“LOVE ME DO”

(Paul McCartney – John Lennon)

There have been a great deal of songs recorded by the Beatles that can be viewed as “hits” or “classics”, but only a handful that can truly be viewed as “legendary.”  “Love Me Do” surely falls into this category.  This was the first song professionally recorded and released under the “Beatles” name, which excludes any “Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers” recordings.  It was also the first Lennon/McCartney song (or as indicated on the label, McCartney/Lennon) ever to be published and released.  And it was the first song released (in Britain) with the complete Beatles line-up as we’ve come to know and love: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr.

There are varied opinions about the song, even by the composers, but the one thing that is beyond debate is the vibrancy and originality of the track.  Upon first hearing the song on the radio in the United States in May 1964, being that we were already acquainted with the Beatles’ unique sound, we just viewed this as another great new contribution from the band.  It was quite another picture in the UK.  This was the first song heard of this new band by British radio listeners as a whole.  Imagine what your impression would have been if this was the first song you ever heard by the Beatles.  It might have been the same impression that Lennon’s Aunt Mimi had when she first heard a demonstration disc of the song.  She told John, “If you think you’re going to make a fortune with that, you’ve got another thing coming!”  

Nonetheless, the identifiable Beatle harmonies and simple-but-catchy lyrics make “Love Me Do” an irresistible favorite for lovers of oldies music.  Hardly anyone at any age can keep themselves from singing along.  And that is something that any aspiring songwriter only dreams to be able to create.

Songwriting History 

The writing of this “great philosophical song” (as Paul refers to it), takes us way back to 1958, as a 16 year old McCartney writes the main structure of the song, reportedly about his then girlfriend, Iris Caldwell.  He had already met John by then (July 6th, 1957 was their first meeting) and they must have completed the writing together shortly thereafter.  Paul generously recalls the song being a 50/50 collaboration, neither one dominating the authorship, while Lennon refers to “Love Me Do” as “Paul’s song,” but says that he ‘thinks he had something to do with the middle’.  These sketchy recollections help us to piece together that McCartney must have written most of the verses while Lennon wrote most of the bridge.

Lennon was most likely more involved in composing the song than he remembers if a future trend is any indication.  The history of their songwriting partnership shows the primary composer of the song to almost always be the lead singer of the song.  In fact, only on very rare occasions did the primary writer not sing lead (such an on “Every Little Thing”).  With “Love Me Do”, Lennon had been the lead singer of the song for the approximate four years that had transpired between the songs’ composing and its’ recording in 1962.  Only then did the lead singing role switch to McCartney, and that at the insistence of George Martin wanting Lennon to play harmonica throughout the song which was played live in the studio.   

McCartney is also quoted as saying that this song was their attempt to “do the blues,” although it came out “whiter, because it always does.”  In actuality, a good portion of Lennon and McCartney’s early songwriting catalog is their attempt to imitate rhythm and blues artists, as well as early rock and roll pioneers.  What Americans viewed as the unique “British Invasion” sound was in actuality the Beatles (as well as the other British groups) attempt to sound black. 

Another influence that can be heard in the song is a “skiffle” beat.  The skiffle craze of the late fifties had greatly attracted both Lennon and McCartney individually even before they met.  The simplistic instrumentation became quite attractive to youths who had a love of music, seeing that even ordinary folk could master an acoustic guitar and two or three chords (see “Rock Island Line”).  Being that “Love Me Do” was written in 1958 while skiffle popularity was at a high point, a slow skiffle beat can easily be detected, which is much different than most of the pop music of 1962 when it was finally recorded and released.

The lyrics John and Paul chose have a direct link with their love for the literary works of Lewis Carroll.  The phrase, "love, love me do" is straight from the Lewis Carroll era, such as "Alice, Stop daydreaming, do!"  Lennon's obscession with Carroll continues to materialize throughout his Beatles songwriting career, such as in later works like "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "I Am The Walrus."

