This was The Beatles’ second of two consecutive days of recording with singer Tony Sheridan at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle school in Hamburg.
The Beatles had been approached by orchestral leader and Polydor agent Bert Kaempfert, who wanted them as the backing band for Sheridan. On this day they were recorded, not at a professional studio, but at Hamburg’s Friedrich-Ebert-Halle.
The venue served as a function hall for the town of Harburg, and as an assembly hall for the local grammar and high schools. A number of musical performances took place there, including some skiffle and jazz shows, but rock ‘n’ roll was a rarity. The good acoustics, however, meant that it was often used by Polydor and Philips for recordings.
The Beatles and Sheridan recorded four songs over the two days: ‘My Bonnie’, ‘The Saints’, ‘Why’, and ‘Cry For A Shadow’. The latter was an instrumental, whereas the others all featured Sheridan on vocals.
The musicians were John Lennon on rhythm guitar, George Harrison on lead guitar, Paul McCartney on bass and Pete Best on drums. The musicians’ instruments and amplifiers were set up on the stage, and engineer Karl Hinze operated the twin-track stereo recording equipment.
The first song to be recorded was ‘My Bonnie’, a beat version of the old standard ‘My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean’. Harrison performed lead guitar, although Sheridan played the solo, which was later spliced in from a different take. Two edit pieces were also recorded for the introduction, in English and German – the translation was by Bernd Bertie.
It was followed by ‘The Saints’, a new arrangement of another old song, ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’. The musicians also recorded Sheridan’s self-penned ballad ‘Why’, and ‘Cry For A Shadow’, a Lennon-Harrison original which appeared on 1995’s Anthology 1.
Sheridan has also claimed that he and The Beatles recorded versions of ‘Some Other Guy’, ‘Kansas City’, and ‘Rock And Roll Music’, although these have never been found.
The Beatles were given 300 marks for the two sessions, and the ‘My Bonnie’ single – credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers – was released in October 1961. It reached number five in the German charts.
A third day of recording took place at Studio Rahlstedt in Hamburg on 24 June 1961.
Also on this day...
- 2018: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Menora Mivtachim Arena, Tel Aviv
- 2016: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Fox Theatre, Detroit
- 2015: Paul McCartney live: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville
- 2012: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Circus Maximus Theater, Atlantic City
- 2011: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow
- 2006: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Cache Creek Casino Resort, Brooks
- 2000: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: House Of Blues, West Hollywood
- 1992: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh
- 1990: Paul McCartney live: SECC Arena, Glasgow
- 1976: Wings live: Forum, Inglewood
- 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono holiday in Wales
- 1968: Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman spend time together in Los Angeles
- 1967: Recording: All You Need Is Love
- 1965: Travel: Lyon to Milan
- 1964: The Beatles live: Town Hall, Wellington, New Zealand
- 1963: Television: Summer Spin
- 1962: The Beatles live: Memorial Hall, Northwich
- 1961: The Beatles live: Top Ten Club, Hamburg
- 1960: The Silver Beetles live: The Institute, Neston, Wirral
- 1940: Stuart Sutcliffe is born
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
In separate interviews, both John Lennon and Tony Sheridan claimed that more songs were recorded at these Hamburg sessions than were ever released, but Sheridan is wrong about cutting a version of “Some Other Guy”. It hadn’t been written yet.