The famous Beetles made their debut with the single “Love me do”, which was released on October 5, 1962. In addition to the title song, “PS I love you” was also released.
About a month earlier, on September 4, 1962, Brian Epstein paid for the Beatles and their new drummer, Ringo Starrthe Liverpool-London flight for their next meeting and recording session. After settling into a hotel in the Chelsea area, they arrived at EMI’s studios. They set up their equipment in Studio 3 and began rehearsing a total of six songs, including “Please please me”, “Love me do” and a Mitch Murray song, originally written for Adam Faith, titled “How do you do it?”. People at the label insisted that this be the band’s first single in the absence of stronger original material. In the end, however, “Love me do” prevailed.
Brian Epstein was heavily rumored to have bought 10,000 copies of the single to boost its chart position
When the single was originally released in the UK on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17 in the charts, a position considered a strong showing for a pop group’s debut release. Its sales “Love me do / PS I love you” they were particularly high in the Liverpool area, where the Beetles also came from. In fact, there were strong rumours, which, while not unlikely to be true, have not been confirmed, that Brian Epstein bought 10,000 copies of the single in order to boost its chart position.
The original version features John Lennon’s harmonica and the vocal duet by him and Paul McCartney
“Love me do”, however, was not a product of its time. The song was written several years before it was recorded – before the Beatles even existed. That original version features John Lennon’s harmonica and vocal duets from him and Paul McCartney. The first recording attempt took place in June 1962 and featured Pete Best on drums. But the recording that was released, in only the first copies of the single, was the one from September 4 with Ringo Starr. In the end, she was not to be the dominant one either. Seven days later, the song was re-recorded with drummer Andy White. When EMI released The Beatles’ Hits in 1963, it was decided that White’s version was the best, so the master recording with Ringo’s drums was destroyed. As for the first recording with drummer Pete Best, it was officially released only in 1995 with the Anthology collection.
The song was released in the United States two years after its UK release, and topped the country’s singles chart.
It was re-released in 1982 as part of the 20th anniversary of The Beatles by EMI, and as a result, it re-entered the UK charts, this time reaching number 4, while topping the charts in Australia and New Zealand.
The last time this particular song was released was in October 2012, and it was a limited edition copy for the 50th anniversary of the original single.
Column Editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