Recording History

Session One:  The first actual recording of the song was at EMI studios on June 6th, 1962.  The Beatles (with Pete Best) arrived with the understanding that they had a contract with EMI and that this was their first recording session.  They were under this impression from their manager Brian Epstein, who informed the local newspaper “Mersey Beat” who, in turn, jumped the gun by printing that by July their first record would be released.  The actual situation was that this was an audition for George Martin, head of A&R for the EMI record label Parlophone. 

Nonetheless, they arrived at EMI and set up their instruments in studio three for this two hour session (6:00 to 8:00 p.m.).  The equipment they brought was not suitable for recording purposes at all.  They had to strap up Lennon’s amplifier to stop it from rattling, and had to do a soldering job on a Tannoy speaker to convert it for McCartney to play through, since his amplifier couldn’t be used at all. 

With this accomplished, things were then under way as the Beatles showed George Martin what they could do.  The audition was recorded in order to be reviewed by Martin and other EMI personnel to determine whether the band would be signed to the label.  At Brian Epstein’s suggestion, they first performed “Besame Mucho” (their rendition of “The Coasters” version) which Martin ultimately thought was “too corny.”  The band then went into the song which they hoped would be chosen for the first single, “Love Me Do.”   

Although the number of takes they did this day is not known, more than one take had to have been performed.  George Martin started to make arrangement suggestions for the song, suggesting featuring a harmonica.  Current chart hits featured this instrument, such as Frank Ifield's "I Remember You" and Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby,” which the Beatles just happened to be scheduled to appear with at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton on June 21st.  Lennon had a harmonica with him, a chromatic model that, reportedly, had been “shoplifted” by John in Arnhem, Holland during their first trip to Hamburg, Germany.

Lennon had planned on playing rhythm guitar on the song as usual, but at George Martin’s suggestion, he played the harmonica in a “bluesy” style throughout the song; the introduction, at the end of each verse, during the bridge, the solo, and to close the song.  This also facilitated giving up singing lead vocals on the song, being that during the climax of each verse, he needed to play the harmonica riff.   

It is interesting to note that the harmonica continued to play a major role in their early recordings.  Their next two singles (“Please Please Me” and “From Me To You”) feature the instrument as overdubs, as well as other tracks recorded during the early days.  After 1963, however, John rarely used the harmonica again, although the instrument did make brief appearances in songs like “I’m A Loser” and even “Rocky Raccoon.”

After the “nerve-wracking” (as McCartney described it) experience of having a professional producer rearrange your song for you, Martin decided that he wasn’t very impressed with the song after all.  He reportedly “hated the lyrics.”  He then asked them what else they had, and they did two other originals that day, “P.S. I Love You” and “Ask Me Why.”

Another thing that Martin was not impressed with was Pete Best.  By listening to the version of “Love Me Do” that was recorded this day (available on Anthology 1) you can probably understand why.  During the bridge and solo section of the song, he changes the tempo to a straight rock beat instead of the swing style played throughout the rest of the song.  And when he changes back to the swing beat in the verses, his tempo slows noticeably.  In defense of Best, this change in tempo probably was suggested by someone, possibly McCartney, who took a leading role in arranging the material they played even at this early stage.  They may have even played it this way during their “stage act” over the past four years.  Whatever the case, this was not evidence of itself that Pete was not a good enough drummer for the band.  If you listen to “Besame Mucho,” which was also recorded this day (also available on Anthology 1), you will note that the proficiency in which Pete played was quite impressive. 

At any rate, what George Martin deduced from this day was that he was going to use a session drummer in the studio “if” they made a record.  This was the final nail in the coffin for Best, as they had been thinking of replacing him with Ringo for some time.  Their next appointment in the studio would be without Pete Best.

Concerning John's harmonica work on the song, he took advantage of being in the company of Delbert McClinton, the harmonica player with Bruce Channel, during the Beatles' appearance with them on June 21st.  Lennon reportedly got a fifteen minute lesson from McClinton on how to perform the "Hey Baby" harmonica riff in preperation for the groups' next trip to the recording studio in September.

Session Three:  During the week interval between recording sessions, Ringo was never told of their decision to hire a session drummer.  Therefore, when the Beatles arrived at studio two for their next session on September 11th, 1962 (10:00 am to 1:00 pm), apparently he was the only one surprised to see session drummer Andy White there as well.

