# Love Me Do, bitches **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450 "2010-06-25T04:23:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/21 "2010-06-25T17:13:12Z")
It was the first song I remember hearing on the radio where I thought “dang, that’s good music”. I was a little boy. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/22 "2010-06-25T18:15:52Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > For a first song, I think it was very good, and was somehow different than what was the norm in the British charts at the time. > > I love the use of the harmonica in it; it’s interesting to see how Lennon’s proficiency at it expanded in _Please Please Me_ and _I Should Have Known Better_. This is how I feel. Amazing song compared to the crap on the radio at the time, but not that great for the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Alan\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Bird)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/23 "2010-06-25T19:08:30Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I remember reading in a biography that Lennon shoplifted that harmonica, but can’t remember the book. . ._A Twist of Lennon_ perhaps? I didn’t read that book but I recall Lennon being quoted as saying he lifted the harmonica part from Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby.” ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Alan\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Bird)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/24 "2010-06-25T19:10:55Z")
[quote=“pulykamell, post:14, topic:544450”] [The album version on Please Please, Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGlYQAjJeJ4) featured Alan White on the drums. [QUOTE] I’m fairly certain Andy White was used on the single and Martin, in a bid to appease Ringo, used him on the album. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/25 "2010-06-25T19:31:12Z")
> [@Alan\_Bird](#): > > I’m fairly certain Andy White was used on the single and Martin, in a bid to appease Ringo, used him on the album. No, **pulykamell** had it the right way around. The Ringo version was released on the first British pressing of the 45; the album and subsequent pressings of the single used the Andy White version (which still has Ringo on it, but playing tambourine rather than drum kit). ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/26 "2010-06-26T01:29:07Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Seriously? I think “Love Me Do” is one of the Beatles’ most inane and boring songs. And that’s saying something. Wow, talk about anti-fun… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/27 "2010-06-26T02:17:22Z")
Nothing to add except the first thing I thought of when I read the thread title was: Love Me Do, bitches… and shit. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/28 "2010-06-26T03:07:18Z")
When I was a kid, I loved “Love Me Do.” I was _crazy_ about that song. So one year for Christmas I asked for a Beatles record, figuring their music all sounded like that. (This was a couple years after they broke up.) My mom, a big Beatles fan, gave me her favorite album: _Let It Be_. I was bored and disapopinted by it. Why was there all this talking and weird stuff between the songs? Why weren’t these songs fun and fast, like “Love Me Do”? Now that I’m older I love _Let It Be_, along with all of their albums. But the later stuff just doesn’t grab me like a good three-minute pop song does, and “Love Me Do” is about as perfect as pop songs get. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/29 "2010-06-26T09:43:48Z")
One thing that has always rather puzzled me: Why, after the heavy and effective use of harmonica in _Love Me Do_ and other relatively early songs, such as _I Should Have Known Better_, did the Beatles effectively give up using the instrument entirely? Did they ever use it again in their later work? (If so, not very noticeably.) The Stones seemed to go through a similar evolution around the same time: fairly heavy use of harmonica in their earlier recordings (with both Brian and Mick playing, I believe), and then dropping it pretty much entirely (and I think the harmonica was dropped well before Brian went). Why was this? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/30 "2010-06-26T09:46:44Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > When I was a kid, I loved “Love Me Do.” I was _crazy_ about that song. So one year for Christmas I asked for a Beatles record, figuring their music all sounded like that. (This was a couple years after they broke up.) > > My mom, a big Beatles fan, gave me her favorite album: _Let It Be_. > > I was bored and disapopinted by it. Why was there all this talking and weird stuff between the songs? Why weren’t these songs fun and fast, like “Love Me Do”? > > Now that I’m older I love _Let It Be_, along with all of their albums. But the later stuff just doesn’t grab me like a good three-minute pop song does, and “Love Me Do” is about as perfect as pop songs get. Wow. I didn’t think _Let it Be_ was _anyone’s_ favorite Beatles album (though it is better than _Beatles for Sale,_ IMHO). ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/31 "2010-06-26T13:20:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The Stones seemed to go through a similar evolution around the same time: fairly heavy use of harmonica in their earlier recordings (with both Brian and Mick playing, I believe), and then dropping it pretty much entirely (and I think the harmonica was dropped well before Brian went). Why was this? I don’t think you could say the Stones ever dropped the harmonica altogether. It just grew less prominent as the band’s repertoire came to focus more on guitar-driven hard rock than blues. Nonetheless, both the blues and the harp are still there even on their latest album. And arguably the most famous use of harmonica on a Stones record, though not played by a Rolling Stone, is Sugar Blue’s solo on “Miss You” from 1978. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/32 "2010-06-26T17:20:49Z")
