LOVE ME DO

This was basically The Beatles' first hit. It's what would get them to be known as one of the most popular bands ever. When it first debuted in England, it was a moderate success, peaking at #19 on the charts. In America, however, it was a number one for the future prog band.

Love Me Do is a decent early 60's tune written by the great Lennon/McCartney partnership. It is influenced by blues, and has a good rhythm. The harmonica sounds good, and I like the bass. This song isn't great or anything like that, but it's obvious that these guys were different than what had come before them. This is obviously something that could form a new genre, which in those days, was rock. With that said, I don't think this song is a particularly good early Beatles' song, but it's not bad.

The B side, P.S. I Love You, is significantly better than Side A. It has really nice vocal harmonies from some of the best voices of all time. It is a ballad with some nice guitar chords.

If you're interested where The Beatles came from, this is a good song that almost everyone has heard. It certainly doesn't compare to Abbey Road, but it holds its own, and is some of the best music of the early 60's.

The version of "Love Me Do" which originally appeared on the first pressings of this single has Ringo Starr on drums, but the song also was recorded by the band with a session drummer called Andy White and with Ringo Starr playing a tambourine. This second version with White on drums appears on the "Please Please Me" album and since 1963 it also appeared in the single version. The version with Ringo on drums was also released on the "Past Masters Volume One" compilation album in 1988, but the version with White appears on other compilation albums like "1" (2000). So, the main difference between the two versions is the absence or the presence of a tambourine played by Ringo. The B-side, "P.S. I Love You" was recorded with Andy White on drums and with Ringo on maracas. This happened because at the start of their recording sessions with producer George Martin he didn`t like Pete Best` s drums playing (as he participated in their first recording session with their new record label), and Matin said that to the other three Beatles.When the time came for another recording session, Pete Best wasn`t in the band anymore and Ringo was the new drummer with the band, but as Martin wasn`t very impressed with Ringo`s drum`s playing then, Martin called White to participate in the recordings. Anyway, the single version included Ringo`s drums playing at least in the first pressings, and Martin didn`t use a session drummer again for the next recording sessions.There also was a preliminary recorded version of "Love Me Do" with Pete Best on drums which was released in the "Anthology 1" album from 1995, which is very different in the drums playing and it shows why Best was replaced as drummer as his playing is not as good as Ringo`s, in my opinion. Anyway, both songs in this single are very early efforts as songwriters by Lennon and McCartney, in my opinion, both being very simple songs. But with both being songs composed by members of the band, it was a new approach in the recording industry as many bands and soloists then only recorded songs composed by outside "professional songwriters". So, this single and their firts album contributed to that change, I think.