Бітлздің "Love Me Do" әнінің тарихы

1962 single by the Beatles

"Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by "P. S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States in 1964 and topped the nation's song chart. Re released in 1982 as part of EMI's Beatles 20th anniversary, it re entered the UK charts and peaked at number 4. "Love Me Do" also topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand. The song was written several years before being recorded, and prior to the existence of the Beatles. It features John Lennon's prominent harmonica playing and duet vocals by him and Paul McCartney. Three recorded versions of the song by the Beatles have been released, each with a different drummer. The first attempted recording from June 1962 featured Pete Best on drums, but was not officially released until the Anthology 1 compilation in 1995. A second version was recorded three months later with Best's replacement Ringo Starr, and this was used for the original Parlophone single first pressing. A third version, featuring session drummer Andy White in place of Starr, was used for the second pressing and also included on the band's Please Please Me album and on the 1964 Tollie single in the US. It was also included on the American LPs Introducing The Beatles and The Early Beatles.

The Beatles' first recording session under contract to EMI was on 6 June 1962. They first attempted "Love Me Do", as well as three other songs, at this session. George Martin, originally absent from the session, arrived during the recording of "Love Me Do" and altered the arrangement so that Paul McCartney sang the words "love me do" instead of John Lennon, enabling Lennon to play the harmonica starting on the word "do". McCartney recalled:
George Martin said, "Wait a minute, there's a crossover there. Someone else has got to sing 'love me do' because you're going to have a song called Love Me Waahhh. So, Paul, will you sing 'love me do'? God, I got the screaming heebie jeebies. I can still hear the shake in my voice when I listen to it. This version of "Love Me Do" also featured a change in drum rhythm during the middle eight, moving to a skip beat that Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn deemed "disastrous". Both Martin and Ron Richards agreed that Best's drumming was unsuitable for future recording. On 4 September 1962, Brian Epstein paid for the Beatles—along with their new drummer, Ringo Starr—to fly down from Liverpool to London for their next session. After first checking into their Chelsea hotel, they 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 a song originally composed for Adam Faith by Mitch Murray called "How Do You Do It?" which George Martin "was insisting, in the apparent absence of any stronger original material, would be the group's first single". Lennon and McCartney had yet to impress Martin with their songwriting ability, and the Beatles had been signed as recording artists on the basis of their charismatic appeal: "It wasn't a question of what they could do [as] they hadn't written anything great at that time." "But what impressed me most was their personalities. Sparks flew off them when you talked to them." During the course of an evening session that then followed (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm in Studio 2) they recorded "How Do You Do It" and "Love Me Do". An attempt at "Please Please Me" was made, but at this stage it was quite different from its eventual treatment and it was dropped by Martin. This was a disappointment for the group as they had hoped it would be the B side to "Love Me Do". The Beatles were keen to record their own material, something which was almost unheard of at that time, and it is generally accepted that it is to George Martin's credit that they were allowed to float their own ideas. But Martin insisted that unless they could write something as commercial as "How Do You Do It?" then the Tin Pan Alley practice of having the group record songs by professional songwriters (which was standard procedure then, and is still common today) would be followed. MacDonald points out, however: "It's almost certainly true that there was no other producer on either side of the Atlantic then capable of handling the Beatles without damaging them—let alone of cultivating and catering to them with the gracious, open minded adeptness for which George Martin is universally respected in the British pop industry." Martin rejects however the view that he was the "genius" behind the group: "I was purely an interpreter. The genius was theirs: no doubt about that." It was on the 4 September session that, according to McCartney, Martin suggested using a harmonica. However, Lennon's harmonica part was present on the Anthology 1 version of the song recorded during the 6 June audition with Pete Best on drums. Also, Martin's own recollection of this is different, saying: "I picked up on 'Love Me Do' because of the harmonica sound", adding: "I loved wailing harmonica—it reminded me of the records I used to issue of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. I felt it had a definite appeal." Lennon had learned to play a chromatic harmonica that his Uncle George (late husband of his Aunt Mimi) had given to him as a child. But the instrument being used at this time was one stolen by Lennon from a music shop in Arnhem, the Netherlands, in 1960, as the Beatles first journeyed to Hamburg by road. Lennon would have had this with him at the EMI audition on 6 June as Bruce Channel's "Hey! Baby", with its harmonica intro, and a hit in the UK in March 1962, was one of the thirty three songs the Beatles had prepared (although only four were recorded: "Bésame Mucho"; "Love Me Do"; "P. S. I Love You" and "Ask Me Why", of which only "Bésame Mucho" and "Love Me Do" survive and appear on Anthology 1). Brian Epstein had also booked the American Bruce Channel to top a NEMS Enterprises promotion at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom, in Wallasey on 21 June 1962, just a few weeks after "Hey! Baby" had charted, and placed the Beatles a prestigious second on the bill. Lennon was so impressed that night with Channel's harmonica player, Delbert McClinton, that he later approached him for advice on how to play the instrument. Lennon makes reference also to Frank Ifield's "I Remember You" and its harmonica intro, a huge number one hit in the UK July 1962, saying: "The gimmick was the harmonica. There was a terrible thing called "I Remember You", and we did those numbers; and we started using it on "Love Me Do" just for arrangements". The harmonica was to become a feature of the Beatles' early hits such as "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You" as well as various album tracks. Paul McCartney recalled, "John expected to be in jail one day and he'd be the guy who played the harmonica." Martin came very close to issuing "How Do You Do It?" as the Beatles' first single (it would also re appear as a contender for their second single) before settling instead on "Love Me Do", as a mastered version of it was made ready for release and which still exists in EMI's archives. Martin commented later: "I looked very hard at 'How Do You Do It? ', but in the end I went with 'Love Me Do', it was quite a good record." McCartney would remark: "We knew that the peer pressure back in Liverpool would not allow us to do 'How Do You Do It'." Martin nearly issued the record, but was stymied by pressure from EMI's publishing arm, Ardmore & Beechwood, who requested that a Lennon–McCartney song be the Beatles' first A side single. Additionally, "How Do You Do It" songwriter Mitch Murray disliked the Beatles' version of the song.

