The Decca Audition - 1 January 1962

Monday 1 January 1962
Decca Studios, 165 Broadhurst Gardens, London (11:00am-2:00pm)

John Lennon rhythm guitar (Rickenbacker 325 guitar), Vocals
Paul McCartney bass (Hofner 500/1 bass), Vocals
George Harrison lead guitar (Gretsch Duo Jet guitar), Vocals
Pete Best drums (blue Premier kit with 26" kick drum)

Mike Smith: Producer
Peter Attwood: Engineer

(Source: Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald, Vintage 2005, and Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio, Andy Babuick, Backbeat Books 2002)

As the man who built up NEMS Ltd., the self-styled “Finest Record Selection In The North”, Brian Epstein was in regular touch with all of London’s major record companies: Decca, EMI, Phillips and Pye. He knew his business was a large and valuable wholesale customer to them, and he foresaw no great difficulty in getting The Beatles a recording contract with one of them.

Tony Barrow

Each week, the Liverpool Evening Echo published “Off The Record”, a record review column attributed to “Disker”. After meeting The Beatles and offering to be their manager, Epstein had wasted no time in writing to “Disker” to try to get them a mention in the column. He was surprised when he got a reply from London, not Liverpool. “Disker,” it turned out, was in fact a Liverpool born, London based freelance journalist named Tony Barrow, who also wrote album sleeve notes for the mighty Decca organisation.
 Barrow wrote back to Epstein, saying that he could not mention The Beatles in Off The Record because they had not yet released a record. Epstein realised that Barrow could put him in touch with Decca’s A&R department. Grabbing the opportunity, he arranged a meeting with Barrow in London – probably on Monday 11 December 1961.

At the meeting, Epstein played Barrow a badly recorded, scratchy acetate of The Beatles playing (possibly) “Some Other Guy” at the Cavern Club. Barrow was not impressed. The recording was, he remembered, “cluttered with background noise and didn’t sound too good”. Nevertheless, after Epstein had left, he contacted Decca’s marketing division, who in turn contacted the A&R department, headed by Dick Rowe.

The A&R department at Decca was undergoing some changes. The December 1961 issue of the American music trade publication, Cash Box carried the following story:

"One of the most constructive moves to be made by Decca for many months is the formation of a new production team to handle the company's pop single output. Spearheaded by A&R manager, Dick Rowe, who will be directly responsible to the chairman, Sir Edward Lewis, the team is completed by Dick Rowe, Rowe's assistant and co-producer Mike Smith, Peter Attwood, recording engineer of three years standing and Tony Meehan, former drummer for The Shadows. Rowe, who will act in an advisory capacity, feels that this youthful team with their fingers on the teenage pulse, will be more than capable of producing the kind of sound that makes for chart success."

(Source: The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia , Bill Harry, Virgin Books 1992 (page 190) )

Knowing that Epstein headed one of their best customers, Rowe saw that there were very good business reasons to audition The Beatles, and gave the job to his assistant, Mike Smith. Smith offered to come up to Liverpool to hear the band in their home ground of The Cavern Club. Epstein had pulled off a coup: although he wasn’t yet officially managing The Beatles, he had arranged the impossible – somebody from Decca was coming Liverpool to audition them.

Smith travelled to Liverpool on 13 December 1961. Epstein treated him to an expensive dinner, and then took him along to The Cavern.

“The Beatles were tremendous,” Smith said 40 years later when interviewed for the documentary Best of the Beatles: Pete Best - Mean, Moody and Magnificent. “Not so much my own reaction, but the crowd’s reaction, was incredible.”

Smith was impressed with what he saw, and arranged a further audition, to take place on New Year’s Day, 1962, at Decca’s West Hampstead studios in London. New Year’s Day was not yet a national holiday in the UK in the early 1960s.

Decca's Broadhurst Garden's Studios, pictured in 1963

The winter of 1961 was one of the coldest on record, and it was snowing heavily when The Beatles, with all of their equipment packed into a hired van driven by their roadie Neil Aspinall, set off for London at midday on New Year’s Eve. They got lost in blizzards near Wolverhampton, and didn’t arrive at their hotel, The Royal in Russell Square, near King’s Cross, until 10:00pm.

After checking in, they went out to try to find something to eat. Meanwhile, Epstein travelled down by train and stayed overnight with his Aunt Freda in Hampstead.

Pete Best told the BBC in 2012. "Brian Epstein read the riot act to us before we went down - you know, be good little boys, you mustn't be out after ten o'clock, you know. And there we were in the middle of Trafalgar Square, drunk as skunks, you know - New Year’s Day, or the advent of New Year’s Day. And of course, when we got to the Decca studios the next day, we were late. Seems to be our history, being late, and Brian of course, was there before us. He was absolutely livid. He tore a strip off us left, right and centre. John just basically turned round and said, 'Brian, shut up. We're here for the audition, right.'"

His temper was not improved by the tardy arrival of Mike Smith, who had been at an all-night New Year’s party. Epstein took this personally, and accused Smith of not taking The Beatles seriously because they were unknown and not from London. The Beatles had dragged their battered amps - Lennon's Fender Deluxe, Harrison's Gibson G-40 Les Paul and McCartney's Selmer Truvoice with a Barber speaker cabinet - down to London with them. Failing to recognise that it was these very amps that created the raw, dirty, overdriven sound that made their stage act so exciting, Smith made them plug their guitars into the studio amplifiers instead, giving their performance a much politer and anaemic sound.

To be fair to Smith, the group's amps were veterans of countless shows and were probably in need of a good overhaul, much to Epstein's embarrassment. Andy Babiuk notes in Beatles Gear, "Even by today's standards a vintage Deluxe or GA-40 in good operational condition are considered prize finds, and would hold their own in any recording session."

