Session One: The first actual recording of the song occurred at EMI studios on June 6th, 1962. The Beatles (with Pete Best) arrived at EMI and set up their instruments in Studio Three for this two-hour session (6 to 8 pm). The equipment they brought was not at all suitable for recording purposes. 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 proved insufficient.
With this accomplished, The Beatles showed producers, George Martin, and Ron Richards, what they could do. (George Martin was not present at first, delegating "pop" recordings to producer Ron Richards.) It was standard practice for the producer to start with what he felt was the most promising consideration for a single. Therefore, Ron Richards suggested they first perform “Besame Mucho” (their rendition of The Coasters version) although senior producer George Martin reportedly thought the song was “too corny.” The band then went into the song which they hoped would be chosen for the single, “Love Me Do.”
Although the number of takes they did this day is not known, more than performed one take took place. Tape operator Chris Neal recalls: "All of a sudden there was this raunchy noise which struck a chord in our heads. It was 'Love Me Do.' Norman (Smith) said to me, 'Oi, go down and pick up George (Martin) from the canteen and see what he thinks of this.'" When George Martin arrived in the control room, he was attracted by something they were doing. "I picked up on 'Love Me Do' mainly because of the harmonica sound. I loved raw harmonica and used to issue the records of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee." The harmonica John was using, by the way, was the chromatic model that he, reportedly, "shoplifted" in Arnhem, Holland during their first trip to Hamburg, Germany.
George Martin, however, started to make arrangement suggestions for the song. He noticed that John was singing the song's title solo during the climax of each verse but then switched to harmonica before he could sing the word "do." Paul relates: "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. We were doing it live, and I was suddenly given this massive moment on our first thing, where everything stopped, no backing, the spotlight went to me, and I went (in trembling tones) 'love me doooooo.' I can still hear the shake in my voice when I listen to it."
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”), as well as other tracks recorded during the early days, featured the instrument as overdubs. 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. As they had rehearsed in Hamburg back in May, Pete incorporated his "skip beat" into "Love Me Do" during this recording. The awkward timing change was very noticeable, something we can all now hear since this recording surfaced after released on the compilation album "Anthology 1." This is not to be evidence alone that Pete Best was not a talented drummer - one listen to the previous track "Besame Mucho" (also available on "Anthology 1") will show how impressive he could be. At any rate, what George Martin deduced from this day was that he needed to use a sessions drummer for The Beatles. 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 preparation for the group's next trip to the recording studio in September.
Session Two: George Martin did not know anything about replacing Pete Best until, on September 4th, 1962, The Beatles walked into the recording studio with Ringo Starr. (George Harrison, in fact, came this day sporting a black eye that some sources say he received from a 'head-butted' Pete Best fan at the Cavern Club.) The three-hour session (7 to 10 pm) was arranged precisely for recording both sides of their first single.
Before the session started, though, there was a rehearsal session (from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.) to determine which songs would best suit recorded that evening. Martin had insisted that a song which he found for them, “How Do You Do It,” would be the A-side of the first single, which he had introduced to The Beatles beforehand by sending a demo recording of the song to Liverpool for them to learn. Later that afternoon, Martin decided from the rehearsal session that “Love Me Do” ranked the best candidate for the flip side.
At some point during the evening recording session, which started at 7 pm, John made it known to George Martin that, although they worked up what they felt was a suitable arrangement, they disliked “How Do You Do It” with a passion. The Beatles felt that they “couldn’t take that song back to Liverpool” and that they’d be “laughed at.” Even though they felt the intimidation of being in a ‘big time’ recording studio, they stood their ground about wanting to record their own material. But Martin stood on stronger ground and insisted, saying that when they could write a better song than what he had chosen for them, he would let them release it as the A-side. So far, as far as he was concerned, their original compositions were suitable only for B-sides.