Martin then decided that as "Love Me Do" was going to be the group's debut release it needed to be re recorded with a different drummer as he was unhappy with the 4 September drum sound (Abbey Road's Ken Townsend also recalls McCartney being dissatisfied with Starr's timing, due probably to his being under rehearsed; Starr had joined the group only two weeks before the 4 September session). Record producers at that time were used to hearing the bass drum "lock in" with the bass guitar as opposed to the much looser R&B feel that was just beginning to emerge, and so professional show band drummers were often used for recordings. Ron Richards, placed in charge of the 11 September re recording session in George Martin's absence, booked Andy White whom he had used in the past. Starr was expecting to play, and was very disappointed to be dropped for only his second Beatles recording session: Richards remembers "He just sat there quietly in the control box next to me. Then I asked him to play maracas on 'P. S. I Love You'. Ringo is lovely—always easy going". Starr recalled:

Paul McCartney: "George got his way and Ringo didn't drum on the first single. He only played tambourine. I don't think Ringo ever got over that. He had to go back up to Liverpool and everyone asked, 'How did it go in the Smoke?' We'd say, 'B side's good,' but Ringo couldn't admit to liking the A side, not being on it" (from Anthology). "Love Me Do" was recorded with White playing drums and Starr on tambourine, but whether using a session drummer solved the problem is unclear, as session engineer Norman Smith was to comment: "It was a real headache trying to get a [good] drum sound, and when you listen to the record now you can hardly hear the drums at all." Ringo Starr's version was mixed "bottom light" to hide Starr's bass drum. Early pressings of the single (issued with a red Parlophone label) are the 4 September version—minus tambourine—with Starr playing drums. But later pressings of the single (on a black Parlophone label), and the version used for the Please Please Me album, are the 11 September re record with Andy White on drums and Starr on tambourine. This difference has become fundamental in telling the two recordings of "Love Me Do" apart. Regarding the editing sessions that then followed all these various takes, Ron Richards remembers the whole thing being a bit fraught, saying: "Quite honestly, by the time it came out I was pretty sick of it. I didn't think it would do anything."