At first, Ringo sat dejectedly in the control room with producer Ron Richards (George Martin was not yet present at this session) thinking about how phoney the record business was because of their not allowing him to play with his band.  Richards then asked him to play maracas on the first of two songs recorded that day, “P.S. I Love You.”  This song, in fact, was considered for the A-side of their first single, again relegating “Love Me Do” to the B-side.  By this time, George Martin had given in to the request of the Beatles to record their own material.  Richards, though, realized that the title “P.S. I Love You” was already gracing a previously released song by Peggy Lee, so this squashed that idea.  

Then Ringo was “shattered” when he realized that they were then remaking “Love Me Do” with Andy White on drums.  He felt they were doing a “Pete Best” on him and that, since he apparently was only good enough to play drums at their performances, he “might as well leave.”  Ringo reluctantly played the tambourine and, starting at approximately 11:30 a.m., they went through 18 takes of the song, this time live in the studio, vocals and all.  The last take, take 18, was deemed the best and a mono mix was made at the end of the session.

After the recording sessions for “Love Me Do” were completed, the Beatles launched into recording an early version of “Please Please Me” (available on Anthology 1) with the intentions of having an alternative for consideration for the B-side of their first single.  George Martin was then present in the studio and suggested for them to leave it for another time because it was “too good a song to just throw away.”   So at this point, it was decided that “Love Me Do” would be the A-side of their first single after all.  Surprisingly, and probably by accident, the first version of the song with Ringo on drums was released on the single in Britain.

Stereo Mixing:  On February 25th, 1963, George Martin assembled his team in Studio one at EMI to produce mono and stereo mixes for their first album, “Please Please Me.”  The version of “Love Me Do” that would appear on the album, it was decided, was the Andy White version recorded on September 11th, so the mono mix made on that day was sufficient for the mono release of the album.  However, the stereo version of the album needed a stereo mix, and reportedly the master tape of the song was already lost, so a stereo version of the song needed to be mixed somehow from the mono mix done on September 11th.  To remedy this situation, George Martin prepared a “mock” stereo version of the song by placing the bass signals of the song on one channel and the treble frequencies on the other channel.  This process gives the listener a higher definition stereo feel, but without the separation of true stereo, as most of the other tracks on the album have.  This mix is what appears on all of the stereo US versions of the song.  

Session Four:  Interestingly enough, the last recording session that included the song was on January 28th, 1969.  This occurred at Apple Studios as the then titled “Get Back” project was nearing completion.  An impromptu rendition of “Love Me Do” found its’ way onto tape but, because of the “rough” sound quality of the recording, it never materialized on any Beatles release.  This was the last time this historic song was performed by the Beatles.

One question remains:  Why was the first version of “Love Me Do” with Ringo on drums replaced with the second version with Andy White on drums for all future single releases in Britain (and the rest of the world)?  The answer lies with George Martin.  He apparently felt strongly enough about this matter to destroy the master tape of Ringo’s version of the song as he was preparing the British EP “The Beatles’ Hits,” which was released in September of 1963.  He wanted to ensure that the superior version in his opinion, the Andy White version, would be the one to go down in history.  Since it finally did resurface in 1980, his plan didn’t quite go as planned.  

Song Structure and Style

This song was also written in the verse/verse/bridge/verse style (or aaba) as most other songs on the album.  Despite its’ simplistic structure, there are some unique characteristics here.  One is that each verse is completely identical; lyrics, harmonies, instrumentation and number of musical bars.  Typically, subsequent verses would change at least lyrically, usually repeating the first verse only as the last verse in the sequence.  Or, there would be an added element in the instrumentation, such as an added percussion, guitar part, etc.  An added harmony may even be utilized to distinguish one verse from the other.  In this case, the song, with its’ distinctive harmonies and stick-in-your head hook, would have to stand on its’ own.  As time has shown, this was enough to make the song stand on its’ own.