So, after at least two reluctant but spirited takes of “How Do You Do It,” George Martin considered the song complete and ready for mono mixing, which followed that evening. The next task at hand, starting at approximately 7:30 p.m., was to record the intended B-side, “Love Me Do,” which brought a much more labored effort. This was a one-track recording, meaning mono only, George Martin deciding to focus on the rhythm track alone without vocals, which alone took 15 takes to perfect. Thereafter, as the rhythm track copied from one tape machine to another, John and Paul superimposed their vocals. This also was a labored effort which took much longer than expected to get this song recorded, George Martin having to extend the session well past the usual 10 pm ending time to 11:15 pm.
It is interesting to note that, since the vocals ended up as superimposed later, Lennon could very well have sung lead on the song. In later years, there were instances when you would hear John’s harmonica while he was singing (such as “I’ll Get You” and “I Should Have Known Better”) as overdubbing progressively became standard practice in the studio. The best explanation is that, since they had already made the switch to McCartney singing lead back in June, they would stick with that plan. Some of their fans back home, including Johnny Gustafson (the bass player of the band The Big Three), protested to McCartney singing lead when the record was released, saying that they liked Lennon’s lead vocals better, as they were used to hearing live.
With Ringo being a relatively new member of the band, both McCartney and George Martin were reportedly not very happy with his drumming on the song. Paul relates that after the session was over, John, Paul, and George Harrison were told privately by Martin that he would like to do the session for “Love Me Do” again with a hired session drummer. Although this was hard for the band to accept, they relented, and another booked session took place a week later. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, a mono mix was made of this song as well, although unknown which take deemed best.
Session Three: During the week-long interval between recording sessions, an interesting development took place. Music publisher Dick James did not like the rendition of "How Do You Do It" that The Beatles recorded and did not want it released on either side of their single, saving the song for someone else to record who could do the song justice. Also, music publishers Ardmore and Beechwood poised themselves for financial gain with any Lennon / McCartney songs released, so they added pressure for both sides of the first Beatles single to be original compositions. With all this in mind, George Martin relented to John Lennon's request for The Beatles to release their own songs. Therefore, with so much time invested in "Love Me Do," Management decided that the recording of this song done on September 4th, 1962 with Ringo on drums was to be The Beatles first A-side. Their next recording session on September 11th, 1962 in EMI Studio Two (4:45 to 6:30 pm) would accomplish the B-side of their first single. And since this was just to record a B-side, George Martin would let Ron Richards handle the production.
Ringo had no clue of their decision to hire a session drummer. Therefore, when The Beatles arrived in the studio on this day, 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, thinking about how phony 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 song recorded that day, “P.S. I Love You.” There apparently was some thought given to this song becoming the A-side, again relegating “Love Me Do” to the B-side. Ron Richards then realized that the title “P.S. I Love You” was already gracing a previously released song by Peggy Lee, so this squashed the idea of this title being The Beatles' first A-side.
As an alternative for consideration for the B-side of the single, The Beatles then launched into a recording of "Please Please Me" with Andy White on drums, this version is now available on the compilation album "Anthology 1." It nearly made the grade for being the B-side to "Love Me Do," evidence of an acetate disc made for production. However, George Martin, who was then present in the studio, suggested they leave the song for another time because it was "too good a song to just throw away" on a B-side. Then, Ringo was “shattered” when he realized that his band was then asked to re-record “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 6 pm, 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 followed at the end of the session.
In the end, after some discussion, the original version of “Love Me Do” recorded on September 4th, 1962 with Ringo on drums would indeed be the A-side of their first British single after all, with "P.S. I Love You" as the B-side. Ringo was quite happy about that!
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 the song originally recorded appeared on only one track, 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: On May 30th, 1968, during the recording of the rhythm track for what became "Revolution 1," 'take 18' evolved into a long jam session that lasted over ten minutes. During this jam, Paul was inspired to sing a verse of "Love Me Do" which bled over onto an open microphone and prompted Ringo to perform a 'Beatles break' similar to the original recording. This 'take' was eventually released on the Super Deluxe 50th Anniversary edition of the "White Album" in 2018.
Session Five: 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 it's way onto tape but, because of the “rough” sound quality of the recording, it never materialized on any Beatles release.