There are major discrepancies regarding the White session, and who produced it. In his book Summer of Love, Martin concedes that his version of events differs from some accounts, saying: "On the 6 June Beatles session (audition) I decided that Pete Best had to go [and said to Epstein] I don't care what you do with Pete Best; but he's not playing on any more recording sessions: I'm getting a session drummer in." When Starr turned up with the group for their first proper recording session on 4 September, Martin says that he was totally unaware that the Beatles had fired Best; and, not knowing "how good, bad or indifferent" Starr was, was not prepared to "waste precious studio time finding out." Martin, therefore, appears to have this as the Andy White session in which Martin was present, and not 11 September. This contradicts Mark Lewisohn's account, as in his book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, he has Starr on drums on 4 September and White for the 11 September re make. Lewisohn also says that Richards was in charge on 11 September, which means, if accurate, that Richards was sole producer of the White version of "Love Me Do". Martin says, "My diary shows that I did not oversee any Beatles recording sessions on 11 September—only the one on 4 September." But, if Lewisohn's account is correct and "the 4 September session really hadn't proved good enough to satisfy George Martin", it might seem odd that Martin was not then present to oversee the 11 September remake. In his memoirs, assistant engineer Geoff Emerick supports the Lewisohn version, recounting that Starr played drums at the 4 September session (Emerick's second day at EMI) and that Martin, Smith, and McCartney were all dissatisfied with (the underrehearsed) Starr's timekeeping. Emerick places White firmly at the second session, and describes the reactions of Mal Evans and Starr to the substitution. Emerick also noted that Martin only came in very late for the 11 September session, after work on "Love Me Do" was complete. Andy White confirms that he was booked by Ron Richards for the 11 September session, not by George Martin, who he says "could not make the session, could not get there till the end, so he had Ron Richards handle it". White also says that he recognises his own drumming on the released version of "Please Please Me", recorded that same session with him on drums.

"Love Me Do" was released on 5 October 1962, and reached no. 17 in the UK charts in November, to the surprise of George Martin, who doubted the song's commercial appeal. After the Beatles became famous, it was released in other countries. In Australia, it was released in 1964, and reached no. 1 on 14 February that year. It reached no. 1 in New Zealand on 4 June 1964. At first, US copies of "Love Me Do" were imported from Canada, which included Starr on drums. On 27 April 1964, Vee Jay Records released the single on the Tollie label with White on drums. The song was the fourth of six songs by the Beatles to hit the US number one spot in a one year period; an all time record for the US charts. In order, these were "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Love Me Do", "A Hard Day's Night", and "I Feel Fine". It was also the fourth of seven songs written by Lennon–McCartney to hit number one in 1964 (the other being "A World Without Love", recorded by Peter and Gordon). That remains an all time record on the US charts for writing the most songs to hit number one in the same calendar year.

EMI released a 50th anniversary limited edition replica of the original single, featuring "Love Me Do" backed with "P. S. I Love You", in October 2012. The 7 inch disc was originally scheduled to hit stores on 5 October but was recalled when it was discovered that the pressings contained the Andy White version instead of the Ringo Starr version as intended. The White version was recalled, and the correct version with Ringo Starr on drums was issued on 22 October 2012.

6 June 1962: an unknown number of takes recorded for what was most likely an artist test. 4 September 1962: an unknown number of takes recorded. Mono mixing of the song from an unknown take number. 11 September 1962: 18 takes recorded with Andy White on drums. Take 18 used as master.

David Bowie performed a medley of "Love Me Do" and "The Jean Genie" on 3 July 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon featuring Jeff Beck on guitar. The song was not included in the film of the concert, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker. The performance was later included in the documentary, Moonage Daydream, by Brett Morgen and its soundtrack.