• Love Me Do

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:14 pm**

Apparently ‘Love Me Do’ turns sixty today. In the Guardian numerous luminaries are waxing lyrically about how it hit them like a bolt from the blue and about just how fantastic it was.

But I don’t remember it like that. I remember it being a low charting minor hit, not bringing the Beatles into the limelight at all.

The song that really made people take notice of them was ‘Please Please Me’ which hit the number one spot and led them on to legendary status.

I think that they may have re-released ‘Love Me Do’ on the back of the success of ‘Please Please Me’ and it might have peaked at number two behind the other which was still at number one. I could be wrong about that though.

But it certainly wasn’t the monumental hit that everyone is making out.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:27 pm**

Love me Do was indeed the Beatles first release with PS I Love You on the B-side. It got to number 17 in the UK charts, though it made the top 5 in the US charts as part of their achievement of having the top 5 singles in the Billboard charts in 1964. Please, Please Me was their first big hit in the UK and though it was played on the BBC radio charts show as Number 1 and was shown as number one in some charts (Disc for example), it was never acknowledged as a number one hit by the Official Chart Record. This means that From Me To You was, in fact, their first official number one in the UK. When Re-released, along with other Beatle singles, it reached, I think, number 6 in the UK charts (I haven’t google checked this last fact, but I think it’s correct).

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:31 pm**

None of em touch “she loves you” for my money…. It’s as close to the perfect “pop” song as you are likely to hear.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:33 pm**

Wow, Im going to agree whole heartedly with Bobinho as She Loves You is my favourite Beatles song alongside Strawberry Fields.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:39 pm**

Just googled, and on its re-release in 1982 it reached number 4 in the UK. It also hit number 1 in the USA in 1964, when they had the top five singles in the charts.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:48 pm**

My point is though that it simply was not the ‘impact’ record that people are making out. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the Beatles but that record really wasn’t that great.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:53 pm**

I agree dermot, as I stated it got to number 17 in the UK, on its release. How long did it take Elton John, David Bowie, Queen, Oasis etc, etc to have a number one? Sometimes you have to wait a while for overnight success.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:58 pm**

I remember it from it’s original release and whilst I agree with the OPs post I think it was a momentum builder for what was to follow. It was definitely different to everything around at the time. Without it Please, Please Me might not have had the impact it did.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:01 pm**

Their cover of Twist and Shout is my favourite song from The Beatles early years. They proper belt it out, and there weren't many bands doing that at the time. It's almost punk.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:03 pm**

I remember buying it, and I still think the b-side PS I love you is by far the better song. Strangely, Paul McCartney still rates the song very highly amongst their entire catalogue saying it represented their attempt to get away the typical pop song at the time.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:09 pm**

Twist and Shout as well as being the last song on their first album “Please, Please Mee”, was the last track they recorded on the day of the recording the album. The whole album was recorded in about 14 hours and John had been singing all day and his voice was almost hoarse: he had been sucking on throat pastilles for a couple of hours and wasn’t sure if his voice would stand up to the vocals on Twist and Shout. Thank God it did.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:18 pm**

Last year, I read One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time. I don't normally read music biographies because I end up finding them rather dull, however this book is far from dull. Takes you on a trip, no pun intended, through the 60s. It's a real page-turner. I can honestly say there isn't a single page that's not worth reading.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:20 pm**

"A day in the life" its relevance is summed up in one verse

I read the news today, oh boy
Four thousand Arseholes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the arseholes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many arseholes it takes to fill the Albert Hall

I may have added a couple of words

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:20 pm**

I haven’t read that bb, I will have to check it out.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:22 pm**

Oh, do. I can't praise it enough.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:24 pm**

I remember, as a little boy, going to buy Twist and Shout and being beside myself with grief when I got home and realized that I had been given the Brian Poole and the Tremeloes version instead. I don’t think you could take things back in those days. It was probably my fault as I hadn’t realized that the Beatles version was an EP.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:27 pm**

Best Beatles book in my opinion is 'Revolution in the head: Beatles Records & the Sixties'

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:35 pm**

I like Revolution in the Head but the author comes across as hating the Beatles sometimes.

One Two Three Four is much better.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:42 pm**

Whilst I might have played the bath brush in front of the mirror to Beatles songs, I preferred The Searchers.

Contrary am I.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:49 pm**

bobinho wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:31 pm
None of em touch “she loves you” for my money…. It’s as close to the perfect “pop” song as you are likely to hear.

That was the one which lit up the people. I was young but everyone was singing it. Even the small boy next door aged about 4.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:53 pm**

Made a big impact on me. As soon as I spotted one, on Burnley market I think, I bought (or my mother did) one of those round neck no collar Beatle jackets. Never got a Beatle haircut though - maintained the brylcreamed Elvis quiff (always been a bit mixed up).

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:55 pm**

Some of the Beatles best songs were written for other singers/ groups .. Well worth a look at them.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:34 pm**

The Stones' first top-20 hit was a Lennon/McCartney song - I Wanna Be Your Man.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:02 pm**

Nice harmonica, but a somewhat ponderous plodding song.

'She Loves You' is the perfectly crafted pop song. Unbeatable.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:59 pm**

Hipper wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:42 pm
Whilst I might have played the bath brush in front of the mirror to Beatles songs, I preferred The Searchers.

Contrary am I.
[Not contrary at all.I liked the Beatles but I thought other groups gave them a good run for their dosh...Searchers ,Hollies , Fourmost, Gerry, Big Three.

