Beatles 50th Anniversary ‘Love Me Do’ Single Gets New Release Date

On Oct. 22, the Beatles will put out a limited-edition 45 of their first single, ‘Love Me Do,’ to mark the 50th anniversary of the song’s release. The special 45 rpm features ‘Love Me Do’ with ‘P.S. I Love You’ as the B-side. The packaging is a replica of the original, with a multi-colored sleeve, and a red Parlophone label in the center of the vinyl.

If that sentence sounds familiar, it's because we ran a near-identical version two weeks ago. The reason for the repeat is that a mix-up caused the wrong take of the song to be pressed in the original version.

The problem stems from the fact that the Beatles recorded 'Love Me Do' twice for Parlophone. The first session, on Sept. 4, 1962, featured Ringo Starr on drums. But George Martin expressed doubts about Starr's drumming and the band re-cut the song a week later with session pro Andy White, as Starr played the tambourine.

Starr had only recently joined the Beatles, having replaced Pete Best, whose firing occurred at Martin's suggestion after their audition for Parlophone that summer. Still, the take with Starr on drums was used for the British single, which reached No. 17 on the British charts, a respectable but unremarkable showing for a new band. Starr has said that, to this day, he still teases Martin about replacing him on the recording, regardless of how many times Martin has apologized for it.

For the 50th anniversary single, the White version, which was used by Capitol in 1964 for American release, was accidentally used. The band recalled copies of the single on the eve of its release and ordered them to be destroyed. However, it's possible that some copies escaped to retailers, which could make the withdrawn single a highly sought-after collectible.