The Beatles' Decca Audition Song List

The songs performed by The Beatles at their audition for Decca, in probable order of recording, are:

• Red Sails in the Sunset (music by Hugh Williams, lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy)
• Warm-up only. Not recorded.
• Please Mr. Postman (Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman)
• Warm-up only. Not recorded.
• Like Dreamers Do (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995
• Money (That’s What I Want) (Berry Gordy Jr /  Janie Bradford)
• Lead Vocal: Lennon
• Till There Was You (Meredith Willson)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• The Sheik of Araby (Harry B.Smith / Francis Wheeler / Ted Snyder)
• Lead Vocal: Harrison
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995
• To Know Her Is To Love Her (Phil Spector)
• Lead Vocal: Lennon
• Take Good Care Of My Baby (Gerry Goffin / Carole King)
• Lead Vocal: Harrison
• Memphis, Tennessee (Chuck Berry)
• Lead Vocal: Lennon
• Sure To Fall (In Love With You) (Carl Perkins / Bill Cantrell / Quinton Claunch)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• Hello Little Girl (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)
• Lead Vocal: Lennon
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995
• Three Cool Cats (Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller)
• Lead Vocal: Harrison
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995
• Crying, Waiting, Hoping (Buddy Holly)
• Lead Vocal: Harrison
• Love Of The Loved (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• September In The Rain (Harry Warren / Al Dubin)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• Besame Mucho (Consuelo Velazquez / Sunny Skylar)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• Searchin’ (Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller)
• Lead Vocal: McCartney
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995

(Source: The Unreleased Beatles, Richie Unterburger, Backbeat 2006 (p18-25))

“They were pretty frightened,” Neil Aspinall remembered in Hunter Davies' The Beatles. “Paul couldn’t sing one song. He was too nervous and his voice started cracking up. They were all worried about the red light on. I asked if it could be put off, but we were told people might come in if it was off. You what? we said. We didn’t know what all that meant.”

Their performance was not helped by their choice of songs – a list allegedly drawn up by Brian Epstein to demonstrate their showbiz versatility (see sidebar). The Beatles were not the only ones who were nervous: at one point, Epstein began to criticize Lennon's singing, telling him that he should be better than he was. Lennon exploded in a fit of rage. The band stopped playing, the red light went off, and Epstein rushed out of the room. He did not return for half an hour.

The full list of 15 songs was recorded quickly, probably without ever going to more than a single take, and definitely without any overdubs, and by 2:00pm the band were packing their equipment back into their van.

They were not happy with their performance. Voices had cracked, lyrics were forgotten, notes were wrong, or missed altogether. Smith’s late arrival combined with another audition he had arranged for that afternoon, for a London band called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, caused the audition to be rushed. Lennon's expletive filled tirade at Epstein had also caused further embarrassment.

Lennon later told Michael Braun in Love Me Do!: Beatles Progress that “We didn’t sound natural. Paul sang Till There Was You, and he sounded like a woman. I sang Money, and I sounded like a madman. By the time we made our demos of Hello Little Girl and Love of the Loved we were okay, I think.”

Mersey Beat published its popularity poll,
placing The Beatles as the number one group in Liverpool

Nevertheless, as he hurried them out of the studio, Smith assured Epstein and The Beatles that the session had gone well, and they left confident that the contract was as good as signed. Before they headed back to Liverpool, Epstein took The Beatles to a restaurant in Swiss Cottage where they ordered wine in celebration.

Back in Liverpool, in a poll published on 4 January 1962, The Beatles were voted the city’s most popular group by readers of Mersey Beat, ahead of Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Remo Four, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, and The Big Three. Confident of their forthcoming success, The Beatles signed a formal management contract with Brian Epstein on 24 January 1962, effective from 1 February.

Mersey Beat was not told about the Decca audition, Epstein preferring to keep the news in the bag until the contract was signed. The only mention was in Tony Barrow’s Off The Record column in the 27 January 1962 issue of the Liverpool Echo, which reported:

Latest episode in the success story of Liverpool’s instrumental group The Beatles: Commenting upon the outfit’s recent recording test, Decca disc producer Mike Smith tells me that he thinks The Beatles are great. He has a continuous tape of their audition performances which runs for over 30 minutes and he is convinced that his label will be able to put The Beatles to good use. I’ll be keeping you posted…

Despite this, in early February, Decca turned them down, preferring to sign Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the group whose audition had forced The Beatles to hurry through their own session. Epstein found the rejection hard to take. He knew that the reasons that Decca gave – that they sounded too much like The Shadows and that “guitar groups are on the way out” - were nonsense.

Pete Best told the BBC in 2012: “He was the one who felt the rejection more than anyone else because he was the new kid on the block, in a way, if we could put it that way. He was the new manager, big hopes, major record company, Decca, and more or less thinking to his own sweet self, this one's in the bag. We turned round and told Brian, ‘We lost that one. It doesn't change the way we perform. In fact, it makes us a little bit more determined. But it is also going to make YOU more determined as well. YOU'VE got to get over the rejection.’ I think that was the message that we put out.”

Before saying no, Decca pressed up a
few acetate discs from the recordings.

Epstein refused to accept Decca’s decision, and travelled back down to London to have lunch with Dick Rowe and Sidney Arthur Beecher-Stevens, Decca’s marketing manager. He reminded Stevens who he was, and of the importance of NEMS to Decca, but to no avail.

In his autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise (p90), Epstein later wrote that he told them You must be out of your tiny little minds! There boys are going to explode. I am completely confident that one day they will be bigger than Elvis Presley!