Another unique characteristic is that the solo section of the song, which occurs between the third and final verse, is performed in the chord structure of the bridge.  Examine any other Beatles song throughout their career that has a solo, and you’ll notice that it always appears utilizing the verse chords.  “Love Me Do” appears to be the only exception to this rule.

Both versions of the song are identical in structure and performance, the only difference being the appearance of a tambourine, played by Ringo.  This is the easiest was to determine which version you are listening to.  The version without the tambourine is the first version recorded on September 4th, 1962, featuring Ringo on drums.  The version with the tambourine is the second version recorded on September 11th, 1962, featuring Andy White on drums and the despondent Ringo on tambourine.  

As stated earlier, the song was written in an R&B style with a possible skiffle influence, since it was written during the time of the skiffle craze and a slow skiffle beat is detected.  The song opens with an eight bar introduction highlighted by Lennon’s harmonica riff, which becomes the identifying element of the song.  The song then naturally progresses to the first verse with the distinctive vocal harmonies of Lennon and McCartney, John taking the lower (formerly lead) vocal line to McCartney’s higher (formerly backing) vocal line.  Each verse has an unusual 13 bars, which includes a 2 ½ bar “please” with harmonies that cascade into a break, allowing for the usual ending of the verse with the title of the song used as the hook line.  Notice that McCartney has to sing the songs’ title in the lower register sung by John throughout the rest of the song, which is evidence that it was usually sung by John prior to this.  But, in order for the harmonica to come in on the one beat of the 10th bar as prescribed by George Martin, McCartney was now dubbed “lead singer” of the song.

After the identical second verse, Paul once again sings the lower register lead vocals of the 8 bar bridge while John plays a harmonica line.  Paul then alternates to his former higher vocal line whenever John doesn’t have a harmonica in his mouth, allowing Lennon to sing his usual lower register vocal line.  This happens twice, but ends in another break, allowing for a subtle transition back to a third identical verse.  

The bridge chords then repeat, but this time as a harmonica solo from Lennon, which is quite reminiscent of the harmonica work on Bruce Channel’s hit “Hey Baby,” which inspired John’s performance.  The bridge is extended another 4 bars and ends in another break, which acts as another transition back to the final identical verse.  This verse then extends and repeats until being faded out, which was done at the mix session at the end of each day’s recording.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO "LOVE ME DO"

American Releases

Although Capitol records was given the chance to release the song as early as 1962, Dave Dexter, the executive producer for A&R at the label, declined, saying that he didn’t like the harmonica.  So, the first American release didn’t occur until January 6th, 1964, on the Vee Jay album “Introducing…The Beatles.”  Since the British “Please Please Me” album contained the version with Andy White on the drums, this is the version that was sent to Vee Jay records in the US.  The song was only available in this form for three weeks because it was licensed to an EMI owned publishing company, “Ardmore and Beechwood.”  Capitol filed suit against Vee Jay for issuing the song, so they had to re-release the album without “Love Me Do.”  They did this on January 27th, 1964, which gave a quick three week preview of the song to the lucky 80,000 (approximately), who purchased the first version of the album in January.

After a settlement was reached between EMI’s Beechwood Music in April of 1964, Vee Jay issued the song as a single on their newly formed Tollie label on April 27th, 1964, backed with “P.S. I Love You.”  Once again, it was the version that they had, featuring Andy White on drums.  This single went to number one on the Billboard pop charts, which was a much higher position than in their home country, where it only peaked at number 17.  The songs’ British peak on the charts was probably due to Brian Epstein personally buying (reportedly) 10,000 copies of the record for his record shop, which he had been told was the amount needed to achieve a top 20 hit.  

In August of 1964, shortly before their contract with the Beatles expired on October 15th, Vee Jay reissued the “Love Me Do” single on their “Oldies 45” label, which became the third US release of the song.  The fourth came on March 22th, 1965, when Capitol issued their “Early Beatles” album, featuring most of the Vee Jay album from the previous year.  Capitol then saw good to make the single available to US record buyers again as part of their short lived “Starline” budget label, releasing it on October 11th, 1965.  This made the fifth release of the song in the US.