Session Six: On June 23rd, 1994, the three surviving Beatles met in George's private home studio at Friar Park at Henley On Thames, England, for a recording session that Apple Corp filmed for possible inclusion in the "Anthology" television special. "They did a whole lot of rock and roll songs," television director Bob Smeator relates, although the vast majority of the recording and film footage has never seen the light of day, a small snippet of the available footage shows what appears to be a newly recorded version of "Love Me Do," granting not officially verified.
One question remains, however, about the original 1962 recording of the song: 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,” 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 the version with Ringo finally did resurface in 1980, his idea didn’t quite go as planned.
Official Beatle-related recordings of “Love Me Do” also include a session by Paul McCartney, sometime between September of 1987 and February of 1989, of a unique composition entitled “P.S. Love Me Do.” “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You” survived as the only “Lennon/McCartney” songs in the entire catalog owned by MPL Communications (Paul’s music publishing company). This being the case, Paul combined both songs and, with his current studio band, created a rhythmic rendition which he recorded during the sessions for what became his album “Flowers In The Dirt.” While the song did not appear on the general release of this album, it was among the many bonus tracks that did appear on the 1990 Japanese Tour edition, entitled “Special Package.”
A live recording of “P.S. Love Me Do” was made on April 21st, 1990, in Rio de Janeiro, the results appearing on his “Birthday” EP released later that year.
Also, sometime between February of 1997 and February of 1998, Ringo and his current studio band recorded a new version of “Love Me Do” for his eleventh studio album “Vertical Man,” which was co-produced by Ringo and Mark Hudson. The song features Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler on backing vocals and harmonica. A live recording of Ringo’s version of the song was made as well, on May 13th, 1998, and released on his album “VH1 Storytellers.”
Song Structure and Style
This song, directly listened to, defines 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 several 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 rather 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. When you examine Beatles songs throughout their career that have a solo, you’ll notice that it usually appears utilizing the verse chords. “Love Me Do” is an early exception to this unwritten 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 possess. 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 by the composers, the song was written in an R&B style, with a possible skiffle influence since crafted 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 and a half 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 song's title in the lower register sung by John throughout the rest of the song, which is evidence that John usually sang it prior. 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 identical final verse. This verse then extends and repeats until faded out, which occurred at the mix session near the end of each day’s recording.
An issue needs to be settled regarding whether Lennon played guitar on the session, as some claim that he did. We can reach an answered conclusion determined by a few examined details. The first detail is that the second version of the song (the one most are familiar with) was recorded completely live, vocals and all. Some can claim he could have played his Gibson J160E guitar while having a harmonica brace around his neck, allowing both instruments played throughout the song. But the question was: 'Did he wear a harmonica brace on the days the song was recorded?' He did have one during 1964 performances while performing songs such as “I’m A Loser.” One thing that is for certain is that it was impossible for Lennon to play both instruments live at the same time without a harmonica brace. It is improbable that he would have kept putting down his harmonica and picking up a guitar pick and then kept doing this repeatedly throughout the song.
To help settle this issue, we can observe actual photographs taken during the first session of this song. Lennon can clearly be seen with his acoustic guitar strapped on but holding his harmonica with both hands. He does not have a harmonica brace in the pictures. Although the vocals were overdubbed after the basic tracks were recorded for this version, there is no evidence to suggest that the harmonica was recorded simultaneously with the vocal overdubs. As for the second version with Andy White on drums, it appears highly unlikely that John performed both guitar and harmonica simultaneously since this version was recorded completely live.
Although pictures are not available of this second session, there is no evidence of Lennon even possessing a harmonica brace until much later. If you listen to the track “Love These Goon Shows!” on the “Live At The BBC” album, you will hear a description of how John couldn’t play the guitar and harmonica at the same time, which indicates that, at the time of recording the song in question (June 1st, 1963), he still did not possess a harmonica brace. Another indication is the video they made shortly afterward lip-syncing to “Love Me Do” (as seen on the Anthology video). John cups the harmonica in his hands when he’s not singing and, while he does have a guitar around his neck, only taps the guitar during his vocal work on the song. And, of course, there is not a harmonica brace in sight.
Add to this fact that a second guitar is not discernable in either version of the song; the evidence indicates that it was impossible for Lennon to have played guitar on “Love Me Do.”
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