'Love Me Do': The Beatles' 1st Single Was the Sound of Identity | Best Classic Bands
“Love Me Do,” the Beatles’ first single, has never received the plaudits that so much of their output has, and yet, there may have been no more important statement of purpose for the band.
Released in October 1962, “Love Me Do” was also the Beatles’ first hit, reaching #17 in the charts in Britain—even if that was largely because manager Brian Epstein bought up many copies himself, a technique known as “padding.”
The Beatles themselves regretted that they were missing out on the excitement back home—the presumed afterglow of landing a hit—by having to go to Hamburg for a final time as a club band. “Love Me Do” was where the action was, and who could fault The Beatles for wishing to be near their first trace of an epicenter?
The first noticeably different thing about “Love Me Do” is its unusual title. Love me do? The language mirrors a crisp, highly class-conscious, English form of conversation, the province of an older woman in society rather than a working-class Beatle.
Source: Colin Fleming/bestclassicbands.com