Rowe told Philip Norman in Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation: “I heard afterwards that he’d guaranteed to buy 3,000 copies of any single we let The Beatles make. I was never told about that at the time. The way economics were in the record business then, if we’d been sure of selling 3,000 copies, we’d have been forced to record them, whatever sort of group they were”

Nevertheless, Rowe and Beecher-Stevens suggested to Epstein that he should hire a studio and a producer and finance The Beatles recordings himself, and Epstein was put in touch with Tony Meehan, formerly the drummer with The Shadows, and now working as an independent producer. However, Meehan did not like The Beatles, viewing them as just another group of no-hopers wasting his time. Similarly, Epstein did not like Meehan, who had arrived very late for the meeting. The cost of hiring the studio, at least £100, was more than Epstein was prepared to pay, and he wrote to Rowe on 10 February to decline the offer.

Epstein left Decca, clutching copies of The Beatles’ audition on two open reel tapes. After a few days of traipsing round London’s record companies, he made his way to meet an old friend who was now the manger of HMV’s Oxford Street store, setting in motion the chain of events that would lead to The Beatles signing with Decca’s rivals, EMI.

The Beatles First EMI Recording Session - 6 June 1962 - Page 3

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With the session complete, George Martin invited The Beatles up to the control room to listen to the tapes and to discuss technicalities.

"We gave them a long lecture about their equipment and what would have to be done about it if they were to become recording artists," Norman Smith told Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. "They didn't say a word back, not a word, they didn't even nod their heads in agreement. When he finished, George said 'Look, I've laid into you for quite a time, you haven't responded. Is there anything you don't like?' I remember they all looked at each other for a long while, shuffling their feet, then George Harrison took a long look at George and said 'Yeah, I don't like your tie!' That cracked the ice for us and for the next 15-20 minutes they were pure entertainment. When they left to go home George and I just sat there saying 'Phew! What do you think of that lot then?' I had tears running down my face."

Richards and Martin had not been particularly impressed by the music, and felt that there was nothing special about it. There, however, a unique and undefinable quality to their sound. The group were also, with exception of the ever reticent Pete Best, exuberant and natural comedians,  and Martin recognised that this would work in their favour. He also noticed Paul McCartney's pretty-boy looks, the mop-top fringes worn by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, and the matching suits chosen, with an eye on presentation and commercial potential, by the fashion concious Epstein. Deciding that he had nothing to lose, he sanctioned the addition of a binding EMI signature on The Beatles' contract.

But one thing worried him. Pete Best, he decided, was not up to studio standard as a drummer. The contract was issued with the proviso that a session drummer would be used on The Beatles' recordings. Four years previously, Cliff Richard had recorded his debut single, Move It, in the the same studio using session musicians to replace his regular guitarist and drummer (in fact Frank Clarke, who played the double-bass on Move It, would go on to contribute double-bass to The Beatles' own Penny Lane several years later.)

Best's unsteady playing on this session's version of Love Me Do demonstrates all too clearly why Martin wanted to substitute a session player for recording, and why Lennon, Harrison and Starr decided to sack him two months later.

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The Beatles First EMI Recording Session - 6 June 1962 - Page 2

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The Beatles as they were when they first met George Martin
Photo: Harry Waughman

While Smith and Townsend were engineering this repair, The Beatles went for a cup of tea in the studio kitchen. George Martin, not impressed by this carry on, decided that the Beatles were not worth the effort and took himself off to the canteen, leaving Assistant Producer Ron Richards in charge. Richards was more familiar with pop and rock'n'roll than Martin, who had a background in classical and comedy recordings. Richards explained to The Beatles that rather than work their way through their list and hope for a perfect take of each song, it would be more effective to limit themselves to four songs and to perform four or five takes of each.

Besame Mucho

The Beatles chose to begin the evening's proceedings with Besame Mucho, (which they obviously thought highly enough of to make their opening song of their opening medley). This song, written by Consuelo Velazquez and Sunny Skylar, was a Latin standard that the Beatles knew from The Coasters' 1960 single (Atco 6163).

The surviving tracks from the Beatles' very first EMI
recording session finally saw official release
on Anthology 1 in 1995.

This recording eventually surfaced on the unissued 1985 compilation album, Sessions, from a private reel discovered in 1983. The final line has been looped to repeat during the fade-out by producer Geoff Emerick. This version eventually received an official release on Anthology 1.

Love Me Do

Next up, The Beatles chose to showcase their own songwriting skills, beginning with a song that McCartney had written in 1958, Love Me Do. Richards and Smith had not been impressed with Besame Mucho, but this next song, simple but catchy, made them prick up their ears.

"Norman said to me 'Go down and pick up George from the canteen and see what he thinks of this," tape operator Chris Neal told Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. George Martin returned, and took over the rest of the session, making several changes to Love Me Do.

"When we went to London for the first recording, Love Me Do was a slow number like Halfway to Paradise, you know, DUM-di-di-di-DUM," Lennon told Melody Maker in their 9th February 1963 issue, and quoted (attributed to McCartney) in Bruce Spizer's Beatles For Sale on Parlophone Records  "but George Martin our recording manager, suggested we do it faster. I'm glad we did."

Martin also suggested adding the song's distinctive harmonica riff, after hearing Lennon playing on their version of Bruce Chanel's Hey! Baby!, one of the songs on their prepared list from earlier in the day. Because Lennon couldn't sing and play the harmonica simultaneously, Martin swapped the lead vocal from Lennon to McCartney, much to McCartney's dismay.

The Beatles' first version of Love Me Do, featuring Pete Best on drums, long thought lost, was to see release on Anthology 1, after it was discovered in 1994 on an acetate by George Martin's wife while she was cleaning out a cupboard.

