Title Fight: "Love Me Do"

Flowers and Vegetables by Li Shan, 1762

This is really less of a "Title Fight" and more of a "Why Does This Exist?" The question is, why did Badfinger record a song called "Love Me Do" in 1970? At the time of the release of No Dice, Badinger were on Apple Records and had a vocalist/songwriter, Pete Ham, who was extensively compared to Paul McCartney in the press. Were they worried that people weren't comparing them to the Beatles often enough? Were they hoping that people would see the tracklist and get excited that they had recorded a cover of the Beatles' first big single? I doubt it. It's more likely that Joey Molland wrote the song as a way to give the finger to people who called Badfinger Beatles sound-alikes. Which is pretty cool, except that the song is SO weak. From the start, it's a generic-sounding R&B-style rocker that could easily be a cover of a pre-Beatles single on Chess Records or something. The chorus is boring, the guitar solo is boring - it might be my least favorite song on No Dice. The song is a failed "zing" at the band's detractors.

So the Beatles win by default, which is nice because there isn't anything new I can say about their first single, "Love Me Do". But I've been reading Geoff Emerick's Here, There, and Everywhere (which is great - thanks Gwyn!), and Emerick's retelling of the recording of "Love Me Do" is pretty interesting. Recorded after an aborted take on Mitch Murray's "How Do You Do It?", the Beatles first played the song for George Martin with John singing lead, but Martin said the song needed harmonica. This meant that Paul took the lead, with John singing harmony during the breaks in the mouth-organ part. The version I've posted here is the mono version with Andy White on drums - you can tell because it has the tambourine part played by Ringo after Martin kicked him off the kit. How different would things have been for the Beatles if Martin had had his way and the Murray song had been released as the band's first single? The Beatles released several covers as singles in their early years, but I think there's some significance in their very first single having been an original composition.

Winner: THE BEATLES

"Love Me Do" by Badfinger

"Love Me Do" by the Beatles