#love me do

Obit of the Day: Between Best and Starr

On September 11, 1962, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison walked into the London recording studio with their brand-new drummer, Ringo Starr, in tow. Having fired Pete Best, the soon-to-be Fab Four seemed ready to record their first hits.

But George Martin, their famed producer, was not as impressed. Having heard Ringo play, he called in Andy White, a session drummer. Mr. Starr was relegated to the tambourine for the recording of “Love Me Do” and the maracas for “P.S. I Love You.” The songs would be released as the A and B sides of the record, respectively.

And here’s where things become complicated. Mr. Starr did record a version of “Love Me Do” on September 4, 1962. That version was released in the first pressing of the single, but when additional pressings were ordered it was replaced with Mr. White’s version. (You can tell the two apart by the addition of tambourine on the latter recording.) In addition, Mr. White’s recordings of both songs are included on Please Please Me (1963). 

“Love Me Do” was the Beatles first U.K. single release and peaked at 17 on the British charts (and #1 in the U.S. when it was released there in 1964). Please Please Me was the first album released by the Beatles in the U.K. as well.

For this work Mr. Martin earned £5 for his session work, plus ten shillings for bringing his drums. Mr. Starr would earn the royalties for all future uses of both songs.

Andy White, who also spent eleven years in Marlene Dietrich’s band and played on the soundtrack of What’s New, Pussycat?, died on November 9, 2015 at the age of 85.

Sources:The Telegraph and Wikipedia

Audio of “Love Me Do” is copyright of Apple Records and courtesy of maclomasoleil1966 on YouTube.com