The Beatles went on to record two more original songs, P.S. I Love You and Ask Me Why, both written by Lennon and McCartney during their recent Hamburg trip as a response to Brian Epstein's request to rehearse new material. Although all four songs were cut onto 7-inch acetates after the session, neither of the latter recordings are known to have survived.

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The Beatles First EMI Recording Session - 6 June 1962

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Wednesday 6 June 1962
EMI Abbey Road Studio 2 7:00-10pm

• Besame Mucho (unknown takes)
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995
• Love Me Do (unknown takes)
• released on Anthology 1, 21 November 1995
• P.S. I Love You (unknown takes)
• Ask Me Why (unknown takes)

(Source: The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970, Mark Lewisohn, EMI Records, 1988, pg 16)

John Lennon rhythm guitar (Rickenbacker 325 guitar), Vocals
Paul McCartney bass (Hofner 500/1 bass), Vocals
George Harrison lead guitar (Gretsch Duo Jet guitar), Vocals
Pete Best drums (blue Premier kit with 26" kick drum)

Producers: Ron Richards / George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Technical Engineer: Ken Townsend
Tape-Op: Chris Neal

(Source: Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald, Vintage 2005, and Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio, Andy Babuick, Backbeat Books 2002)

On Wednesday, 6th June 1962, The Beatles rusty white van rolled into the car park at EMI's studios on Abbey Road, London, for the first time. Dressed in black leather coats, they unloaded their battered equipment from the van and set up in Studio Two.

This was their first official EMI recording session - George Martin had signed them after a recording audition at Abbey Road Studio 3 on 27 March 1962 (qv. Brian Epstein Negotiates Beatles Deal With Parlophone), but had not yet added an official EMI signature to their contract.

Martin was looking for a group that he could use to compete with his opposite number at Columbia, Norrie Paramor. Paramor was producer for Cliff Richard and The Shadows, and Martin needed a band that would rival them and match their enormous UK chart success. Like The Beatles, Martin did not hold Richard's brand of watered-down rock'n'roll in high regard, and believed that his commercial success could be copied, and perhaps even surpassed.

The Beatles had arrived home from their third trip to Hamburg only four days previously, and had spent two nights rehearsing diligently at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, prior to heading south to London the day before the session.  It was to be Pete Best's second and last EMI session - by the time The Beatles returned to Abbey Road on 4th September, Best had been replaced on drums by Ringo Starr.

The Beatles' Song List - EMI Studios

Opening Medley

• Besame Mucho (sung by McCartney)
• Will You Love Me Tomorrow (sung by Lennon)
• Open (Your Loving Arms) (sung by Harrison)

Paul McCartney Song List

• P.S. I Love You (Lennon / McCartney)
• Love Me Do (Lennon / McCartney)
• Like Dreamers Do (Lennon / McCartney)
• Love of the Loved (Lennon / McCartney)
• Pinwheel Twist (Lennon / McCartney)
• If You've Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody
• Till There Was You
• Over The Rainbow
• Your Feet's Too Big
• Hey! Baby
• Dream Baby
• September In The Rain
• The Honeymoon Song

John Lennon Song List

• Ask Me Why (Lennon / McCartney)
• Hello Little Girl (Lennon / McCartney)
• Baby It's You
• Please Mister Postman
• To Know Her is to Love Her
• You Don't Understand
• Memphis, Tennessee
• A Shot of Rhythm and Blues
• Shimmy Like My Sister Kate
• Lonesome Tears In My Eyes

George Harrison Song List

• A Picture of You
• The Sheik of Araby
• What a Crazy World We Live In
• Three Cool Cats
• Dream
• Take Good Care of My Baby

(Source: The Unreleased Beatles, Richie Unterburger, Backbeat 2006 (p30))

Just as they had with the Decca audition, The Beatles arrived with a song list drawn up by Brian Epstein (see sidebar) designed to demonstrate their versatility. Of the 33 songs on the list, only seven are Lennon/McCartney originals (including the unreleased "Pinwheel Twist"), and only six ("Love Me Do", "P.S. I Love You", "Ask Me Why", "Baby It's You", "Please Mr.Postman" and "Till There Was You") would end up on their official EMI catalogue.

Duff Equipment

The Beatles seem to have assumed that the staff at Parlophone were wanting to hear their entire repertoire. They did not get very far into the list before engineer Norman Smith stopped them and pointed out that if they were to do any actual recording, then McCartney's distorted bass amp would have to be replaced.

"They had such duff equipment," Smith told Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. "Ugly unpainted wooden amplifiers, extremely noisy, with earth loops and goodness knows what. There was as much noise coming from the amps as there was from the instruments. Paul's bass amp was particularly bad and it was clear that the session wasn't going to get under way until something was done about it."

"George Martin turned to Norman and I and said 'You know, we've got to do something about this,'" Technical engineer Ken Townsend continues in Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio. "Fortunately that evening there wasn't a session in Studio One, which meant that studio's echo chamber wasn't in use. So Norman and I went in and carried out the echo chamber's great big Tannoy speaker, which weighed about half a ton. We carried that through - it was on the same floor - into Studio Two for the test. I then fixed up a Leak TL12 amplifier, soldering a jack socket onto its input stage. It wouldn't be considered very high wattage today, but they were quite powerful amplifiers at the time. I think it took about a quarter of an hour to do. We plugged it in and there was no distortion any more on the bass guitar, so we used that system for the session."

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Brian Epstein Negotiates Beatles Deal With Parlophone

Brian Epstein

It is commonly believed that The Beatles were hired by George Martin at EMI's Parlophone label following their 6th June 1962 audition at Abbey Road. The series of events that led The Beatles to be partnered with this extraordinary producer are less well known.