> [@Alan\_Bird](#): > > I didn’t read that book but I recall Lennon being quoted as saying he lifted the harmonica part from Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby.” Probably. I read a couple of bios many years ago and can’t remember where it came from. “A Twist of Lennon” was written by Cynthia Twist, Lennon’s first wife. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/33 "2010-06-26T21:02:17Z")
> [@Alan\_Bird](#): > > I didn’t read that book but I recall Lennon being quoted as saying he lifted the harmonica part from Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby.” The part isn’t “lifted” from this song, but Bruce Channel toured the UK and The Beatles appeared on the bill with him. Channel’s harmonica player (on record and tour) was Delbert McClinton, and he influenced John’s harmonica playing more generally, giving him tips, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/34 "2010-06-26T21:04:42Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > One thing that has always rather puzzled me: Why, after the heavy and effective use of harmonica in _Love Me Do_ and other relatively early songs, such as _I Should Have Known Better_, did the Beatles effectively give up using the instrument entirely? Did they ever use it again in their later work? (If so, not very noticeably.) There may be something on The White Album with harmonica, but if so, I’ve forgotten which song. The last Beatles song I know for sure with harmonica is “Fool on the Hill.” There’s a photo of John and George clustered around a mic both playing, though one of the harmonicas is a bass harmonica, and neither is played in the standard wailing style of the earlier Beatles tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/35 "2010-06-26T21:10:29Z")
> [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > Wow, talk about anti-fun… ☹ Oh, I missed the part in the OP where you’re not allowed to have a dissenting opinion. Oops! ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/36 "2010-06-26T21:12:10Z")
To straighten this out once and for all… Love Me Do (version 1) has Ringo on drums. It was released as the original single on the Parlaphone label in the UK, and was also used for the single release of “Love Me Do” on Capitol of Canada. This version is distinguishable from the better-known recording in several ways, among them the little glissando in Paul’s voice when he sings “love me do” after the first stop. Also, there are spots in which John’s harmonica playing is not quite as smooth as on the better-known version. Love Me Do (version 2) features Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine, and is the version released as a single in the U.S. on the Tollie label, as well as on the U.S. _Introducing the Beatles_ album and the UK _Please Please Me_ album. This is the more commonly heard version of the song. An earlier version of “Love Me Do” with Pete Best on drums was released on _Beatles Anthology 1_. While his drumming on the chorus is OK, and even has a certain appealing swing to it, he completely falls apart on the bridge, as if he has no idea what to play. Anyone who questions the decision to replace Pete with Ringo need only listen to this track! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/37 "2010-06-26T21:30:43Z")
A brief search turns up multiple sites that refer to Lennon’s stealing the harmonica for “Love Me Do” from a shop in Arnhem, Netherlands. Just wanted to follow up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/38 "2010-06-27T00:15:46Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > An earlier version of “Love Me Do” with Pete Best on drums was released on _Beatles Anthology 1_. While his drumming on the chorus is OK, and even has a certain appealing swing to it, he completely falls apart on the bridge, as if he has no idea what to play. Anyone who questions the decision to replace Pete with Ringo need only listen to this track! Exactly. Linked to above. You’re being quite gracious finding the “appealing swing” in the chorus. 🙂 But once that bridge hits, wow. Trainwreck. Tempo takes a nosedive and the drumbeat gets, um, off-kilter with the weird syncopated drumbeat he tries to throw in there. Just no confidence in the playing. The easiest way to tell the two released versions apart is whether the tambourine is in it or not. With tambourine = Andy White drumming, without = Ringo drumming. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/39 "2010-06-27T07:00:23Z")
I was always partial to “She’s Got a Ticket to Ride, and the Bitch Don’t Care, Man” with Clarence Walker on sax. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450/40 "2010-06-27T12:54:00Z")
Does Ringo play drums on (same era) “She Loves You”? I love the drums on “She Loves You”. Not a metronome within 100 kilometers of the studio, and the fills evoke the image of an armoire falling down a flight of stairs, but that’s some damn enjoyable fun drumming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-me-do-bitches/544450.md?page=3)