No Beatles “greatest hit” package could exclude this historically classic song, so on April 2nd, 1973, the album “1962 – 1966” (better known as the “Red” album) was released by Apple Records, which has “Love Me Do” opening side one of the album.  The album peaked at number three on the Billboard charts, unable to out-chart the “Blue” album which was released simultaneously.  

March 21st, 1980, was the date the United States finally got to hear the first version of “Love Me Do” with Ringo playing the drums.     It was released originally on the single in Britain, as well as in Canada, but since the master tape no longer existed, a clean recording made from an old mono 45 graced the Capitol album “Rarities.”  This album peaked at number 21 on the Billboard charts, which makes it the seventh US release of the song.

(As a sidenote, Capitol of Canada imported copies of their "Love Me Do single with Ringo on drums into the US in early 1964 before the American Tollie single was released.  This version did place in all three American charts just prior to the American release, so a small amount of US Beatlemaniacs did get a chance to hear Ringo's version in early 1964.)

On October 11th, 1982, Capitol released a composite compilation package entitled “20 Greatest Hits,” which marked the 20th anniversary of the British release of “Love Me Do.”  The song was the second track on side one and is the eighth US release of the song.  The album peaked at number 50 on Billboard.

In connection with this 20th anniversary, Capitol released a promo single for radio play in 1982 featuring "Love Me Do" on both sides on the disc, which is somewhat hard to find today.  

To this day, in the golden age of compact discs, the US market has easy access to both versions of the song.  The more popular Andy White version can be found on the CD “Please Please Me” which was first released in this form on February 26th, 1987.  The version with Ringo playing drums is found on “Past Masters, Volume One,” which was released on March 7th, 1988, and reached number 149 on the Billboard album charts.  Both volumes of "Past Masters" were then combined on September 9th, 2009 into one volume simply entitled "Past Masters."

Also, on March 10th, 1993, Capitol rereleased the "Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You" single as a Cema Series single for jukeboxes only.  This 45, most copies of which were on red vinyl, is becoming quite the collectors' item today. 

But then, there’s more!  The “Live At The BBC” album, released on December 6th, 1994, contains the performance the Beatles made on the BBC radio show “Pop Go The Beatles,” which aired on July 23rd,1963.  The album peaked at number three on Billboard.  This makes release number 11 in the US.  Then comes “Anthology 1” released on November 21st, 1995, which featured the historic and recently found “audition” of the song featuring Pete Best on drums.   This compilation album was highly anticipated, corresponding with their ABC television specials, and peaked at number one on Billboard.  

The most recent release of the song (apart from the reissues of the original US albums in the CD set “The Capitol Albums, Volume 2”) is the amazingly successful compilation album “1,” which not only peaked at number one on Billboard on its’ first week, but succeeded in selling over 28 million copies worldwide (10 million in the US alone).  Released on November 13th, 2000, this is the biggest selling album of the decade as well as the fastest selling album of all time.  This album features the Andy White version of the song and is the 13th official release of the song in the US.

Not to be forgotten is the Ringo Starr 1998 release “Vertical Man” which features his remake of “Love Me Do” featuring none other than Steven Tyler of Aerosmith filling the shoes of John Lennon on harmonica.  While the album was not a monster smash, it respectfully reached #61 on the Billboard album charts in the US, the highest reaching Ringo album since the 70’s.

Live Performances

“Love Me Do” is one of three songs which date back the furthest in the Beatles’ performance history.  There is evidence that this song was in the repertoire of the Quarry Men (named after the Quarry Bank Grammar School Lennon attended) in 1959, which by then included John, Paul and George.  They were very keen at the time on performing original songs, which then also included “One After 909” and “When I’m Sixty Four.”  As the group evolved throughout the next three years into the Beatles, the song was intermittently performed in their “stage act.”  Although, seeing that Pete Best was stumbling through the audition of the song at EMI studios on June 6th, 1962, it may have been performed rather sporadically by that time.  The focus of their live repertoire since 1960 seemed to be on cover tunes that a Liverpool or Hamburg audience would want to hear.  