On Monday 1 January, The Beatles attended a formal audition for Decca. There, in less than an hour, they recorded a 15 track set list, devised by manager Brian Epstein to show off their versatility, consisting of three original Lennon-McCartney compositions, two old standards, seven cover versions of 50's rock and roll, R&B and country hits, two ballads and a contemporary chart hit. The session was produced by Tony Meehan, ex-drummer with The Shadows, now working as a producer and A&R man for Decca.

Decca later released The Beatles audition
on the back of their massive success

Decca let Epstein know at the start of February that they would not be adding The Beatles to their roster, telling him that "guitar groups are on the way out". Furious, Epstein travelled to London. On Tuesday 6th February 1962, he met with Decca's head of singles, Dick Rowe and sales manager Sidney Arthur Beecher-Stevens, at Decca's offices on the Embankment, to plead The Beatles' case. The executives were adamant that a Liverpool act would not appeal to a national audience. Despite this, they were happy to allow Epstein to take away a copy of the group's audition on two reel-to-reel tapes. Epstein took the tapes to both Pye and Oriole, who both offered similar rejections. He also had a meeting arranged with Meehan the following day, but Meehan arrived late for the meeting and told Epstein to stop wasting his time.

HMV's Oxford Street store as it was in the
late 1950's and early 1960's.

On Thursday 8 February 1962, a disenchanted Epstein took time out to catch up with his friend Bob Boast, whom he had first met on a record retail management course run by Deutsche Grammophon in, of all places, Hamburg, the previous year. Like Epstein, Boast was a record store manager, and was now in charge of HMV's prestigious flagship store at 363 Oxford Street, London. Having taken time to chat, Epstein played the tapes to Boast. As a record store manager, Boast was in no position to help, but he advised Epstein that he should get the tapes converted to discs, as these would be less cumbersome and would appear more professional. As luck would have it, there was a small studio in the store where customers could make 78rpm records.

Jim Foy, the HMV engineer who cut the discs for Epstein, was impressed that three of the songs on Epstein's tapes were original compositions. He fetched Sid Coleman, manager of publishing company Ardmore and Beechwood, whose office was on the top floor of the HMV building. Coleman liked what heard, and, as soon as the discs were cut, invited Epstein to his office to discuss acquiring The Beatles' music publishing rights. Epstein was pleased with the offer, but made it clear to Coleman that has primary goal was to acquire a recording contract for The Beatles. Coleman understood, and made a call to his friend George Martin, head of A&R at Parlophone, which, like HMV, was a subsidiary of EMI. A meeting between Epstein and Martin at EMI's Manchester Square headquarters was arranged for the following Tuesday, 13 February 1962.

Returning to Liverpool, Epstein felt that progress had been made. That weekend he formally severed The Beatles' ties with Decca in a letter to Dick Rowe, in which he wrote:

I am writing to thank you for your kind offer of co-operation in assisting me to put the Beatles on records. I am most grateful for your own and that of your colleagues consideration of this Group and whilst I appreciate the offer of Mr.Meehan's services I have now decided not to accept.

The principle reason for this change of mind is that since I saw you last the Group have received an offer of a recording contract from another company.

(Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Octopus 1992 (page 55) )

Epstein went back to London the following week for his meeting with George Martin. He played the discs of the Decca audition to Martin, who was not particularly impressed, but was nevertheless interested. He liked McCartney's voice and Harrison's guitar playing, and enjoyed "Till There Was You" and Lennon's original, "Hello Little Girl". He identified McCartney as the band's front-man. Martin decided that he would like to meet The Beatles.

There was a problem, however. The Beatles were still under contract with Polydor in Germany (See "The Hamburg Tapes"), and Martin was not prepared to sign them until that contract expired. Consequently, on Tuesday 20 February 1962, Epstein wrote to Bert Kaempfert, the A&R man at Polydor in Germany, asking him to sever their contract, which was not due to expire until the end of June. Kaempfert wrote back on Saturday 3 March 1962:

I should like to inform you that it was agreed upon with "THE BEATLES" that they would return to Germany around February 1962 and that recording should be made with them at that time. My understanding is that "THE BEATLES" are to come to Hamburg again in April of this year. I'm in principle willing to release this group from their agreement before the official exploration of their contract. However, I would appreciate if a way could be found that they are still recording for the Polydor label during their stay in Hamburg in April or May. I do not want to spoil the chances of the group to get recording contracts elsewhere, but I do think that we should have the chance to make recordings with the group for the Polydor label whilst they are in Hamburg.

(Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Octopus 1992 (page 55) )

In his book, Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper, George Martin recalls a recording audition with The Beatles in EMI Abbey Road Studio 3, probably on 27 March 1962 - their only day without a concert that month (qv Ask Me Why: When Was The Beatles First Audition At Abbey Road). The Beatles ran through their set - according to Martin it was much the same as he had heard on the Decca Audition tape that Epstein had played him.

The date is corroborated because that same day, Epstein wrote back to Kaempfert:

As it happens the particular recording Company with whom we have negotiated are unable to record the group until they return from Germany and in any event prefer to wait until their existing contract with yourself has expired.

In the circumstances therefore I would like to give you formal notice of our wish to terminate the contract at the end of this contractual period (30th June 1962).

With regard to their recording when in Germany I would myself be very pleased to discuss this with you as I shall be arriving in Hamburg on April 9th - a few days in advance of the group. I will, therefore contact you then and possibly we can settle details of their actual recording sessions.

(Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Octopus 1992 (page 54) )

As Epstein said, The Beatles were gearing up for their third trip to Germany. They were to play at The Star Club, 39 Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg from Friday 13th April until Thursday 31 May 1962. The Star Club had its own backline, so they would not need to bring any of their own amplifiers with them, only their guitars and drums. Thus it was that Lennon, McCartney and Best flew into Hamburg airport on Wednesday 11th April 1962. Amongst their luggage was a tape of eight songs from their Decca audition - a present for their ex-bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe, now living in Hamburg with his fiancé, Astrid Kirchherr. They were met by Kirchherr, who delivered devastating news. Sutcliffe had died of a brain haemorrhage the previous day. He was 21 years old.

As it was, Epstein did not arrive in Hamburg until Thursday 12th April 1962, accompanied by George Harrison, who had been suffering from German measles. Sutcliffe's mother was also on the flight, on her way to identify her son's body and to return him home. Epstein set about making final arrangements for their Star Club stint, and to hammer out recording dates with Kaempfert. A final recording session for Polydor was arranged for Thursday 24th May 1962, after which their contract would be terminated. Epstein flew back to Liverpool, and lost no time in arranging a meeting with George Martin.

Epstein's Telegram to Bill Harry

On Wednesday, 9th May 1962, Epstein met with Martin at EMI's studios in Abbey Road. Martin had liked what he had heard at that initial recording audition in March, and at that meeting, he immediately offered Epstein a recording contract for The Beatles. A date was set to record their debut single: Wednesday 6th June 1962.

Martin, unknown to Epstein, was a desperate man. Parlophone was seen within EMI as a joke label. Their main output was comedy, and they were very much a poor relation to EMI's internationally famous labels, EMI and Columbia. Martin wanted a pop group on the label - a band he could use to raise Parlophone's image and to compete with his opposite number at Columbia, Norrie Paramor, producer of Cliff Richard and The Shadows.

An hour later, Epstein left EMI Studios and went straight to the Post Office on Wellington Road, where he telephoned his parents, and sent two telegrams. The first telegram was to The Beatles in Hamburg:

Congratulations boys: EMI request recording session. Please rehearse new material.

(Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Octopus 1992 (page 56) )

"We were all still in bed", Pete Best told Hunter Davies for his 1968 biography, The Beatles. "Whoever was first up always went for the post. George was first up this day and got the telegram. We felt terrific. John and Paul started composing straight away. Brian came out to see us and negotiated a new contract - £85 a week each I think we got then. He thought 'Love Me Do' would be a good one for the recording session."

According to Ray Coleman in  Lennon - The Definitive Biography, The Beatles sent their delighted replies back to Epstein on postcards: McCartney jokingly asking for £10,000 advance royalties, Harrison suggesting that they order four new guitars, and Lennon wanting to know when they would be millionaires.

The second telegram was to Bill Harry, editor of Liverpool music paper, Mersey Beat:

Have secured contract for Beatles to recorded [sic] for EMI on Parlaphone [sic] label. 1st recording date set for June 6th.

(Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Octopus 1992 (page 56))  

Martin set about organizing The Beatles' contract. On Friday, 18th May 1962, he sent an "Application for Artiste Contract" to EMI's administration department. A contract - post-dated 4th June - was duly returned to Martin on Thursday 24th May, which was sent off, with no official binding EMI signature, to Epstein in Liverpool for The Beatles to sign. The Beatles returned from Hamburg on Saturday 2nd June, 1962, and Epstein returned the contract on Tuesday 5th June, 1962, signed by him and witnessed by Cavern Club DJ Bob Wooler.

Also on June 5th, The Beatles travelled to London following two days of intensive rehearsals at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. The following day they arrived at EMI's studios in Abbey Road for the very first time. Once there, they performed a number of songs. However, McCartney's amplifier kept cutting out, and EMI engineers had to improvise a bass amp for him. Martin was unimpressed by their performance, and departed to the canteen, leaving his assistant Ron Richards, and engineers Norman Smith and Chris Neal to tape The Beatles first session.

In all, The Beatles' recorded four songs at that first session:

• Besame Mucho
• Love Me Do
• PS I Love You
• Ask Me Why

Richards, Smith and Neal were also not impressed with The Beatles' first number, but the second song changed their minds. Love Me Do prompted Richards to send Smith to fetch Martin back from the canteen, and he listened, intrigued, to the remaining songs - all of them Lennon-McCartney originals. After the session was ended, Martin invited The Beatles up to the control room, where they impressed him with their humour, and he impressed them by revealing that he had produced records by Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers of The Goons. Martin concluded that he had nothing to lose, and sanctioned the addition of a binding EMI signature to their contract.

The Hamburg Tapes

The recordings that The Beatles made in Hamburg do not get as much attention as their later work. Yet without these early recordings, they would not have come to the attention of Brian Epstein, and would not have subsequently been signed to EMI.

Tony Sheridan and The Beatles at the Top Ten Club, April 1961.
Photo by Ellen Piel 

When The Beatles returned for their second trip to Germany in April 1961, they found themselves working in the Top Ten Club, 136 Reeperbahn, Hamburg. Apart from their own sets, they were required to back Cheltenham born singer and guitarist Tony Sheridan, who had got himself a job as the resident performer in the club. Sheridan lived with The Beatles, sharing the tiny apartment in the attic of the Top Ten.

One night in April 1961, Alfred Schacht, European director of Co-ordination with Sheridan's publishing company Aberbach Music, visited the Top Ten Club. He had heard that Sheridan wrote songs, and, looking for new material to publish, went along to hear them. That night, he witnessed Sheridan, backed by the Beatles. Impressed, he in turn recommended them to his friend Bert Kaempfert, an A&R man at Polydor, who was also known as a bandleader, and who had recently scored an American number one hit with "Wonderland by Night".