Puts me in mind of verry happy days at Nelson Imp , Rawtenstall Astoria and the G-Plan Club in Nelson...then I had to go and work in Leeds and it was like being in a different world so far as music was concerned./quote]

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:12 pm**

Drummer Pete Best was left in the dark about the recording session at the request of George Martin, a producer of quirky comedy records at Parlaphone. Richard Starkie of a rival band was ‘temporarily’ moved into the band just before the trip to London.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:17 pm**

I have much more affinity with Day Tripper, Come Together, Helter Skelter, and the more guitar riff based Beatles songs than Love Me Do, but as soon as I saw the words 'Love Me Do' I immediately started humming a song that was written 20 years before I was born, so its in the 'i'll never put it on' pile, but also in the 'i'll never turn it off' pile.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:19 pm**

according to the germans and scientifically proven, this is the best pop song of all time
https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-beat ... %20Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J9NpHKrKMw

I wholeheartedly disagree.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:50 pm**

Yet many a covers rock band will still have ( she was just 17) “I Saw Her Standing There” in their regular set list to this day.

Posted: **Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:53 pm**

elwaclaret wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:12 pm
Drummer Pete Best was left in the dark about the recording session at the request of George Martin, a producer of quirky comedy records at Parlaphone. Richard Starkie of a rival band was ‘temporarily’ moved into the band just before the trip to London.

Pete Best was the drummer at the first test recording at Abbey Road and George Martin and the sound engineer were not happy with Best's timing or overall performance on the drums. Martin then informed Brian Epstein about this and said he was organising for a session drummer, Andy White, to sit in for Pete Best at the next recording session, which he explained was quite normal in recording sessions.. Epstein told the other three Beatles about this, who immediately told Epstein to get rid of Best and bring Ringo in. Ringo had already played with John, Paul and George on several occasions both in Hamburg and in England and Paul and George had discussed with John about getting rid of Best several weeks before thr recording sessions. The opinion of George Martin on Best's drumming was the tipping point for the othet three. They told Epstein to sack Best and get Ringo in, which he reluctantly did because he new Best was extremely popular with the girl fans.
When they turned up at Abbey Road for their first real recording session George Martin was surprised to see Ringo in the band. The recording sessions went ahead with Andy White on drums with Ringo being relegated to banging a tsmbourine. The rest is history.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:04 am**

Reminds me of a story I once heard that George was being interviewed and the interviewer said he didn't think Ringo was the best drummer in the world to which George replied that he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:07 am**

Hipper wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:42 pm
Whilst I might have played the bath brush in front of the mirror to Beatles songs, I preferred The Searchers.

Contrary am I.

Foreverly Claret wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 03, 2022 7:59 pm

Not contrary at all.I liked the Beatles but I thought other groups gave them a good run for their dosh...Searchers ,Hollies , Fourmost, Gerry, Big Three.

Puts me in mind of verry happy days at Nelson Imp , Rawtenstall Astoria and the G-Plan Club in Nelson...then I had to go and work in Leeds and it was like being in a different world so far as music was concerned.

This is time to repeat a story from my school days. No apologies if you've heard it before!

At junior school there was this girl, Lesley Humphreys, who I didn't like. One day at playtime she approached me with her mates and said 'you're a square'.

Well, I didn't know what a square was but the way she said it meant sounded bad. 'No I'm not' I replied.

'OK' she said, 'how many Beatles are there?'

Well I'd actually heard of The Beatles but I hadn't a clue how many there were. 'Three' I said.

'No, there are four. Your a square'.

What could I say. It bugged me all day and when I got home I asked my Mum what a square was. Yes, I was a square! I still am, if a bit more rounded these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9fJ5RzvU8

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:13 am**

... and you want Beatles covers, well sort of:

Barclay James Harvest - Titles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRS10BeQOz0

..and a nice story:

Barclay James Harvest - John Lennon's Guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxwhpuIbFoQ

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:56 am**

Petersa wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:04 am
Reminds me of a story I once heard that George was being interviewed and the interviewer said he didn't think Ringo was the best drummer in the world to which George replied that he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles.

I've heard those comments also attributed to Lennon. Apparently, they're a product of a 1980s radio 4 comedy sketch.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:23 pm**

It was a Jasper Carrot comedy sketch.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:17 pm**

distortiondave wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:19 pm
according to the germans and scientifically proven, this is the best pop song of all time
https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-beat ... %20Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J9NpHKrKMw

I wholeheartedly disagree.

Tedious cod-ska nonsense.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 8:49 pm**

One of the worst tracks on the White Album, along with Don't Pass Me By.

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:10 pm**

Ha ha, I rather like ' Don't Pass Me By' !

Posted: **Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:22 pm**

Heh. Ringo's 'singing' kind of kills it for me.

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2022 12:41 pm**

dougcollins wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:17 pm
Tedious cod-ska nonsense.

No surprise it was a McCartney offering

Posted: **Wed Oct 05, 2022 1:29 pm**

Just as an epilogue to this thread, Love Me Do was actually released 60 years ago today, 5th October 1962, not on the 3rd. It’s a date that is easy to remember for me, it is Mrs Vino’s birthday: she was six years old on the day of release.
One last little piece of trivia, the 5th October 1962 was also the release date (premier) of the first ever James Bond film Dr No. So if you bought Love Me Do and went to see Dr. No 60 years ago today, you were something of a trendsetter.

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