The Beatles – Love Me Do

Recorded Three Times With Three Different Drummers

Released on October fifth, 1962, as The Beatles’ debut single on Parlophone, “Love Me Do” peaked at number seventeen on the UK Singles Chart in December and reached number one in the United States in May 1964, becoming their fourth consecutive chart-topper during their unprecedented American invasion. The track spent eighteen weeks on the UK chart and launched what would become the most successful recording career in history. What most fans don’t know is that The Beatles recorded it three separate times with three different drummers—Pete Best on June sixth during their EMI audition, Ringo Starr on September fourth in fifteen takes, and Andy White on September eleventh with Ringo relegated to tambourine. The first pressing used Ringo’s version, but subsequent releases featured White’s recording, creating confusion that persists six decades later. Producer George Martin never explicitly said why he brought in White after Ringo had already nailed it, forcing Ringo to wait years before forgiving Martin for the perceived slight.

The single entered various UK charts throughout October and November 1962, eventually peaking at number seventeen on December twenty-seventh on the Record Retailer chart, the industry standard. It performed better on regional charts, reaching number one in Liverpool’s Mersey Beat. The modest showing was respectable for an unknown band’s debut, though EMI had minimal expectations. When re-released for its twentieth anniversary in 1982, it climbed to number four, demonstrating how dramatically perceptions had changed. In America, Capitol released it in April 1964 during the height of Beatlemania, where it shot to number one on May thirtieth for one week, their fourth consecutive chart-topper following “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You,” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” The American version used Andy White on drums. Persistent rumors claimed manager Brian Epstein bought ten thousand copies to boost chart position, with his friend Joe Flannery stating years later he’d seen the boxes in Epstein’s Whitechapel storeroom, though Epstein always denied it and chart computation methods made such manipulation unlikely to significantly impact national standings.

Paul McCartney wrote the song when he was sixteen, possibly as young as fifteen, during 1957 or 1958 while truant from school. John Lennon later admitted McCartney had the song around even in Hamburg, way before they were legitimate songwriters. Lennon might have contributed to the middle eight section but couldn’t swear to it decades later. The composition represented their earliest collaborative effort, predating their signing to EMI by four years. When George Martin heard them audition on June sixth, he found their original songs lacking and wanted them to record Mitch Murray’s “How Do You Do It?” instead, believing they hadn’t written anything great yet. The Beatles resisted, insisting on recording their own material despite industry norms favoring outside songwriters for new acts. Martin relented but remained unconvinced, which explains his continued skepticism even after signing them. The arrangement originally had Lennon singing the title sections, but Martin realized the harmonica part encroached on the vocal, forcing a last-minute switch that gave McCartney his first Beatles lead vocal on the unaccompanied “love me do” line.

The Beatles recorded all three versions at EMI Studios at Abbey Road in London. The June sixth Pete Best version remained unreleased until Anthology 1 in 1995. The September fourth Ringo Starr session took fifteen takes with George Martin and assistant Ron Richards producing, engineer Norman Smith recording. Martin wasn’t entirely satisfied, so one week later on September eleventh, he brought in session drummer Andy White, standard practice when producers doubted a band’s technical abilities. White played drums while Ringo was given tambourine, the easiest way to distinguish between versions since tambourine doesn’t appear on the September fourth take. The band was humiliated, particularly Ringo, who later said it took him years to forgive Martin. John Lennon played a shoplifted harmonica he’d pocketed months earlier during a Holland trip, much to his bandmates’ shock. The production was deliberately spare—acoustic guitars, bass, drums, harmonica, and vocals—standing out like a bare brick wall in a suburban sitting room compared to polished Tin Pan Alley productions dominating 1962 radio. Ian MacDonald described its blunt working class northerness as ringing the first faint chime of a revolutionary bell.

The original master tapes for the September fourth Ringo version were erased following standard Abbey Road procedure once mixed down to master, as were the tapes for “P.S. I Love You,” “She Loves You,” and “I’ll Get You.” When the mixdown master also disappeared, the only surviving copies were the original 1962 red label Parlophone forty-five rpm pressings. EMI wasn’t concerned since they’d moved to the Andy White version. In 1982, they had to locate a pristine original pressing to transfer for the anniversary reissue. The Andy White version appeared on Please Please Me, The Beatles’ Hits EP, and virtually all subsequent releases until technology advanced. In 2023, Giles Martin created a new stereo mix of the Ringo version using de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films, releasing it as the B-side to “Now and Then,” where it finally reached number one in the UK sixty-one years after original release. The Pete Best audition version showed a slower tempo and tentative execution that justified Martin’s concerns, though Best wasn’t fired solely for drumming—his personality never quite fit the others’ chemistry.

The song launched Beatlemania slowly rather than explosively. Radio Luxembourg played it on October fifth with its powerful transmitter broadcasting across the UK, describing it as raw, sexy, and an almost complete rebuttal of saccharine overproduced material prevalent at the time. Paul’s first hearing of it on radio sent him shivery all over, calling it the best buzz ever. Ringo reflected that their first piece of plastic was more important than anything else, impossible to describe how wonderful it felt being on a record. George Martin called October fifth the day the world changed, though the world took several months to notice. The real breakthrough came with “Please Please Me” in January 1963, which rocketed to number one and kicked off the phenomenon. But this humble debut—misspelled as McArtney on two hundred fifty advance press copies—proved The Beatles could record their own material and find an audience, the essential first step toward revolutionizing popular music forever.

“Love Me Do” endures as the most historically significant modest hit in rock history, proving that revolutions don’t require immediate chart domination but rather the courage to insist on authenticity when everyone expects conformity. The three-drummer saga demonstrates how accidents and confusion can become part of legend, with fans still debating which version is definitive six decades later. Martin’s decision to bring in White while Ringo sat watching with tambourine captures the tension between artistic vision and producer control that would define rock’s evolution. What began as a schoolboy’s song written during truancy became the opening salvo of the British Invasion, proof that sixteen-year-olds sometimes know exactly what they’re doing even when adults doubt them. The fact that it took sixty-one years for the Ringo version to finally reach number one suggests some dreams require patience, but great songs eventually find their proper recognition regardless of when they arrive.

Paul McCartney: vocals, bass
John Lennon: vocals, harmonica, acoustic rhythm guitar
George Harrison: acoustic rhythm guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine
Pete Best: drums
Andy White: drums