60 years Ago: Beatles Release and Promote Third Single
The Beatles spent the second week of April, 1963, promoting their soon-to-be-released third single, From Me To You. After a rare day off on Monday, the group did a live mid-day radio interview on April 9, 1963, on the BBC show Pop Inn, broadcast from Paris Studio in London, during which the From Me To You single was played. Then it was off to an afternoon rehearsal for a television appearance on Tuesday Rendezvous, which was broadcast live at 5:00 pm. The group lip-synced From Me To You. A portion of their previous single, Please Please Me, was played over the closing credits. That evening the band played a concert at the Gaumont State Cinema in London. The next three nights the Beatles played at the Majestic Ballroom in Brickenhead, the Co-operative Hall in Lancashire and the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The Friday night show at the Cavern was an eight-hour R&B marathon headlined by the Beatles.
The remainder of the weekend consisted of taping a pair of television appearances. On Saturday, April 13, the Beatles were at Lime Grove Studios in London for the BBC program The 625 Show, which was set for broadcast on April 16 at 6:25 pm. The group performed both sides of their new single, From Me To You and Thank You Girl, as well as closing the show with Please Please Me. On Sunday, they mimed a performance of From Me To You for their third appearance on Thank You Lucky Stars, which was broadcast the following Saturday at 5:50 pm. That evening the Beatles drove to Richmond-upon-Thames to see a band perform at the Crawdaddy Club.
Meanwhile, in the States, the Beatles second single was no longer charting on Chicago’s WLS Silver Dollar Survey; however, Please Please Me was getting some spins on KFXM, a California station that boasted it was number one in Riverside and San Bernardino. Please Please Me charted at number 41 on the station’s Fabulous 59 survey dated April 6, 1963. The song disappeared from the charts for two weeks before returning later in the month.
Today’s trivia questions deal with the label copy on the Beatles third single and the band the Beatles went to see on Sunday night.
- On the Beatles From Me To You single, what publishing information appears for the first time on a first issue of a Beatles record?
- On the Beatles From Me To You single, what information appears for the last time on the first issue of a U.K. Beatles record?
- What R&B band did the Beatles see for the first time at the Crawdaddy Club on April 14, 1963?
- From Me To You is the first Beatles record to have the group’s original compositions credited to Northern Songs Limited. Although most pressings of the Please Please Me album credit I Saw Her Standing There, Misery, Do You Want To Know A Secret and There’s A Place to Northern Songs Ltd., the first pressings of the LP credit those songs to Dick James Mus. Co.
- From Me To You is the last first-issue U.K. Beatles record to have the songs credited to “McCartney-Lennon” rather than “Lennon-McCartney.”
- On April 14, 1963, the Beatles saw, for their first time, the Rolling Stones perform. The concert took place at the Crawdaddy Club.