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11.32pm
1 May 2011
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With Love Me Do being released 50 years ago on Friday, focus is already turning to the anniversary. A report on it including it being seen by some as a '"false start" (something i dont agree with) was on tonights BBC1 One Show (its on the iplayer if folks want to see it) and more will follow suit including the documentary '50 Years On - Love Me Do'.
So what are folks opinions on the song nowadays.
Does it get your feet tappin' or reaching for the skip button (if its even on your ipod)?
Is it totally outdated and should be buried 6 feet under or your favourite tune?
Which drummer do you prefer – Andy White, Ringo or Pete?
Do you think it was a 'false start'?
Any other comments?
[Im not going to go on a moan about Pete Best's comments on the One Show but i might if i hear any more.]
11.42pm
25 September 2012
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Well, all of my friends who listen to The Beatles have the point of view that it is just too dated by now, but they agree with me saying,
Man, how could you not be excited by this?
This is what started it all in a way, and I think it deserves all the attention it can get. This song is more than twice as old as I am and I couldn't respect it more.
3.25pm
14 December 2009
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The problem is not that it's "dated", a fairly meaningless term – it's just a pretty weak song, period. Of course I appreciate the symbolic and iconic aspects of it, and the harmonica and harmonies are nice. But really, J&P had nowhere to go but up. To progress from this to "Please Please Me" was a major leap.
Drumwise, I thought Ringo played it totally fine, don't know whey GM felt they needed Andy White at all. I can't even tell which version is being played until I hear (or don't hear) that big cymbal crash before the final chorus.
5.34pm
3 May 2012
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It´s not a favourite of mine. I don´t think the song is that good. It´s weak. Very weak.
But, it was the start of The Beatles as we know them today, the start of the 60´s in some people´s view, the start of all what came after. So, is it important? Definitely! And as said before me, it deserves all the coverage it is going to get over the next few days.
And as for the drumming, well, Ringo all the way!! It is The Beatles, after all.
6.21pm
14 April 2010
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meanmistermustard said
Does it get your feet tappin' or reaching for the skip button (if its even on your ipod)?Is it totally outdated and should be buried 6 feet under or your favourite tune?
Which drummer do you prefer – Andy White, Ringo or Pete?
Do you think it was a 'false start'?
Any other comments?
- Yes, feet tend to tap
- I would not say totally outdated.
- Andy & Ringo sound the same to me. As Ringo said in Anthology, Andy did not do anything he could not. I don't think Pete's version was horrible – just different.
- False start? Surely they jest. The number 17 spot in the charts, if nothing else, earned them a bit more respect the next time they went into the studio (per George in Anthology).
Von Bontee said
Drumwise, I thought Ringo played it totally fine, don't know whey GM felt they needed Andy White at all. I can't even tell which version is being played until I hear (or don't hear) that big cymbal crash before the final chorus.
From what I understand, it wasn't a case of needing Andy White, but rather a case of not wanting Pete Best and not being familiar with Ringo. He did not even know Ringo was coming or that he had replaced Pete Best.
Ringo says GM has apologized about a million times since (paraphrasing).
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, Let it roll for all its worth.
2295 6972
7.25pm
1 May 2011
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13 April 2011
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I don't think it's outdated at all; it's certianly not the best Beatles song ever but it's a classic and you have to like even for its symbolic value as the first ever Beatles single, 50 years old etc. etc…
if you think about it 'Love Me Do' is a pretty weird title too .. gramattically speaking. Students often ask me how it can be translated,what kind of grammatic construction it is .. and that's not easy to answer!
5.10pm
14 December 2009
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Interesting you should mention that, since "Please Please Me" has an even weirder title! (Besides being a much better song.)
I'm not denying its symbolic importance; I just don't like it very much. I have no problem with people who think of it as a false start. In fact, there's probably some folks who attach the same importance to "My Bonnie"/"Cry For A Shadow" instead.
8.49pm
26 July 2011
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"Love Me Do" isn't bad -- for a start-off song. The lyric is pretty lame ("Love love me do, you know I love you") but those Lennon-McCartney harmonies are as appealing as ever. Overall, it's a pleasant little tune. However, I think if they'd continued to release songs like this, The Beatles would have been a flash-in-the-pan.
As for which recording was the best, for me it's definitely the Andy White version. His drumming is a bit snappier than Ringo's -- or maybe it's Ringo's tamborine in that version that spices it up. I think Paul & John sing it a bit better on the Andy version too -- and John's harmonica break definitely sounds improved. The Pete Best version, on the other hand, is awful, and I don't wonder that George Martin was not impressed. The drumming in that version is clunky, noisy and plodding. I think Pete did a much better job drumming on the Decca audition -- or even the Tony Sheridan sessions in Germany the year before.
For me, Ringo really came into his own on the next release, "Please Please Me", where his drumming was powerful and driving. In fact, that recording is where The Beatles legend really begins.
