Lovely Rita

Let's be honest - even the greatest albums by the Beatles each have that one track that you could easily live without.  For me, when it comes to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, that track would be Lovely Rita.  Not that there is anything wrong with the song.  It is a perfectly agreeable way to pass two minutes and forty-odd seconds, but it strikes me as the sort of track that those in the record business used to refer to as filler.  McCartney would continue to develop such meaningless, cheerful pop into more memorable songs such as Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Maxwell's Silver Hammer.  Lennon despised those songs, yet he seems to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into working on this number.

The group recorded eight takes of the basic track on February 23rd, 1967 with John and George playing acoustic guitars, Ringo on drums and Paul sitting at a piano.  Once satisfied with the final take, the others went home and Paul spent a good deal of time overdubbing his bass guitar part.  On the following evening, the entire session was devoted to Paul perfecting his lead vocal.  The 50th anniversary bonus editions of Sgt. Pepper allow us to hear take eight, minus the bass overdub, but with Paul's lead vocal.

The group did not return to the track until March 7th, at which time they all concentrated on the backing vocals.  Paul had already recorded some ad lib vocalizations during the long outro of the number when he did his lead vocal.  Now, encouraged by the heavy echo in his headphones, John added to the zaniness in that section.  Even Ringo got in on the fun when they all gathered around a microphone with combs and toilet paper to create a few brass-like moments in the body of the song.

The final overdub was added on March 21st at the same session as the infamous incident of John on the roof (see my entry for the song Getting Better for more details).  Something was still required for the brief instrumental break left open in the middle of the song.  In his book Here, There and Everywhere, engineer Geoff Emerick reports that a guitar solo by George was attempted but rejected.  Instead, a honkytonk piano solo was inserted by producer George Martin, played back at a slightly faster speed to fit in perfectly.

Of course, Lovely Rita has appeared on the many reissues of Sgt. Pepper over the years, but it has never surfaced on any other official compilations.

Love You to

George Harrison's first full foray into Indian music was a bold and daring move.  By playing the sitar on Lennon's Norwegian Wood in late 1965, he had introduced the pop world to its unique sound.  And the power of the Beatles was quickly demonstrated when seemingly every lead guitarist in every band on both sides of the Atlantic ran out to get a sitar and use it on their next release.  The other Beatles, especially Paul, had certainly bought in, and several tracks on the album Revolver incorporate harmonies and scales reflective of the Indian influence.  But asking Western fans to listen to an entire song in an unfamiliar style was a much riskier proposition.  Would they come along for the ride?

George was aware that he did not possess the skill necessary to pull off the composition that he had in mind, so he recruited some musicians from the North London Asian Music Circle to assist him.  Only the tabla player, Anil Bhagwat, is known to us, since he is actually credited on the sleeve of the album Revolver - a rare honor for anyone who ever played with the Beatles.  It has been surmised that George wanted to preserve the illusion that he played the entire sitar part himself, thus the names of the sitar and tamboura players have never been revealed.

During the afternoon session on April 11th, 1966, George sang and played acoustic guitar as Paul supplied occasional backing vocals for a few takes of the song.  George also worked on the free form introduction, which is perhaps the only part of the recording where he truly plays a sitar.  The other musicians arrived for the evening session, and only required three additional takes to nail their parts once they had learned them.

Engineer Geoff Emerick, only recently promoted to full time first engineer on Beatles' sessions, was particularly proud of the percussive sound he captured from the tabla.  He placed a microphone closer to the instrument than anyone had ever attempted before, bringing the deep tones of the drum to the forefront.  He would continue this practice with various other instruments over the next few years, with equally impressive results.

Onto the master take, Paul overdubbed a rather subdued bass line and George played an electric fuzz guitar, which jumps forward with an angry growl from time to time during the song.  Two days later, on April 13th, the recording was completed with a tambourine played by Ringo and a double-tracked vocal from George.  Paul did attempt some high harmonies at this session, but they were not used in the final mix.

Love You To sits in the middle of side one on the album Revolver.  On the British version of the LP, it follows Lennon's I'm Only Sleeping.  George and Paul's swirling backwards guitars at the end of that number lead nicely into the free form sitar introduction of Harrison's song.  In contrast, the sitar sounds as if it is from another world on the American LP, coming as it does right on the heels of the stately strings of McCartney's Eleanor Rigby.

