As Difficult As It Is, Can You Choose One Favorite Beatle Song Out Of Hundreds?

From January 1964 clear up to April 2010, I struggled for a definitive answer over which Beatle song stood alone as my all-time favorite. The brilliant and catchy number of amazing tunes grew much too large in pinpointing a finger on a solitary find. However, in 2010, I received an opportunity to dust off my guitar, buy some new equipment and play live music for a mid-size café every Friday night. The challenge to keep a following of local patrons returning week after week meant providing fresh material audiences enjoyed hearing, not the same old thirty some songs each performance. So, I compiled a 350 plus play list of oldies but goodies and prided myself specializing in music from the sixties, which includes enormous recordings presented by the greatest band ever, the Beatles.

While deciding which songs matched my style and interest, “This Boy” surfaced in such a powerful way. Right then and there, I recalled how intrigued this song had held my affection throughout the initial awakening my eardrums received at first hearing and triggered the pulling of my heart-strings every time radio or tv spun the beautiful composition. That being said, let me share with you some steps the Beatles conquered at fulfilling my favorite Beatle Song.

In routine fashion, both sides of the Beatles fifth British single took place during the same three-hour recording session on October 17th, 1963 at EMI Studio Two in London. This day unveiled the same historical recording session that introduced the four-track tape techniques to the Beatles, who recorded “I Want To Hold Your Hand” (as well as the first Beatles Christmas Record of speech and an aborted remake attempt of “You Really Got A Hold On Me”). With these other three items complete, “This Boy” loomed last on the agenda for the day, which approximately comprised the final hour of the session (9:00 to 10:00 pm).

The task required fifteen takes of the song (most of them whole) to perfect, although more had to be done to get it to the finished state as we know it. The vocals were recorded, by the Beatles request, with all three vocalists huddled around one microphone. The finished version appears to be an edit of takes 14 and 15, which is brutally spliced together just before the final verse, making an obvious abrupt edit that is very noticeable in the issued product (although performed with flowing precision when done on stage, as can be seen on their Ed Sullivan Show appearance).

Two overdubs (take 16 and 17) were then recorded, which comprise George Harrison performing octave guitar fills at the end of the song. These overdubs transferred over to the end of take 15.

One more session needed attention to get the song in a releasable condition. A mixing session, attended by George Martin and engineer Norman Smith alone, happened four days later on October 21st. This day Martin arranged to create the mono mixes necessary for releasing their fifth British single. They created two mono mixes from take 15 of the recording session and then performed an edit of both of those mixes to get the final version, creating the fade out that is heard on the released recording instead of the full ending The Beatles recorded in the studio. Needless to say, The Beatles continued to perform the full ending on stage throughout the songs’ performance life.

No stereo mix of the song existed at this time since the song’s objective slated solely as a single in Britain. However, entirely by accident, the song achieved its’ first stereo mix on November 10th, 1966. A telephone call was made to Abbey Road to inform them of the line-up for the first “Greatest Hits” package scheduled for release in December of that year. By mistake, the phone message related that “This Boy” would be on the album so it would need to have a stereo mix made suitable for a special album release. The message should have indicated the song “Bad Boy,” which was not released in Britain at that time but still included on the album, which was titled “A Collection Of Beatles Oldies,” as an enticement for fans to buy an album of songs they probably already owned. Before the mistake was corrected, the four-track tape of “This Boy” was dug out and treated to its’ first and only stereo mix. Two stereo mixes developed from the edited take 15 of the song, and then both of those mixes got spliced together to create the full stereo mix.

Subsequently, the mix used for the stereo version of “Meet The Beatles!” in the US was actually a duo phonic (or fake) stereo mix created by Capitol records. This fake stereo mix continued to be used in America well after 1966 because the true stereo mix that advanced then didn’t surface until October of 1988, with the release of “Past Masters, Volume One.”

“This Boy” did surface at EMI studios on one other occasion. That occasion fell on June 3rd, 1964, when The Beatles auditioned Jimmy Nicol to replace an ailing Ringo Starr for the beginning of their first world tour. It proved necessary to see if Jimmy could handle the subdued drum arrangement Ringo played on this song as well as ‘rock-out’ on “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Long Tall Sally.”  Apparently, he could, because 27 hours later they were in Copenhagen on the first date of their tour.

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