Kaempfert made several visits to the Top Ten. Then, on 19th June 1961, The Beatles were invited to Kaempfert's office, where they signed a one year recording contract - not with Polydor, but with Bert Kaempfert Produktions,  effective from 1st July 1961, with an option for renewal after a year, and an agreement to record four songs per year. Kaempfert had an exclusive licensing deal with Polydor, who would release the recordings on his behalf.

The Friedrich Ebert Halle, Hamburg - location of The Beatles' first recording
session with Bert Kaempfert and Tony Sheridan

There were 2 recording dates with Sheridan and Kaempfert. The "studio" for the first recording session was the Harburg Friedrich Ebert Halle, Hamburg, a civic concert hall annexed to a local high school.

The first set is thought to have taken place on Thursday 22nd or Friday 23rd June 1961, and these are the dates given in a December 1984 CD, and reported (with a great deal of doubt) by Mark Lewisohn in The Complete Beatles Chronicle.

Pete Best: "When the great day of our debut arrived, four bleary-eyed Beatles left for Polydor studio around 8am after only four hours in bed. We must have looked something like sleepwalkers when we reached it.

Studio? We wondered if we had come to the right place. We had been expecting a recording set-up on the grand scale: after all, Bert was a big name and Polydor an important label, part of the Deutsche Grammophon company. Instead, we found ourselves in an unexciting school hall with a massive stage and lots of drapes. The recording equipment was backstage. We were expected to play behind Tony on the stage, as if the whole thing was an outside broadcast. Surely this couldn't be the place where Bert made his own smoochy bestsellers? It was - and he was perfectly satisfied with the conditions."

(Source: Beatle!: The Pete Best Story, Pete Best & Patrick Doncaster, Plexus 1985, p106)

The Beatles, along with Tony Sheridan and Stuart Sutcliffe, were collected from the Top Ten Club at 8am. They had finished playing at 2am that morning, and only Pete, who abstained from the pep pills that the others regularly used, had gone to bed. The others had eaten and had some more to drink, killing time until their transport arrived.

Tony Sheridan: "We did the recordings on a Preludin high, there was no other way we could have done it."

(Source: Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn, Little Brown 2013, p461)

The personnel on this first recording session were:

• Tony Sheridan lead vocal, lead guitar (Gibson ES175)
• George Harrison lead guitar (Futurama guitar), backing vocal
• John Lennon rhythm guitar (Rickenbacker 325), backing vocal
• Paul McCartney bass (Hofner 500/1 bass guitar), backing vocal
• Pete Best drums (blue Premier drum kit)

• Bert Kaempfert Producer
• Karl Hinze Engineer

(Source: Source: Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio, Andy Babuick, Backbeat Books, 2002)

Stuart Sutcliffe was present at this first recording, but did not take part. He left the Beatles in November 1960, and McCartney took over bass a month later, restringing his Rosetti Solid 7 guitar with strings stolen from a piano in a Liverpool club. Unable to take the increased tension required for the bass strings, the Rosetti eventually snapped, and McCartney was forced to look for a new bass. He found a cheap Hofner 500/1 in Steinways music shop in Hamburg, but it was a right-handed model. Fortunately, he was able to place an order for a custom built left-handed version. The Hofner Violin bass went to on to become McCartney's signature instrument, and he still plays one to this day.

Although The Beatles and Sheridan brought their own instruments with them, the amplifiers were provided by Kaempfert,[1] and replacements were brought in after problems developed. But engineer Karl Hinze identified another problem: he didn't think that Pete Best was a good enough drummer (just as George Martin would reach the same conclusion a year later).

Tony Sheridan: "Kaempfert suggested Pete not play his bass drum, because he used to get too fast... the tempo was a problem"

(Source: Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn, Little Brown 2013, p462)

None of the tracks recorded during this session had kick drum or tom-tom on them. Kaempfert had Pete's kick and tom-tom removed from his kit, leaving only snare, hi-hat and ride cymbal.

The Beatles were paid 300 marks (around £26) for the session, and did not receive any royalties. The first tracks to be recorded were:

• My Bonnie Harrison plays the opening guitar sequence, but the solo is by Sheridan. McCartney can be heard shouting in the background.
• The Saints
• Why (Can't You Love Me Again) an original composition by Sheridan
• Nobody's Child Only Sheridan (guitar, vocal), McCartney (bass) and Best (drums) play on this recording.
• Take Out Some Insurance On Me Baby (aka "If You Love Me Baby")

It had been Kaempfert's idea to record My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean. The Beatles and Sheridan had been playing it at the Top Ten Club. They were inspired by versions of the song by Gene Vincent and Ray Charles, but the Beatles rocked harder than either of them. German children learned this Scottish folk song at school, and Kaempfert reckoned that Sheridan's rocking arrangement had hit potential.

Tony Sheridan: "I told George he could play whatever he felt like playing [on My Bonnie], but that I would take the solo. It was a blues solo, nothing to do with the song and not thought out beforehand. I don't remember how many takes we did, but they would have been different each time. John had to chug away on rhythm to compensate for the drums, though I still had to instruct him on what was needed: to play sevenths all the time, C7, F7, G7"

George Harrison:  (in a May 1962 letter to a fan) "When Tony sings then it is me playing lead, but the break in the middle is Tony playing. The shouting in the background is Paul."

(Source: Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn, Little Brown 2013, p463)

There was still some time left on the session, so The Beatles asked Kaempfert if they could record some material themselves, probably hoping for a publishing deal similar to Sheridan's. They played him a number of Lennon / McCartney originals, but Kaempfert was not impressed.[2] With Lennon on lead vocals and playing Sheridan's ES-175 guitar, The Beatles recorded two more tracks.

