Video: 'Love Me Do'

(Friday, October 5, 1962) — “Love Me Do,” the official debut single by the English rock band The Beatles, backed by “P.S. I Love You,” was released today in the United Kingdom on Parlophone.

The single features John Lennon’s prominent harmonica playing and duet vocals by him and Paul McCartney.

Lennon had previously sung the title sections, but a change in the arrangement was made in the studio under the direction of producer George Martin when he realized that the harmonica part encroached on the vocal. Lennon needed to begin playing the harmonica again on the same beat as the “do” of “love me do.”

Three recorded versions of the song by the Beatles have been released, each with a different drummer. The first attempted recording from June 1962 featured Pete Best on drums, but was not officially released until the Anthology 1 compilation in 1995.

Audio: 'P.S. I Love You (Remastered 2009)'

A second version was recorded three months later on Sept. 4, 1962, at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London, with Best’s permanent replacement, Ringo Starr, on drums and this was used for the Parlophone single released today.

A third version featured session drummer Andy White, with Starr relegated to playing tambourine. When EMI came to release the 1963 EP The Beatles’ Hits, it was decided that the version featuring White was best, and the master recording featuring Ringo’s drumming was destroyed.

“P.S. I Love You” was composed principally by McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney). It was recorded on Sept. 11, 1962, at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London and featured White on drums and Starr on maracas.

“Love Me Do” reached number 17 in the charts, which was a strong showing for a band’s first release. Sales were strongest in the Liverpool area. There were strong rumors that Brian Epstein bought 10,000 copies of the single to improve its chart ranking. While quite possibly true, this was never proven to be true.

This very single was released in the U.S. on Apr. 27, 1964, on Tollie records.