"Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by "P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States in 1964 and topped the nation's song chart. Re-released in 1982 as part of EMI's Beatles 20th anniversary, it re-entered the UK charts and peaked at number 4. "Love Me Do" also topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand.
The song was written several years before being recorded, and prior to the existence of the Beatles. It features John Lennon's prominent harmonica playing and duet vocals by him and Paul McCartney. Three recorded versions of the song by the Beatles have been released, each with a different drummer. The first attempted recording from June 1962 featured Pete Best on drums, but was not officially released until the Anthology 1 compilation in 1995. A second version was recorded three months later with Best's replacement Ringo Starr, and this was used for the original Parlophone single first pressing. A third version, featuring session drummer Andy White in place of Starr, was used for the second pressing and also included on the band's Please Please Me album and on the 1964 Tollie single in the US. It was also included on the American LPs Introducing... The Beatles and The Early Beatles.
Composition "Love Me Do" was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with McCartney writing the verse and chorus and Lennon contributing the middle eight (or "bridge"). Lennon said: "'Love Me Do' is Paul's song... I do know he had the song around, in Hamburg, even, way, way before we were songwriters."
McCartney said:
Their practice at the time was to scribble songs in a school notebook, dreaming of stardom, always writing "Another Lennon–McCartney Original" at the top of the page. "Love Me Do" is a song based around three simple chords: G7 and C, before moving to D for its middle eight. It begins with Lennon playing a bluesy dry "dockside harmonica" riff, then features Lennon and McCartney on joint lead vocals, including Everly Brothers-style harmonising during the beseeching "please" before McCartney sings the unaccompanied vocal line on the song's title phrase.
Lennon had previously sung the title sections, but this change in arrangement was made in the studio under the direction of producer George Martin when he realised that the harmonica part encroached on the vocal. Lennon needed to begin playing the harmonica again on the same beat as the "do" of "love me do". However, when a similar situation later occurred on the "Please Please Me" single session, the harmonica was superimposed afterwards using tape-to-tape overdubbing.
Described by Ian MacDonald as "standing out like a bare brick wall in a suburban sitting-room, 'Love Me Do', [with its] blunt working class northerness, rang the first faint chime of a revolutionary bell" compared to the standard Tin Pan Alley productions occupying the charts at the time.
Recordings and releases "Love Me Do" was recorded by the Beatles on three occasions, each with a different drummer, at EMI Studios at 3 Abbey Road in London: The Beatles' first recording session, on 6 June 1962, with Pete Best on drums. This version (previously thought to be lost) is available on Anthology 1. Second recording session, 4 September 1962. In August, Best had been replaced with Ringo Starr, after producer George Martin did not approve of Best's drumming for studio work. The Beatles with Starr recorded a version in 15 takes. This version with Starr is available on Past Masters, as well as on the 2023 expanded edition of the compilation album 1962–1966 and the flip side of the "Now and Then" single. Third recording session, 11 September 1962. A week later, The Beatles recorded "Love Me Do" with session drummer Andy White on drums. Starr was relegated to playing tambourine. As tambourine is not present on 4 September recording, this is the easiest way to distinguish between the Starr and White recordings. The Andy White version is available on Please Please Me.
First issues of the single, released on Parlophone in the UK on 5 October 1962, featured the Ringo Starr version, prompting Mark Lewisohn to later write: "Clearly, the 11 September version was not regarded as having been a significant improvement after all".
The Andy White version of the track was included on the Beatles' debut UK album, Please Please Me, The Beatles' Hits EP, and subsequent album releases on which "Love Me Do" was included (except as noted below), as well as on the first US single release in April 1964. For the 1976 single re-issue and the 1982 "20th Anniversary" re-issue, as well as various compilation albums including the original release of 1962–1966 and 1, the Andy White version was again used. The Ringo Starr version was included on the albums Rarities (US version), Past Masters and Mono Masters. It was also included on Record 1 of The Beatles Box. The CD single issued on 2 October 1992 contains both versions. The Pete Best version remained unreleased until 1995, when it was included on the Anthology 1 album.
Capitol Records Canada pressed 170 singles which were released on 4 February 1963 with catalogue number 72076. This pressing was dubbed from the original UK single and featured Starr on drums.