• Ain't She Sweet 
• Cry For A Shadow a Lennon/Harrison instrumental, with the working title of "Beatle Bop"

Cry For A Shadow was a parody of The Shadows, written by Harrison, with help from Lennon, during their previous trip to Hamburg. The tune had it's genesis when The Beatles wanted to add The Shadows big UK hit Man of Mystery (Columbia DB4530, released 4th November 1960) to their repertoire, but being in Germany, had never heard it. They got Rory Storm, not long arrived in Hamburg from Liverpool with his band, the Hurricanes, to sing it for them. Storm could only remember the beginning, and Lennon and Harrison invented the rest themselves.[3] This new piece, which they called Beatle Bop, became a regular in their set during the long hours at the Top Ten.[4] It was a favourite of Kaempfert's, and, according to Best, was recorded at his request. On 28 June 1961, Harrison and Lennon signed a publishing contract with Tonika, a new publishing company owned by Alfred Schacht, and Beatle Bop was renamed Cry For A Shadow.[5]

The January 1962 German release of "My Bonnie"

The first single, My Bonnie (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur)/The Saints (Polydor NH 24673), was issued in Germany on 23 October 1961, credited to Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers. Kaempfert had decided on the Beat Brothers name in preference to that of The Beatles, which was too similar to peedle, a north German slang word for penis. (This has since caused some confusion to chroniclers because Sheridan continued to record for Polydor with various musicians and the released records continued to credit his backing musicians with the name the Beat Brothers). The intro to "My Bonnie" is sung in German, and is known as the "Rock" version. The single sold 100,000 copies and climbed to number 5 on the German charts.

After The Beatles returned to the UK on 3 July 1961, several advance copies of the single were forwarded on to them. Copies were given to Liverpool DJ, Bob Wooler, who played it in the Liverpool clubs, and to journalist Virginia Sowry, who worked for the local pop paper, Mersey Beat. The 20 July 1961 issue of Mersey Beat carried the front page story "Beatles Sign Recording Contract!". This so impressed Brian Epstein, owner of North End Music Stores, that he ordered 200 copies from Polydor in Hamburg.

The single was released in the UK on 5 January 1962 (Polydor NH 66833) and was re-released in Germany (Polydor NH 24673). This version, known as the "Twist" version, has the intro sung in English. The UK version is credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beatles. The single was reviewed in the South Liverpool Weekly News, who wrote:

"The boys have always been full-time musicians ever since they left school, and are making quite a name for themselves locally. Who knows it might not be long before they achieve nationwide acclaim."

By March 1962, Brian Epstein had become The Beatles' manager, and following a series of meetings with George Martin, had secured them an audition with Parlophone records on Tuesday 27th March 1962 (qv Brian Epstein Negotiates Beatles Deal With Parlophone). They returned to Germany on Wednesday 11th April 1962 to take up a seven week residence at the Star Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, where they shared the bill for two weeks with Gene Vincent.

The personnel on the second recording were:

• George Harrison lead guitar (Gretsch Duo Jet guitar), backing vocal
• John Lennon rhythm guitar (Rickenbacker 325 guitar), backing vocal
• Paul McCartney bass (Hofner 500/1 bass), backing vocal
• Pete Best drums (blue Premier kit with 26" kick drum)
• Roy Young piano

• Bert Kaempfert Producer
• Günther Sörensen Engineer

(Source: Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio, Andy Babuick, Backbeat Books, 2002)

Their 27th March audition had been successful, and Parlophone wanted them to record their first single as soon as possible after they returned from Germany on 31 May 1962. Epstein approached Kaempfert to release The Beatles from their 1961 contract, which was due to expire on 30 June 1962. Kaempfert agreed to an early release, on the condition that The Beatles recorded two more tracks with Sheridan. This condition was fulfilled at Studio Rahlstedt, Hamburg, on Thursday 24 May, 1962, when The Beatles, accompanied by Star Club resident pianist Roy Young, recorded two backing tracks. Sheridan, who was not present at the session, added his vocals on Thursday 7 June, 1962

• Sweet Georgia Brown Sheridan re-recorded his lead vocal on Friday 3 January 1964, with lyrics rewritten by his engineer, Liverpudlian Paul Murphy, referencing The Beatles, their hair, and Liverpool
• Either Swanee River (aka "The Old Folks At Home) (reported in Mersey Beat, May 1962) or Skinny Minny (according to Pete Best in his autobiography). Whichever song was recorded, the Beatles recording was destroyed in a fire. A version of Sheridan singing Swanee River has been released, but this recording does not feature The Beatles.

The Beatles had not brought their amplifiers to Germany, as the Star Club had its own backline of Fender amplifiers. It is likely that they used whatever was available at the studio for these recordings. Epstein had asked Roy Young to join The Beatles on a full time basis, but Young turned the offer down, preferring the security of his job at the Star Club.

Beatles Bop - A complete compilation
of The Beatles Hamburg recordings

Just over a month later, on 6 June 1962, The Beatles were in EMI's Studio 2 at 3 Abbey Road, London, for their first recording session for Parlophone.

The tracks recorded by The Beatles in Hamburg with Tony Sheridan have been released many times in the intervening decades, along with material recorded by Sheridan with other musicians. Ritchie Unterberger, in The Unreleased Beatles, suggests that the best compilation is a 2001 bootleg called Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days: Once Upon A Time In Germany (Bear BCD 16583 BH). This 38 track 2-CD package contains every mono version, stereo version and alternate or overdubbed take known.

[1] Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn - p462 ?

[2] Beatle!: The Pete Best Story, Pete Best & Patrick Doncaster, Plexus 1985 - p107 ?

[3] Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn - p393 ?

[4] Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn - p456 ?

[5] Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Mark Lewisohn - p464-465 ?