Audio: 'How Do You Do It? (Anthology 1 Version)'

(Tuesday, September 4, 1962, 7:00-11:15 p.m. British Summer Time) — 90 days after their initial audition recording, The Beatles returned to EMI Studios today in London with the band’s new permanent drummer, Ringo Starr (replacing Pete Best on Aug. 18, 1962), to record the group’s debut single in Studio 2.

They began work on Mitch Murray’s “How Do You Do It?,” which producer George Martin had chosen for them, but they disliked the song and wanted to release an original composition by band members John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

They recorded at least two takes of “How Do You Do It” and at least 15 takes of Lennon-McCartney’s “Love Me Do,” then the best take of each song was mono mixed and pressed onto an acetate disc for the group’s manager, Brian Epstein, to hear.

Audio: 'Love Me Do' (recorded Sept. 4, 1962)

The session tapes were later destroyed, as was common practice until 1963. This session’s version of “Love Me Do” was released as the Beatles’ first single; however, it was later replaced with a version recorded seven days later, and the original was destroyed.

When the original was later released on compilations, it had to be sourced from an original mono 45 rpm single.

Released as a single in the UK on Oct. 5, 1962, “Love Me Do” was subsequently replaced with a version of the song recorded a week later on Sept. 11, 1962.

The Beatles’ recording of “How Do You Do It?” recorded on this day was finally released in 1995 as part of The Beatles Anthology project.