Record #0088: Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You – THE BEATLES

Tollie 9008 (original) USA, Apr. 27, 1964
Words & Music by:  Paul McCartney, John Lennon
Musicians: John Lennon (vocals, harmonica, rhythm guitar on side B), Paul McCartney (vocals and bass), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals on side B), Ringo Starr (tambourine on side A, maracas on side B), Andy White (drums)
Recording sessions: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London, UK, Sep. 4 & 11, 1962
Highest chart positions:  Side A - US #1, UK #17; Side B – US #10

After being rejected by Decca, the Beatles got signed to EMI Parlophone and these two songs were the band’s first release with the label.

The Beatles did their first recording of “Love Me Do” with drummer Pete Best on June 6, 1962. Best was replaced by Ringo Starr on August 16. Some say that Best’s drumming lacked skill and/or variety, others claim he got too popular among the (female) fans. Who knows, what the bottom line was.

The band went back to studio on September 4. to record another version of “Love Me Do” and the first takes of “P.S. I Love You”, a song written by McCartney in Hamburg, Germany in 1961. Producer George Martin didn’t like Ringo’s performance in this session, so the band returned to the studio a week later to do the same songs with session drummer Andy White (who was paid £57 for it). The first pressings of the UK release had the versions with Ringo playing drums; all later releases, including US releases, had White on drums. 

Here’s “Love Me Do” with Ringo. I couldn’t find anything that bad in his playing here. But … is it just me or is Paul’s bass tuning a bit off here? :)

The UK original (Parlophone 4949) of this was released already on Oct.5, 1962. The better chart success in the US was due to the fact that the Beatlemania had already started by the time of the US release date.

List price:  Yellow label, blue/green/black text - Very Good+ is $25, Near Mint is $50; black label, silver text – VG+ $30, NM $60; promotional copies are very rare and listed for VG+ $200, NM $400.