The song's only other appearance is on the 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack.  Just the opening of the number is actually used in the animated film to introduce the character of George as something of a mystic guru standing atop a mountain with the wind blowing through his hair.  He then appears in the most material of possessions - a car - which changes colors every time he drives by, until cartoon George quips, "It's all in the mind."

Love Me Do

This unassuming little ditty that started it all was among McCartney and Lennon's earliest attempts at songwriting in 1958.  They only had the verses - or, more, correctly, the verse, as there is just the one - and probably played it at a faster tempo somewhat along the lines of Buddy Holly's Maybe Baby.

When manager Brian Epstein sent a telegram to the boys in Hamburg in May of 1962 and told them they had a recording date with EMI's Parlophone label, Love Me Do was one of the compositions that they began to prepare.  It was at this point in time that Lennon added the bridge to give the tune a little variety, and they began playing it at a slower, bluesy pace.  John also wanted to feature his harmonica in the same manner as Delbert McClinton did in the contemporary hit Hey! Baby by Bruce Channel.

The Beatles arrived at EMI Studios on Abbey Road on June 6th, 1962, excited to begin their recording career.  Producer George Martin was not present as another producer named Ron Richards listened to the group's available material.  It was the sound of John's wailing harmonica on this song that prompted engineer Norman Smith to send for Martin.     

After hearing the number, Martin made some changes to the arrangement before getting some proper takes.  One thing he did not change, however, was an odd shift in tempo before and after the bridge.  This had been drummer Pete Best's suggestion when the bridge was added in Hamburg.  You can hear one of these takes on Anthology 1.  Along with the odd fluctuations in the beat, Paul is clearly having trouble singing the low line "someone to love."  In fact, he even tries to slide the word "love" a few notes lower.  This is probably how John used to sing it when he was the lead singer, but with his harmonica part becoming more prominent, Martin had handed the lead over to Paul.

By the time the group returned to the studio on September 4th, Pete Best had been replaced, partly because Martin was unsatisfied with his drumming.  The producer was not much happier with Ringo Starr on this day, though the other kinks in the number had been worked out.  The tempo remained steady throughout, and Paul's singing was more confident.  Still, Martin had them come back a week later to re-record the song yet again with session drummer Andy White.  A glum Ringo stood by banging a tambourine.

The truth of the matter is that there is practically no difference between what White played on the 11th and what Ringo had played a week earlier.  Proof of this lies in the fact that Ringo's version was chosen for the initial pressings of the single.  However, when the song was added to the album Please Please Me and later released on the EP The Beatles' Hits, the Andy White version was used.  This was also the only version sent to the American labels Vee Jay and Capitol.

As their first single, the boys were naturally obliged to play the song live in concert, on television and on many BBC radio appearances.  The 1994 collection Live at the BBC concludes with a performance for their own radio program Pop Go the Beatles from July of 1963.  Yet, by this time, with the emergence of newer, stronger material, they had already dropped the number from their stage act.

The video collection 1+ contains a fascinating clip from a late 1963 BBC television special called The Mersey Sound.  The group was filmed in a studio without an audience performing the song, but this was synced to the Ringo version from the single.  Additional footage as the song plays shows Brian Epstein at his NEMS record shop in Liverpool as young fans purchase the record, the boys applying makeup backstage, and also riding on the open deck of one of the city's famous ferryboats.

The first American release of the song was on the Vee Jay album Introducing the Beatles.  The song did make its way into the country as a single from Capitol of Canada (the Ringo version, in fact), but the official American single was on the Tollie label, a subsidiary of Vee Jay.  Incredibly, this raw, primitive recording went to number one.  It was their fourth American number one, in the wake of the well-crafted, more polished numbers I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You and Can't Buy Me Love.  Capitol finally released the song on the album The Early Beatles. 

Because of its importance, Love Me Do has been featured on many compilations over the years, including The Red Album, the US edition of Rarities (Capitol's first release of the Ringo version), Past Masters Volume One, and 1.