“We'd Been Hoping To Get a Record Deal”: The Beatles Recall Early Uncredited Album
Years before the Beatles sold hundreds of millions of albums themselves, they were looking for a record deal that would save them from playing racy Hamburg venues, only to be given an uncredited performance opportunity on an album they didn’t even like that much. As the old adage goes, beggars can’t be choosers, right?
The recording process might not have been everything the band dreamed of. Still, it was an interesting precursor to a life they would soon become well-acquainted with: that of an original recording artist. But before that could happen, the lads had to pay their dues.
The Beatles’ Uncredited Album Gig From Early Hamburg Days
As is so often the case in the music industry, the Beatles got their start as a backing band, not the original band we know and love today. The group cut their teeth across Europe, performing for hours on end for solo performers, entertaining nightclub attendees into the wee hours of the morning, and other kinds of “jukebox” gigs that make playing music feel like, well, a real job. Countless green performers will “pay their dues” in this way in the hopes that these backing gigs will lead to something bigger for themselves, and the Beatles were no exception.
When solo performer Tony Sheridan needed a backing band to cut a few records in the studio, the Beatles obliged. But once they got there, they quickly realized that this wasn’t the “big break” they had been looking for. As George Harrison recalled in Anthology, “It was a bit disappointing because we’d been hoping to get a record deal ourselves.” Moreover, the band walked into the session with a great deal of confidence. “We thought it would be easy,” John Lennon added. “The Germans had such s***** records. Ours were bound to be better. We did five of our own numbers. But they didn’t like them.”
Instead, the band recorded covers with Sheridan providing lead vocals, including “My Bonnie.” When the time came to list the band on the singles, Bert Kaempfert, the band leader and producer, changed the Beatles’ name to the Beat Brothers. “This is more understandable for the German audience,” Paul McCartney recalled him telling the band. “We went along with it,” he said. “It was a record.”
It Didn’t Take Long For Those Tables To Turn
The Beatles might have left the German recording session with their tail between their legs. But that humility didn’t last long. It would only take a few years for the band—properly billed under their own name—to reach international stardom. What’s more, they managed to do so with their original music. This was still a novelty at a time when most music was written by songwriters, not by the performing artist. When Tony Sheridan first released his records with “the Beat Brothers” as his backing band, even songs where he wasn’t present, like “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Cry For a Shadow,” were still primarily billed to him, not the future Fab Four.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
