60 years Ago: BEATLES RECORD 4 SHOWS FOR BBC & START 2nd ALBUM

The week of July 15, 1963, was another incredibly busy and productive week for the Beatles. After a day off on Monday, the group headed to BBC Paris Studios in London on July 16 to tape three editions of their show Pop Go The Beatles. The songs recorded that day demonstrate the wide scope of the Beatles musical tastes and abilities. The group recorded 17 different songs, including 13 that had not been previously recorded at Abbey Road.
For the show set for broadcast on August 6, 1963, the Beatles recorded: I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You); Crying, Waiting, Hoping; To Know Her Is To Love Her; The Honeymoon Song; Kansas City; and Twist And Shout. The first four songs were never properly recorded by EMI and the fifth would not be recorded at Abbey Road until the following year.
The August 13 show featured: Please Please Me; both sides of the new single, She Loves You and I’ll Get You (which would not be released until ten days after the broadcast on August 23); and cover versions of Long Tall Sally, You Really Got A Hold On Me and I Got A Woman. The first two covers would later be recorded for EMI, while the last is a BBC-only recording.
The August 20 program included a replay of the first BBC recording of She Loves You, plus the following cover songs: Words Of Love; Devil In Her Heart; Slow Down; Glad All Over; and I Just Don’t Understand.
Wednesday was a bit less hectic, with the Beatles performing four songs for the BBC show Easy Beat before a live audience at the Playhouse Theatre in London. The program, which was broadcast on July 21, included I Saw Her Standing There, There’s A Place, Twist And Shout and A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues. The first three plugged the debut album, while the fourth was another BBC-only song, a cover of an Arthur Alexander song.
On Thursday, the group remained in London with a trip to Abbey Road to begin recording their second album. Of the four cover songs recorded, two had been recorded just two days earlier for the BBC, You Really Got A Hold On Me and Devil In Her Heart. The other two songs had also been previously performed for the BBC, Money and Till There Was You. The group’s previous studio experience with the songs made the session run smoothly.
The Beatles closed out the week in Wales with sold out Friday and Saturday night concerts at the Ritz Ballroom in Rhyl, Flintshire. Sunday was a well deserved day of rest.
Today’s trivia questions cover the song recorded by the Beatles during the week of July 15, 1963.
- Of the songs recorded for the BBC on July 16, 1963, which two were previously recorded by Elvis Presley?
- Of the songs recorded for the BBC on July 16, 1963, which two were previously recorded by Buddy Holly?
- Of the songs recorded for the BBC on July 16, 1963, which two were previously recorded by Little Richard?
- Who originally recorded Devil In His Heart, which was gender-altered to Devil In Her Heart by the Beatles?
- Of the songs recorded for the BBC on July 16, 1963, which one was written by Phil Spector, who would later “reproduce” the Let It Be album and produce records for John and George?
- Of the songs recorded at Abbey Road on July 18, 1963, which ones are connected to the Motor City, Detroit?
- Of the songs recorded for the BBC on July 16, 1963, which one has a second-degree Elvis connection even though it was not recorded by the King?
- I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You) and I Got A Woman. (The latter song was first recorded by Ray Charles.)
- Crying, Waiting, Hoping and Words Of Love.
- Long Tall Sally and Kansas City. The latter recording was Little Richard’s unique rendition of the song, which contains a “Hey, hey, hey, hey” refrain, which Little Richard would later work into a song of his own, thus leading to the song being re-titled Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey.
- The Donays, an American girl group, were a “no-hit wonder” who gained their immortality in rock history because the Beatles recorded one of their songs.
- To Know Him Is To Love Him was written by Phil Spector and recorded by his group the Teddy Bears. It was gender-altered by the Beatles to be To Know Her Is To Love Her.
- Money and Really Got A Hold On Me were released on Motown Records. Devil In Her Heart was originally recorded by the Donays, a girl group from Detroit.
- I Just Don’t Understand was recorded by Hollywood starlet Ann Margret, who co-starred with Elvis in the movie Viva Las Vegas.