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50 Years Ago: Beatles Record From Me To You

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On Tuesday, March 5, 1963, the Beatles recorded their third single at Abbey Road Studios. The song chosen for the A-side, From Me To You, had been written five days earlier on the artists bus for the Helen Shapiro tour. The song features John and Paul on lead vocals, backed by John on his Gibson Jumbo electric-acoustic guitar, George on his Gretsch Duo-Jet electric guitar, Paul on his Hofner bass and Ringo on drums. Take 7 formed the basis for the master, which was embellished with “da da da da da dun dun dah” vocals, John’s harmonica and George’s lead guitar notes for the instrumental break.

The B-side, Thank You Girl, was also written on the Helen Shapiro tour and would have been the A-side had the boys not come up with From Me To You. The song was recorded with the same instrumentation as the A-side. The finished master combined Take 6 with the Take 13 ending edit piece, which featured Ringo’s intricate drumming. John returned to Abbey Road on March 13 to overdub harmonica. The single was released in the U.K. on April 11, 1963.

The recording session was a small part of a busy week for the group. The day before the band played a concert at the Plaza Ballroom in St. Helens. It marked the first time the group was paid £100 for a show.

On Wednesday, March 6, the Beatles returned to the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester to record four songs for the BBC program Here We Go. The group recorded Please Please Me, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Misery and I Saw Her Standing There, although the last song was not included in the March 12 broadcast of the show.

The next evening the Beatles were part of a Brian Epstein show at the Elizabethan Ballroom in Nottingham that included Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and the Big Three. On Friday, the Beatles were at the Royal Hall in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

That weekend the Beatles began another package tour, this time headlined by two American acts, Tommy Roe and Chris Montez. Opening night was at the Granada Cinema in East Ham, London. The group played Love Me Do, Misery, A Taste Of Honey, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Please Please Me and I Saw Her Standing There. On Sunday, the tour was at the Hippodrome Theatre in Birmingham.

Today’s trivia questions are about the Beatles third single.

  1. What was the name of the letters column appearing in New Musical Express that gave John and Paul the idea for From Me To You?
  2. What was the name of the Beatles BBC radio show that had a theme song that used the music of their third single?
  3. What was the working title of the B-side to the Beatles third single?
  4. What third song was recorded at the recording session for the Beatles third single?
  5. What additional song would have been recorded had the group not run out of time?

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  1. From You To Us was the letters column in the New Musical Express.
  2. The Beatles BBC radio show was called From Us To You, which used an adapted version of From Me To You as its theme song.
  3. The working title to the B-side of the third single was Thank You Little Girl, later shortened to Thank You Girl.
  4. One After 909 was also recorded at the session for the Beatles third single. The song was re-recorded during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions in January 1969.
  5. The Beatles planned to record What Goes On at the session, but ran out of time. The song was later recorded in November 1965 for Rubber Soul.

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