Revisiting The Beatles' step into the unknown, 'Rubber Soul'

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60 years on from The Beatles’ debut single, ‘Love Me Do’

Wed 5 October 2022 4:00, UK

You only get one chance at a first impression. That’s what it seems for most artists, but not The Beatles. When The Fab Four walked into EMI Studios for the first time on June 6th, 1962, they took the first pass at what was eventually set to be their first single. But they didn’t get it right, so they returned three months later and tried again with a new drummer. However, their producer wasn’t happy, so a third recording was needed, this time with a session drummer. In a strange way, The Beatles got three chances at a first impression with ‘Love Me Do’.

It’s not like the song was overly complicated. Quite the opposite, in fact: written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as teenagers, ‘Love Me Do’ consists of contains three chords, basic harmonies, and a three-note harmonica hook. No guitar solo, no time changes, and no complications. For such a simple song, it took quite a while for ‘Love Me Do’ to see the light of day.

As one of their first proper compositions, ‘Love Me Do’ was given priority as The Beatles’ first recording. The July 6th sessions featured the band’s then-drummer Pete Best performing on the track. Producer George Martin disliked Best’s performance, with his attempt at a shuffle beat derailing the initial attempts at getting a solid recorded version of the song down. The first version of ‘Love Me Do’ was eventually released on Anthology 1, with Best’s drumming intact.

In late August of 1962, Best was fired from the group and replaced with Ringo Starr. By that point, Martin had decided to issue ‘Love Me Do’ as the band’s first single. The one stipulation was that a new recording was required. With Starr in their ranks, The Beatles flew from Liverpool to London on September 4th to record a new version of the song. Starr had only been in the group for two weeks when he entered the studio with the band for the first time. This version would be released as a single in the UK and was later included on the compilation album Past Masters.

Martin remained unhappy with the song and considered issuing a track written by an outside songwriter, ‘How Do You Do It’, as the band’s debut single. With pushback from the band, another recording session was arranged on September 11th. There was no room for error this time, so EMI producer Ron Richards hired session drummer Andy White to sit in. Starr was relegated to tambourine, a move that left the new drummer upset.

“George [Martin] didn’t want to take any more chances and I was caught in the middle,” Starr later observed. “I was devastated that George Martin had his doubts about me. I came down ready to roll and heard, ‘We’ve got a professional drummer.’ He has apologised several times since, has old George, but it was devastating—I hated the bugger for years; I still don’t let him off the hook!”

The September 11th version would be the single that was issued in America, along with the recording that would appear on their debut album, Please Please Me. In their home country, ‘Love Me Do’ rose to number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, a strong start for a new band’s debut single. But after Beatlemania had fully taken over in 1964, ‘Love Me Do’ rose all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, one of six chart toppers The Beatles landed in America during 1964.

Check out all three versions of ‘Love Me Do’ down below.