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An instrumental written by Lennon and Harrison, originally titled "Beatle Bop". It was the first professional recording session for the Beatles. The sessions were produced by Bert Kaempfert in Hamburg, Germany, during the Beatles' second visit from April through July of 1961 to play in the Reeperbahn clubs. The Beatles also recorded three other songs, including "My Bonnie", a local hit in Liverpool, as the backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan, originally a member of the Jets. John Lennon plays rhythm guitar, George Harrison plays lead guitar, Paul McCartney plays bass, and Pete Best plays drums.
Tony Sheridan was a veteran of the Reeperbahn and befriended the Beatles when they first arrived there in 1960. Polydor released the single "My Bonnie" from this session (credited to Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers in Germany, later released in England with credit changed to the Beatles). The popularity of this single in Liverpool brought the Beatles to the attention of Brian Epstein, who worked in the NEMS record store and tried to meet demand for the disc. For other recordings from that session, check out Beatles/Tony Sheridan: In the Beginning.
A Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller "comedy" song that was a hit for the Coasters in 1957, and a popular live favorite of the Beatles. The Coasters also had a hit with "Besame Mucho" and the Beatles covered that song as well. Ringo Starr had by now replaced Pete Best on drums. The high falsetto is George, who also plays a hesitant lead guitar. This is from their first audition for Decca Records in London on Jan 1., 1962, live in the studio. The Grateful Dead would later cover "Searchin'" with a similar arrangement, Pigpen doing the Paul vocals.
This was a Ray Charles hit in 1955 that was also covered by Elvis Presley, and one of John Lennon's favorites. Ray Charles combined gospel and blues to make one of the first "soul" records at the height of American music's Rhythm & Blues period. This was recorded live at the BBC Paris Theatre on July 16, 1963.
An obscure song recorded by Richie Barrett and co-written with the famous songwriting team Lieber and Stoller, this song became a local anthem as every band in Liverpool covered it. The BBC was, at that time, the only source in the U.K. for radio shows, and a live BBC radio show was guaranteed a very large audience. Brian Epstein used these programmes to raise the Beatles' profile from a Liverpool band to a leading band in the U.K. This is a particularly hot rendition of this rhythm and blues stomper. Paul's bass is fantastic, he really steps out... and so does Ringo! This was recorded before a live audience at the Playhouse Theatre in London on June 19, 1963.
The Beatles were also influenced by rockabilly and pop. This song is an Elvis Presley cover recorded live for the BBC programme "Pop Goes the Beatles" on July 16, 1963. This song appeared on a Presley LP released in the U.K. as Rock 'n' Roll #1, a record that had a profound influence on the Beatles and many other English pop bands that were just starting up. There's a hint of skiffle music, which John Lennon loved in his childhood, in this rockabilly song. Lennon's influences, besides Presley, included Carl Perkins and skiffle king Lonnie Donnegan (see Lonnie Donnegan: King of Skiffle).
An Arthur Alexander cover, recorded live for the BBC programme "Pop Goes the Beatles" on July 16, 1963. Another song, "Anna" (recorded on the Beatles Please Please Me album) was also an Arthur Alexander cover.
One of many Chuck Berry covers recorded live in the studio for the BBC programme "Pop Goes the Beatles" on July 10, 1963, and one of John Lennon's favorite songs. Chuck Berry was hailed as "my hero" by Lennon on the Mike Douglas Show in 1970, where he jammed with Berry on this song.
When Paul first met John, John was impressed with the fact that Paul knew how to tune a guitar, and knew how to play "Twenty Flight Rock" (the Eddie Cochran hit) flawlessly. Cochran was very popular in the U.K. in the Fifties (for Cochran's version, try Eddie Cochran - Greatest Hits).
Paul recorded this album primarily for the Russian people of the U.S.S.R.
The Royal Command Performance -- this is the first of three songs comprising one of the best live sequences in rock music history, played before the Queen of England and the British TV audience, live at the Princess Wales Theatre by Leicester Square in London on Nov. 4, 1963. "She Loves You" had just raced to the top of the music charts and remained there for five weeks. Paul remarks after this song that the next song, "Till There Was You" was recorded by his favorite American group, "Sophie Tucker" (which gets some laughs).
Another live version from their first royal performance, the Princess Wales Theatre by Leicester Square in London, attended by the Queen. This song is from the stage musical "The Music Man" and a hit for Peggy Lee in 1961. At the end, John tells the royal audience in the cheaper seats to clap their hands, and the rest to "rattle your jewelry" and then announces "Twist and Shout". A film of the performance shows the Queen smiling at John's remark.
The third song in this series from their first royal performance, the Princess Wales Theatre by Leicester Square in London, attended by the Queen. This song was recorded in 1962 by the Isley Brothers. The house orchestra brings down the curtain at the end.
The Beatles were quite good as a live act, and this version is evidence, recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in London on Nov. 17, 1964. It also marks the first use of feedback guitar (John) on a pop song.
Another excellent live rendition of one of my favorite songs, complete with John on harmonica, recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in London on Nov. 17, 1964.
The famous Carl Perkins cover, live from the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester on Aug. 1, 1963, with John on lead vocals rather than Ringo (who would sing it later on the LP version). Carl Perkins was a favorite artist of the Beatles, especially George Harrison, who learned the Perkins guitar-picking style that came to be associated with rockabilly.
This is an early version of the Beatles' first hit song, played a bit slower and with more of a blues feeling, and with a cool bossa-nova beat in middle, recorded on July 10, 1963. Paul had to sing while John played harmonica. Pete Best played drums on this version.
One of the lost Beatle songs recorded during the Beatles for Sale sessions but never released. This song, written by Little Willie John, Titus Turner, and James McDougal, was a 1959 R&B hit for Little Willie John and covered by Johnny Preston before the Beatles tried it on Aug. 14, 1964. After a few takes they selected one for vocal overdubs but never completed the overdubs and never mixed it for the record. A reference to a "big fat bulldog" may have influenced John's "Hey Bulldog" on Yellow Submarine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) or Yellow Submarine (remastered), which is a similar rocker.
A Lennon/McCartney original song offered for Ringo to sing on the Help! [UK] album. The song was recorded on Feb. 18, 1965, on the fourth day of the Help! sessions, with vocal overdubs, but then shelved and never released.
A Paul McCartney song recorded during the Help! [UK] sessions, on Feb. 20, 1965, that was shelved and never released by the Beatles, although Paul gave it to P.J. Proby, who had a minor hit with it in 1965. This is one of the best of all the lost Beatles songs. "And when she says she loves you, that means a lot."
