On this day in Beatles History...November 29, 1963

The Beatles release I Want To Hold Your Hand in the UK on November 29, 1963.  The song had been written by John and Paul in the basement of Jane Asher's parent's house.  The song was one of two songs (the other being She Loves You) that The Beatles later recorded in German.  Take a few minutes today to listen to I Want To Hold Your Hand and think about how well it has held up over the last 52 years!

The Beatles: Where Do We Begin?

When talking about Beatles records, obviously we should start at the beginning.  The question is where is the beginning?  Do we start in 1961 with the Tony Sheridan song My Bonnie where The Beatles were the backup band?  Do we start with Love Me Do recorded with Pete Best on drums in 1962, but not released until years later?  Do we start with Love Me Do as recorded with Ringo on drums later in 1962?  I've spoken with many people who consider the version with Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine to be the first Beatles recording because that version was used on most releases despite the fact that the version with Ringo on drums was actually released first.

The fact is at the time no one was worried about how history would chronicle the recordings of the greatest band to ever live.  As the years went by, early master tapes were lost or recorded over.  Many, many albums were released with different song orders or different songs entirely, different covers for the same album, and generally all sorts of mixes and matches simply to sell product.  It was pure chaos.  But where does it start?

For me, it starts with the Ringo version of Love Me Do.  It was a Lennon–McCartney original.  It was released this way with just The Fab Four performing the song prior to the Andy White version.  Certainly it was just another day in the life of everyone involved, but if I have to pick a starting point for the greatest musical revolution of all time, this is where it's going to be.