S. I Love You” had been dedicated to his girlfriend from those days, Dorothy—“Dot”—Rhone. This song, which was written shortly before the June 6, 1962, audition, did not come from John. As he said to David Sheff in 1980: “That’s Paul’s song. He was trying to write a ‘Soldier Boy’ like the Shirelles. He wrote that in Germany or when we were going to and from Hamburg.”2
Production
“P.S. I Love You,” which was finally selected for side B of the first single, was recorded on September 11. After a few attempts, the decision was made to use bongos rather than drums, since they were better suited to the Latin flair of this piece. Andy White played the bongo part. Geoff Emerick remembered that Ringo was crashed out in a corner of the control room. Ron Richards, who was in charge of this session, suggested that he play the maracas. The recording went quickly. The tenth take was the best one. The Beatles immediately went to the control room and were thrilled while listening to the results. They even wanted to use it on side A. Ron Richards immediately dissuaded them from that: first, the piece was not powerful enough to be a side A; secondly, “P.S. I Love You” was also the title of a 1934 song, written by Gordon Jenkins and Johnny Mercer, that had been performed by many singers, including Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. The song was mixed in mono on that day and in stereo on February 25, 1963.
Baby It’s You
Mack David–Barney Williams–Burt Bacharach / 2:35
1963
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, guitar
Paul: backing vocals, bass
George: backing vocals, guitar
Ringo: drums
George Martin: celesta
RECORDED
Abbey Road: February 11, 1963 (Studio Two) / February 20, 1963 (Studio One)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 3
MIXING
Abbey Road: February 25, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Norman Smith, Stuart Eltham
Assistant Engineers: Richard Langham, Geoff Emerick, A. B. Lincoln
Genesis
This was the second song by the Shirelles to appear on Please Please Me. Lennon, who was a real fan of that group, was primarily responsible for its inclusion. “Baby It’s You” was originally called “I’ll Cherish You.” This song had been written by Burt Bacharach, one of the most talented American composers of American pop, who also wrote “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” The joint creation of the text was done by American Mack David—a famous lyricist who wrote over a thousand songs, including the adaptation of La Vie en rose by Édith Piaf—and Barney Williams (the pseudonym for Luther Dixon, the producer of the Shirelles), who was also the author of “Boys,” which was picked up by the Beatles. The Shirelles single came out in 1961 and reached numbe
r 8 on the American charts on January 1, 1962.
Production
“Baby It’s You,” recorded on February 11 during the evening session, was the second-to-last song of the day. The musicians were starting to get tired. It was no doubt one of the rare covers by the Beatles that could hardly match the original version. Although John had a seasoned voice, loaded with emotion, the whole song was sung slightly out of breath. The intro’s harmonies were not quite right, even though this lent a certain charm to the whole song. The Shirelles’ performance remained better, with richer harmonies, and the arrangements of the Fab Four hardly matched those of Bacharach. Only three takes were enough to complete the piece around 10:00 P.M. On February 20, George Martin decided to dub in a part on celesta, as well as a part on piano (that would not be retained). The mono and stereo mixes were done on February 25. According to the session report,1 the stereo mix was completed before the mono mix, which was not usual or even logical. Was this an error or a decision?
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
The celesta used by George Martin was most likely the Schiedmayer Celeste, which is still used at Abbey Road. It also appeared in 1968 in the song “Good Night” on the White Album.
Do You Want To Know A Secret
McCartney-Lennon / 1:56
1963
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
George: vocal, lead guitar
John: backing vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocals, bass
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: February 11, 1963 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 8
MIXING
Abbey Road: February 25, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineers: Richard Langham, A. B. Lincoln
Genesis
In 1980, Paul admitted that, right from the start, he and John shared the songwriting without seriously considering letting George or Ringo participate, “But since both of them had many fans, we wrote songs for them.”1 Do You Want to Know a Secret, written by Lennon and McCartney, was the first song that George sang, even though, originally, it was not written for him. John wrote it in the apartment lent to him by Brian Epstein, at 36 Faulkner Street in London, where he lived with his first wife, Cynthia. The concept came from a song called “I’m Wishing,” taken from the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, that his mother, Julia, used to sing to him when he was a little boy: “‘ Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell? We are standing by a wishing well.’ I wrote it and just gave it to George to sing. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him because it only had three notes and he wasn’t the best singer in the world. He has improved a lot since then, but in those days his singing ability was very poor.”2 George replied: “I didn’t like my vocal on it. I didn’t know how to sing; nobody told me how to.”3 To tell the truth, George did quite well for himself for a first time. Musically, “Do You Want to Know a Secret” was no doubt very much influenced by the 1961 tune of the American group, the Stereos, “I Really Love You.” George paid hommage to them in 1982 on his album Gone Troppo.
