Welcome to the HouseoftheHits.com Original Presentation • THE BEATLES: Under The Influence – Part 1
- The first set of 6 of the 24 original versions of songs by American artists, and the 6 cover versions officially recorded by The Beatles.
- Each original song is paired with the corresponding Beatles cover version.
- Part 1 also contains one bonus track related to the presentation, for a total of 13 songs.
- Combined with extra material, there’s 58 songs in the 4-part series!
- Links to Parts 2, 3 & 4 are found at the bottom, just before the credits.
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What ‘Officially Recorded’ means: The Beatles recorded 12 commercial studio albums, 17 non-album singles and 13 EP’s (Extended Players) for their UK parent record label Parlophone. The cover versions presented here are among those releases. Studio outtakes, studio bootleg versions, live performances, live performance bootleg versions, etc. are excluded.
What ‘Original’ means: Usually, it means the first recorded version of the song – but not necessarily. Some of their cover recordings are not of the true original. Rather, it’s the first version of the record The Beatles heard, learned and performed live, and ultimately recorded.
What ‘Under The Influence’ means: First, it’s the title of a long-out-of-print import CD I’ve had for over 20 years – and which sparked the idea for this presentation.
In the CD booklet’s liner notes, Roy Carr of the UK music publication Vox, further explains –
“In their formative days it was not uncommon for practically every working (UK) group to establish their reputation as crowd-pullers, not so much for their own songs (often the low point of most acts) but in their ability to scout obscure U.S. material and personalize it to the point where certain songs then became synonymous with the groups who’d covered them.”
And during their formative period, The Beatles were no exception, with a long list of American Top 40 rock’n’roll songs and adult standards in their live performance repertoire.
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Here’s some great insight into the manner in which their manager, Brian Epstein and the group often found American songs to record, from George Harrison in The Beatles Anthology –
“Brian had a policy of buying at least one copy of every record that was released (for his NEMS record shop). If it sold, he’d order another one, or five or whatever. Consequently he had records that weren’t hits in Britain, weren’t even hits in America. Before going to a gig we’d meet in the record store, after it had shut, and we’d search the racks like ferrets to see what new ones were there… Devil In His Heart by The Donays and Barrett Strong‘s Money were records that we’d picked up and played in the shop and thought were interesting.”
Ultimately, they, Epstein and producer George Martin decided upon 24 songs – all from ‘across the pond’ in origin – which they considered strong enough performances by them to record.
Also, good material was needed to supplement the limited number of polished self-compositions available for inclusion on their first four 14-track Parlophone albums.
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If you’re of an age whereby you remember the concurrent phenomena of Beatlemania and the British Invasion, then I’m quite certain all two dozen Fab Four cover versions are quite familiar to you.
However, several of the originals are perhaps not as well known.
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Song Presentation: Arranged alphabetically, and all are in crystal clear HD audio.
Dates: Directly above every song’s player are the dates on which the album, EP or single was released, and correspond with the accompanying sleeve graphics. Both are chronologically arranged from left to right.
Mono/Stereo: If the original version is in mono, the corresponding Beatles cover recording will also be mono – ditto for stereo.
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THE PERTINENT ALBUMS
[By Record Label]
Please Please Me
Help!
A Collection Of Beatles Oldies
Beatles VI
Yesterday b/w Act Naturally
[Single]
Twist and Shout
[Mono Only]
Beatles VI
Yesterday b/w Act Naturally
[Single]
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[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices.
A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be needed for optimal enjoyment.
THE SONGS
[In Alphabetical Order]
A TASTE OF HONEY
Lenny Welch
[Stereo]
As mentioned, there are a number of songs among the 24 that are not the true originals – and this is one of them. However, it’s the first ‘vocal’ version of ATOH, but it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
Sep.1962
[REPLAY]
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A TASTE OF HONEY
The Beatles
[Stereo]
The Beatles recorded a whopping 10 songs for their first album Please Please Me on February 11th, 1963, during a 13-hour marathon studio session – and this is the first of four done that day in this first installment of cover versions.
Based on the Lenny Welch vocal version, this was a favorite of Paul McCartney, and became an oft-requested number during the group’s prior live performances in Hamburg, Germany.
Mar.22.1963 [UK] • Jan.10.1964 [US] • Feb.3.1964 [CA]
[REPLAY]
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A TASTE OF HONEY
Bobby Scott
(Original Version)
1960
The true original was a piano instrumental co-written by jazz pianist Bobby Scott for the 1960 Broadway musical of the same name. (It was a recurring theme rather than one self-contained song) It’s also a very boring piece, so just the album graphic on this one. A Taste Of Honey also became a big instrumental hit for Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass in 1965.
Bobby also wrote the big 1969 Hollies hit He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.
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ACT NATURALLY
Buck Owens
[Stereo]
Some fine pickin’ and playin’ on this one, you betcha neighbor! (Thanks to a long, long ago ex-Canadian radio colleague and one-of-a-kind country music DJ named John “Hoppy” Hodges for the stolen intro. 😅
I mean, great guitar work from Buck’s long-time guitarist in his backup band The Buckaroos, Don Rich.
