The Unreleased Beatles Song That Hit No. 1
Several Beatles’ songs reached No. 1 during their career. Fans loved many of their tunes, but sometimes the band members didn’t. John Lennon hated several Fab Four songs, even some that he wrote. The Beatles’ worked hard on one unreleased song they didn’t like and it still hit No. 1 — for someone else.
The Beatles were forced to record a song they never released
They eventually changed everything about pop music, but The Beatles didn’t begin on top of the mountain. They were like every other band when they started out — they had to take marching orders.
Fledgling songwriters John and Paul McCartney had a few original tunes when they first recorded with George Martin in late 1962. Still, the producer forced them to work on an outside song. Since they had little power to say no — which would have jeopardized their reputation if not their career — they dutifully worked on an arrangement of the song “How Do You Do It.”
Martin recorded the song, but The Beatles lobbied to have an original tune go out as their first single. That’s why “Love Me Do” became the first in the string of Fab Four hits, while the Beatles’ unreleased version of “How Do You Do It” went to No. 1 for someone else six months later.
The Beatles’ arrangement for ‘How Do You Do It’ hit No. 1 for another Liverpool band
It might sound strange for a band whose early hits included songs such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “P.S. I Love You,” and the magical “All My Loving,” but The Beatles believed “How Do You Do It” was too saccharine for their tastes.
Still, they followed orders and created their own arrangement of the Mitch Murray song. They recorded it per Martin’s instructions, but The Beatles never released the tune while they were a working band.
As Peter Ames Carlin writes in Paul McCartney: A Life, the song went to another Liverpool band, Gerry and the Pacemakers. That group took The Beatles’ arrangement of “How Do You Do It” to No. 1 on the English charts in March 1963, per the Official Charts Company. The tune spent three weeks in the top spot during an 18-week stay on the charts.
The Beatles’ unreleased “How Do You Do It” sat in the vaults for decades. The world didn’t get to hear their version of the song until 1995’s Anthology No. 1 collection.
George Martin ignored his instincts and recorded Fab Four originals for their 1st single
Martin forced the Fab Four to record “How Do You Do It” because he knew it would be a hit. His instincts were right. The Beatles’ unreleased arrangement took Gerry and the Pacemakers to the top of the charts.
The producer’s instincts to let The Beatles record originals for the first single in 1962 proved right, too.
“Love Me Do” wasn’t a smash hit, but the “Hound Dog” influenced song cracked the top 20 (perhaps because manager Brian Epstein purchased thousands of copies) and proved the Merseybeat upstarts had something special. “Please Please Me” hit No. 2 in England in January 1963. “From Me to You” became the first of The Beatles’ 17 No. 1 hits in April 1963, shortly after the song they recorded but never released reached the top for Gerry and the Pacemakers.
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