Little Child

This is a little-known Lennon-McCartney collaboration from 1963 that probably merits its obscurity.  While the band did turn in an enthusiastic performance in an attempt to compensate for the paper-thin material, there was nowhere to hide behind this lightweight offering.

The songwriting partners were already in the habit of passing off any of their lesser compositions to others to record, all the while knowing that those songs would usually still turn out to be hits, in part because their names were attached to them.  And, in this case, they did try to pass the song off - to Ringo.  And he turned it down!  Pretty cheeky for a fellow who only had one lead vocal (Boys) on his resume at the time.  He wound up singing I Wanna Be Your Man, another hastily-written number, instead.

The group had completed about half of the tracks necessary for their second album in two sessions in July.  They returned to the studio for two consecutive days in September with the aim of recording all of the remaining tracks.  On September 11th, 1963, they only attempted two takes of Little Child before deciding to leave it for the next day.  It required several more takes on that following day before they arrived at the basic track, take seven.  Then came the signature touches that really define the track - John on harmonica and Paul on piano.

Since John's harmonica is heard throughout the number, he had to play it multiple times until he got it right.  Then, a few separate attempts were needed for him to nail the high-energy solo.  Meanwhile, Paul added his overdub, playing piano for the first time on a Beatles recording.  These overdubs are so prominent in the final mix that John and George's guitars on the basic track are pretty much inaudible.

They did report to the studio one more time on October 3rd for John and Paul to sing additional vocal lines.  Oddly, these appear to have been used only in the stereo version of the track, and not on the mono.   The question for many fans remains as to whether this song is sung by John double-tracked or by John and Paul sharing the lead vocal, though Paul's voice is heard in the clear once, singing a very high "oh yeah" just as the song begins fading out.

The song can only be found on the album With the Beatles in the UK, and on its American counterpart Meet the Beatles!  It sits in the same exact sequence on both albums, right after Harrison's Don't Bother Me and just in front of Paul's cover of the Broadway tune Till There Was You.