In the early 90’s I met Buck at one of his shows at the famous Crazy Horse Saloon in Santa Ana, CA when I did country music radio in L.A. I mentioned John and he knew him from his shows in Kitchener, Ontario which ‘Hoppy’ mc’d! The circle is small in the radio & music businesses.
Act Naturally reached #1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart.
Mar.1963
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ACT NATURALLY
The Beatles
[Stereo]
From the UK album Help! and the B-side of the North American single Yesterday. Having never previously been a part of The Beatles live repertoire, Ringo Starr randomly heard Owens’ version on Buck’s 1963 Best Of album – and it became a spontaneous choice by Starr to sing and record. Yeee-Haww!!
Aug.6.1965 [UK] • Sep.7.65 [CA](Single) • Sep.13.1965 [US](Single)
[REPLAY]
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ACT NATURALLY
Buck Owens & Ringo Starr
(Second Cover Version)
[Stereo]
In 1989 Buck and Ringo got together to record this duet single for their mutual record label Capitol, but it failed to chart.
1989
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ANNA (Go To Him)
Arthur Alexander
[Stereo]
Although the song’s sub-title says “Go TO Him,” Alexander actually sings “Go WITH Him” throughout. The legendary Floyd Cramer plays piano on this great soul song, which reached #68 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Sep.1962
[REPLAY]
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ANNA
The Beatles
[Stereo]
Another song from their 10-tracks-in-a-day recording marathon for the Please Please Me album. A favorite of John Lennon, The Beatles included this song in their live performances since they first heard Alexander’s 1962 original. The Floyd Cramer piano part is substituted with George Harrison on guitar.
Mar.22.1963 [UK] • Jan.10.1964 [US] • Feb.3.1964 [CA]
[REPLAY]
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BABY IT’S YOU
The Shirelles
[Mono]
Written by Burt Bacharach, Mack David (elder brother of songwriter Hal David) and Luther Dixon (Barney Williams on the label) it features the vocals of the great Shirley Alston (Owens). BIY reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
1961
[REPLAY]
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BABY IT’S YOU
The Beatles
[Mono]
A song from The Beatles standard repertoire from 1961-1963, John Lennon’s voice is showing signs of strain from the boys churning out 10 songs in the marathon session of February 11, 1963 – and this was BEFORE Lennon recorded Twist And Shout later that day – which he then did in ONE take!
Mar.22.1963 [UK] • Jan.10.1964 [US] • Feb.3.1964 [CA]
[REPLAY]
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BAD BOY
Larry Williams
[Mono]
One of the true pioneers of early American rock’n’roll, Williams, from New Orleans, was a long-time friend of the incomparable Little Richard – both recorded for Art Rupe‘s L.A.-based Specialty Records.
Despite several great studio musicians playing on this record, including Plas Johnson on tenor sax and Earl Palmer on drums, Bad Boy failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.
1959
[REPLAY]
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BAD BOY
The Beatles
[Mono]
John Lennon was a big fan of Larry Williams and sings raucous vocals on all three Beatles’ covers of Larry’s songs – one here and the others in future installments. Unlike the original, there’s no repeated interjection of “He’s a badd boyy.” However in both, the teacher is indeed at night “a-ready to poop” 😮 That’s one nasty kid!
Jun.14.1965 [US][CA] • Dec.10.1966 [UK]
[REPLAY]
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BOYS
The Shirelles
(B-side of Will You Love Me Tomorrow)
[Stereo]
As noted, Boys was the B-side of the first song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by an female Afro-American group. No doubt The Beatles had a copy of Tomorrow, and when they flipped over the record, they found a new song to record.
Nov.1960 [US][CA] • 1961 [UK]
[REPLAY]
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BOYS
The Beatles
[Stereo]
This song marked Ringo’s first recorded vocal as a Beatle – and the fourth cover version song featured in this installment to be recorded on the same-day marathon Please Please Me album sessions.
Unlike the gender-specific song later covered by the Fab Four called Devil In His Heart by The Donays (coming up in Part 2), they approached this as a unisex song, without ‘gender reassignment’ of the title required.
Mar.22.1963 [UK] • Jan.10.1964 [US] • Feb.3.1964 [CA]
[REPLAY]
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Others Installments
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
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THE BEATLES: Under The Influence – Part 1
Written by
Rick Murray Hunter
Produced by
HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Production Assistant
Tony Busbridge
Additional Production Assistance
Chris Mahan
Consultant
Dick Rosemont
Music Source
The Music Vault from
HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Research
Rick Murray Hunter
Research Assistance
Beatles Bible
Skyline Mastering
Tom Daly
Top 40 Music on CD
Pat Downey
The Originals Project
Dick Rosemont
Record Research of the
Billboard® Hot 100 (eBook Editions)
Joel Whitburn
Record Label & Sleeve Graphics
Courtesy of 45cat
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A special thanks to Sequel Records (UK) and their 1992 CD – UNDER THE INFLUENCE: The Original Versions of the Songs The BEATLES Covered (NEX CD 226). Not only was it my source for high-quality audio on the obscure titles, but also the compilation on which this presentation is based.