9.06pm
14 December 2009
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Those lyrics…I'm actually more bothered by their repetitiousness than by their awfulness. I'd rather they'd written three terrible verses, than just the same bad one sung three times.
10.47pm
1 May 2011
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The lyrics have never bothered me, they also did it for Do You Want To Know A Secret (verse 1 x2, bridge, repeat verse 1) and i have always prefered LMD to that. LMD has a funky kind of feel with the beat either by Ringo or Andy and John's harmonica gives it a bit more energy.
Its not the greatest song but it was never going to be if any progress was ever to be made. What it was was different to everything else on the scene at the time; it made folk glance over when normally they wouldnt, the record companies who were obsessed with London and dull pop tunes that went nowhere. Love Me Do is far better than the empty How Do You Do It?, thank goodness that wasnt the first single – it might have sold but its a poor song recordly badly.
I used to love it, now i like it a lot. As for which version i'd go for Andy White's as i like the crashing cymbal at the end of the solo and Ringo's tambourine, Ringo's version is a dull thump. Not a fan of Pete's as its a little too ragged, loose, slow and the drumming sucks – no wonder George wanted Pete out.
To celebrate its 50th im going to listen to all 3 in order and then the bbc recordings in order and enjoy the simplicity and innocence of 50 years ago and marvel at how far the beatles went in the space of 2 months and Please Please Me.
11.18pm
14 December 2009
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OK, I thought it was Ringo's version that had the cymbal crash! (Mentioned it upthread.) I guess I like Andy's take more after all. Dunno if I've ever heard the Pete Best take; maybe once or twice.
12.00am
1 May 2011
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From the bbc website. Kids from "Burntwood School, in Wandsworth, south-west London" listened to Love Me Do, many for the first time, and the results were mixed but generally positive (too repetitive being one of the negatives).
Cool to see their reactions and i think this shows that there The Beatles arent going to be forgotten about in the near future. They might not have known the song but some liked it and with all the publicity over the next 7/8 years for many of the anniversaries its going to feed in to their psyche. One kid said a teacher taught them the beatles in school; if they become a history subject then the music will do the rest as its fun and much of it does not sound outdated at all.
Im aware this is moving to the 'Beatles Next Generation' thread but it fits here too.
Oh and Love Me Do is 50. Happy anniversary.
Edit
A few more bbc videos
A new interview with George Martin where he discusses Love Me Do, Please Please Me and other things.
A short report on Beatles 50 years on: How Love Me Do inspired a generation
2.46am
10 August 2011
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I always thought they should have released the B-side – "P.S. I Love You"
"Love Me Do" has always sounded monotonous to my ears and has never grown on me. Having said, I could have gotten into the later version posted by meanmistermustard up above!
4.40pm
3 May 2012
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I feel a bit strange today.
Love Me Do was released fifty years ago and who would´ve thought that they would become the gods of music that they did? Not many people.
I feel like I need to sit down and think about them, about the music they created.
50 years on and they are still as good as ever. And to my ears, getting better all the time.
Wonder what Ringo and Paul are doing today?
4.52pm
8 August 2012
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Happy 50th Birthday to Love Me Do! I certainly agree that LMD wouldn't win any literary awards, but John's wonderful harmonica really commands your attention. It would more than hold its own against other debut singles, especially of the time. Straying ever so slightly off topic, demographically speaking, I would pair the Beatles and Manchester United (no, I'm definitely not a fan of the latter!): For the millions that love them, there are billions who despise them and see them as the root of all evil. Up until 2021, there will be a whole host of Beatle-related 50th anniversaries, mainly, I suspect, of single and album releases. Beatles agnostics will just have to deal with it!
4.59pm
26 July 2011
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I don't think anyone listening to this song when it was first released 50 years ago would ever have guessed a musical revolution had begun. It still boggles my mind to think that a band could go from "Love me do, you know I love you" to "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream" in just four years.
6.36pm
14 April 2010
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Oh boy! An excuse to listen to the first song and the first album again (he said, as if he needed an excuse)!
Happy Birthday to "Love Me Do".
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, Let it roll for all its worth.
2295 6972
7.13pm
15 September 2012
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You've posted some great stuff to celebrate the day properly, meanmistermustard, fantastic job.
I took the day off, and pulled out an old treasure to play on my turntable and copy to CD; it's a Parlophone 20th Anniversary 12-inch single with the original single version of "Love Me Do" plus the Andy White version and "P.S. I Love You." On the jacket it says: 'As the single version with Ringo on drums has not been manufactured in the U.K. since early 1963 it has now become something of a collectors' item.' Hard to believe this record is older than the anniversary it celebrates!
I never would have known it was out when I bought it in 1982, but I happened to be visiting the record stores in Greensboro, NC then, and one of them had a few imported copies. I framed it with the picture sleeve over ten years ago, and just took it back out this morning to play, probably for only the second or third time ever!
Just another "Beatley Moment" from one of the "dying breed" I wanted to share on this historic occasion.
By the way, what is the last Beatles' song John ever played harmonica on?
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