"Love Me Do", featuring Starr drumming, was also recorded eight times at the BBC and played on the BBC Radio programmes Here We Go, Talent Spot, Saturday Club, Side by Side, Pop Go the Beatles and Easy Beat between October 1962 and October 1963. The version of "Love Me Do" recorded on 10 July 1963 at the BBC and broadcast on 23 July 1963 Pop Go the Beatles programme can be heard on the group's Live at the BBC compilation. The Beatles also performed the song live on 20 February 1963 Parade of the Pops BBC Radio broadcast.
In 1969, during the Get Back sessions, The Beatles played the song in a slower, more bluesy form than they had in earlier recordings. This version of "Love Me Do" is one of many recordings made during these sessions and subsequently appeared on some bootlegs. The song featured no harmonica by Lennon, and McCartney sang the majority of the song in the same vocal style he used for "Lady Madonna".
In 1989, McCartney blended the two songs from the Beatles' first single into a medley called "P.S. Love Me Do" for some dates of his 1989/90 World Tour. A little-known studio version of the medley first became available on a Special Package (1990 Japanese tour edition) of his solo album Flowers in the Dirt. The song became more widely known when a live version was released as a bonus track on the 12-inch single and CD single of "Birthday" from the double live album Tripping the Live Fantastic. Music videos for both "Birthday" and "P.S. Love Me Do" were released.
On 1 January 2013, recordings of "Love Me Do" published in 1962 entered the public domain in Europe.
The original 1962 single version of the song, with Ringo Starr on drums, received a new stereo mix by Giles Martin with the help of de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films and was released on 2 November 2023 as the flip side on the double A-side single of "Now and Then", finally making number one in the UK. It was also included in the expanded edition of the 1962–1966 compilation released on 10 November 2023.
Background
First recording session and use of harmonica The Beatles' first recording session under contract to EMI was on 6 June 1962. They first attempted "Love Me Do", as well as three other songs, at this session. George Martin, originally absent from the session, arrived during the recording of "Love Me Do" and altered the arrangement so that McCartney sang the words "love me do" instead of Lennon, enabling Lennon to play the harmonica starting on the word "do". McCartney recalled: 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. ... I can still hear the shake in my voice when I listen to it.
This version of "Love Me Do" also featured a change in drum rhythm during the middle-eight, moving to a skip beat that Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn deemed "disastrous". Both Martin and Ron Richards agreed that Pete Best's drumming was unsuitable for future recording.
On 4 September 1962, Brian Epstein paid for the Beatles—along with their new drummer, Ringo Starr—to fly down from Liverpool to London for their next session. After first checking into their Chelsea hotel, they arrived at EMI Studios early in the afternoon where they set up their equipment in Studio 3 and began rehearsing six songs including: "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do" and a song originally composed for Adam Faith by Mitch Murray titled "How Do You Do It?", which George Martin "was insisting, in the apparent absence of any stronger original material, would be the group's first single". Lennon and McCartney had yet to impress Martin with their songwriting ability, and the Beatles had been signed as recording artists on the basis of their charismatic appeal: "It wasn't a question of what they could do [as] they hadn't written anything great at that time." "But what impressed me most was their personalities. Sparks flew off them when you talked to them." During the course of an evening session that then followed (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm in Studio 2) they recorded "How Do You Do It" and "Love Me Do". An attempt at "Please Please Me" was made, but at this stage it was quite different from its eventual treatment and it was dropped by Martin. This disappointed the group, for they had hoped the song would be the B-side to "Love Me Do".
The Beatles were keen to record their own material, something which was almost unheard of at that time, and it is generally accepted as being to Martin's credit that they were allowed to float their own ideas. But Martin insisted that unless they could write something as commercial as "How Do You Do It?" then the Tin Pan Alley practice of having the group record songs by professional songwriters (which was standard procedure then, and is still common today) would be followed. MacDonald points out, however: "It's almost certainly true that there was no other producer on either side of the Atlantic then capable of handling the Beatles without damaging them—let alone of cultivating and catering to them with the gracious, open-minded adeptness for which George Martin is universally respected in the British pop industry." Martin rejects, however, the view that he was the "genius" behind the group: "I was purely an interpreter. The genius was theirs: no doubt about that."
It was on 4 September session that, according to McCartney, Martin suggested using a harmonica. However, Lennon's harmonica part was present on the Anthology 1 version of the song recorded during the 6 June audition with Pete Best on drums. Also, Martin's own recollection of this is different, saying: "I picked up on 'Love Me Do' because of the harmonica sound", adding: "I loved wailing harmonica—it reminded me of the records I used to issue of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. I felt it had a definite appeal."