Production
The second song to be recorded on Monday, February 11, during the afternoon session, “Do You Want to Know a Secret” required six takes. In fact, the best take was the sixth, since the seventh and eighth were overdub recordings to insert choruses, hand claps (in the seventh), and rim-shots (in the eighth). The mono and stereo mixes were done on February 25, with a fade-out at the end. Vee Jay released the single “Do You Want to Know a Secret” / “Thank You Girl” in the United States on March 23, 1964. It climbed to second place on the charts by April 11.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
The lack of time spent on producing the song explains why some mistakes were not corrected. George sang in the bridge, “I’ve known a secret for the week or two ” instead of “a week or two.” As for Paul, he made a few rather unusual minor mistakes on bass around 1:10 and 1:50 in the coda.
A Taste Of Honey
Bobby Scott–Rick Marlow / 2:01
1963
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, bass
John: backing vocals, guitar
George: backing vocals, guitar
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: February 11, 1963 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 7
MIXING
Abbey Road: February 25, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineers: Richard Langham, A. B. Lincoln
Genesis
Bobby Scott, an American musician, producer, and author-composer, created “A Taste of Honey.” The song was originally an instrumental, composed in 1960 for the Broadway adaptation of the play by the same name by British playwright Shelagh Delaney. In 1962, American songwriter and actor Rick Marlow added lyrics to it and the American variety singer Lenny Welch produced the first sung version of the song. This was the version that caught McCartney’s attention. Although John did not like it (he renamed it “A Waste of Money”) they performed it onstage many times. Their version resembled the one released by Welch, which was perhaps even more jazzy. This is what John called “Paul’s granny music” when he wanted to assert that the tastes of his colleague were sometimes old-fashioned (“Honey Pie,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” etc.). Paul gladly admitted that “A Taste of Honey” belonged to “things which were slightly to the left and the right of rock ’n’ rock.”1 Its presence on the album was no doubt also partly due to the insistence of George Martin and Brian Epstein, who hoped this song would make it possible to reach a more mature audience.
Production
The Beatles began their second recording session of the day around 2:30 P.M. with “A Taste of Honey.” The fifth take was the best. John and George supplied guitar and choruses, Paul was on bass (in walking bass at the bridge) and Ringo was using brushes. However, Martin deemed it necessary to double Paul’s voice at the bridge, in order to reinforce it. For the first time that day, he used the overdub technique (see “I Saw Her Standing There”). They kept the seventh take. It was the only time on the whole record that a voice was entirely doubled. On February 25, the mono and stereo mixes were done.
Technical Details
When Paul doubled his own voice at the bridge of “A Taste of Honey,” he discovered a method that the Beatles would use over and over again throughout their career. The double-tracking technique consisted of recreating on a second track the same vocal delivery (or instrumental delivery, such as a guitar solo) while trying to be as precise as possible in sticking to the first voice. This results in a stronger and warmer performance. Double-tracking was one of the Beatles’ favorite effects, and they used it throughout their career.
There’s A Place
McCartney-Lennon / 1:49
1963
SONGWRITERS
John and Paul
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, guitar, harmonica
Paul: backing vocals, vocal, bass
George: backing vocals, guitar
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: February 11, 1963 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 13
MIXING
Abbey Road: February 25, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineers: Richard Langham, A. B. Lincoln
Genesis
In Abbey Road, Studio Two, at 10:00 A.M., the Beatles recorded “There’s a Place,” the very first song they worked on that day. John claimed in 1980 that he was the author of it. “‘There’s a Place’ was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing.”1 But Paul remembered that it was a collaboration. According to his versio
n, it was written at his place at Forthlin Road. The concept occurred to him while listening to the original tape of the film West Side Story, written by Leonard Bernstein, in which the song “Somewhere” begins with the line: There’s a place for us. But the song seemed to correspond to John’s dream world: introspection, mental traveling, so many themes that begat masterpieces such as “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “I’m Only Sleeping.” It is likely that the Beatles invested a lot of hope in this song to record it at the top of the list. It was written shortly before the recording session, and the Beatles thought that it was a hit. However, it was never included among the major works of the Fab Four, even though it had the unique charm of the “Beatles sound.”
Production
“There’s a Place” was recorded live, just like the rest of the album. The first take was rather surprising, because Paul played each of the eighth notes on bass, giving the whole song a rock ’n’ roll flavor. John had not yet played his part on harmonica. George had trouble playing the different phrases on guitar. The group was not yet warmed up. Not until the tenth take did they reach the best version. During the second session in the afternoon John overdubbed his harmonica part (no doubt a chromatic in C). The thirteenth take was the final one. It was mixed on February 25, together with the other songs.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
Around 1:41, you can hear Ringo clicking his sticks in his tom break.
Twist And Shout
Phil Medley–Bert Russell / 2:33
1962
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, guitar
All the Songs Page 4