Since the song was their first national British hit, it was a prerequisite for their national tours with Helen Shapiro, Tommy Roe/Chris Montez and then Roy Orbison throughout 1963.  The last concert appearance of the song appears to have been on June 30th, 1964 at the ABC Cinema in Norfolk.  British television saw the song performed in a Beatles medley on the show “Around The Beatles,” which was recorded at IBC studios on April 19th, 1964 for lip-syncing purposes, but broadcast on May 6th and then again on June 8th, 1964.  This appears to be the only performance (albeit a partial performance) of “Love Me Do” in 1964, seeing that their hit catalog of songs progressed quite far by that time.

Their BBC radio performances of the song began on October 25th, 1962, only three weeks after the record was released in Britain.  This was for the show “Here We Go” which aired on October 26th.  Then on November 27th, they performed the song for “The Talent Spot,” which aired on December 4th.  Then on to 1963, with a performance on “Saturday Club” on January 22nd, airing on January 26th.  A live performance for “Parade Of The Pops” occurred on February 20th.  Then we go to an April 4th recording for “Side By Side,” which aired on June 24th.  A June 1st performance of the song for the “Pop Go The Beatles” program aired on June 11th.  Another “Pop Go The Beatles” performance was recorded on July 10th and aired on July 23rd.  And a third “Pop Go The Beatles” performance of the song occurred on September 3rd, which aired on September 10th.  October 16th saw the last BBC recording of the song for “Easy Beat,” which aired on October 20th.

Conclusion

“Love Me Do,” understandably, was a pivotal point in the Beatles career, as well as a milestone that was reached that affected them collectively and individually.  George Harrison, for instance, felt the wrath of his fathers’ anger when he was woken by George’s screaming when the song was played late at night on Radio Luxenbourg.  Ringo, after being thoroughly disillusioned by the record industry, felt vindicated when the initial pressing of the record in Britain contained the version with him on the drums.  (All subsequent pressings thereafter contained the Andy White version.)  For the songs’ composers, it had an even greater impact.  McCartney recalls that the song was evidence to him and John that they had “arrived,” and that it gave the Beatles “somewhere to go.”

The excitement of having a popular national hit song was a dream come true for the band.  To be counted among their musical heroes currently on the radio waves, such as The Everly Brothers, Smokey Robinson, and The Shirelles, was an indescribable experience for them.  Brain Epstein would call them with the precise times that the song would be played on the radio so they could stop what they were doing and listen.  They would even celebrate every time the song moved up on the British charts.   

The impact in America was immediate, even without any promotion to back the song.  The Beatles never even performed the song in any American concerts or television appearances.  They didn’t need to.  They may have felt that they had pressed on so much further in their career by mid 1964 that they didn’t sense a need to promote their first British single in the states.  Nevertheless, the irresistible harmonica hook, the all-too-familiar harmonies, and the captivating melody line were enough to stick in the minds of American youth and skyrocket the song to the top of the US charts.  To this day, the song has become one of the most identifiable trademark recordings in the Beatles catalog.

Song Summary

“Love Me Do”

Written by:  Paul McCartney / John Lennon

• Song Written:                      1958
• Song Recorded:                  September 4, 1962 (Ringo on drums)
• Song Recorded:                  September 11, 1962 (Andy White on drums)
• First US Release Date:      January 6, 1964
• First US Album Release:   Vee Jay #VJLP 1062 “Introducing…The Beatles”
• US Single Release:            Tollie #9008
• Highest Chart Position:   #1 (1 week)
• British Album Release:     Parlophone #PCS3042 "Please Please Me”
• Length:                                2:22
• Key:                                      G major
• Producers:                          George Martin (Ringo Starr on drums),
•                                               Ron Richards (Andy White on drums)
• Engineer:                            Norman Smith 

         Instrumentation: 

• Paul McCartney -        Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1)
• John Lennon –             Harmonica (chromatic), Background Vocals
• George Harrison –      Rhythm Guitar (Gibson J160e)
• Ringo Starr –               Drums (Premier) (Sept.4th) Tambourine (Sept. 11th)
• Andy White -                 Drums (September 11th version) 

Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski

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