The Beatles | A signed copy of the first pressing of "Love Me Do"

The Beatles

Love Me Do. Parlophone, 1962

7'' single (catalogue number 45-R 4949), signed by John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney on the labels, first pressing, matrix numbers 7XCE 17144-1N and 7XCE 17145-1N, red labels with "MADE IN GT. BRITAIN" printed under the Parlophone logo, the title "LOVE ME DO" centered with the writing credit below, "BEECHWOOD LTD." left-justified with "ARDMORE" and the publishing credit aligned above the "XC" in the label's matrix numbers, "RECORDING" aligned under the "C" in the label's matrix numbers, with the corrected bracket in the writing credit on the B-side, tax codes "ZT | 1" and "P" on A-side run-outs and "ZT" and "JR" on B-side run-outs; tape remnants to the B-side label affecting McCartney's signature, another signature also present on the labels reading "Joyce Tan," lacking the record sleeve.

First pressing of the official debut single, signed by all four Beatles.

Three different recordings of the song have been released, each with a different drummer: the first attempted recording in June 1962 featured Pete Best on the drums (though this recording was not released until its appearance on 1995's Anthology 1); the second recording featured Ringo Starr on the drums, and was used on the present first pressing of the single (designated by the "1N" in the single's matrix numbers); the third recording featured Andy White in lieu of Starr, which was used for the second Parlophone pressing of the single, as well as the track's appearance on Please Please Me, and Tollie Records' US issue of the single. Several textual variants on the labels of the first pressing of Parlophone single are known, but have no priority.

"Love Me Do" was released on Friday 5 October 1962. The following day the band held their first ever official signing session. This event took place at Dawson's Music Shop in Widnes, a town on the north bank of the Mersey a few miles from Liverpool, at 4 pm on 6 October 1962. The single peaked at number 17 in the UK charts: "Crude as it was compared to the Beatles's later achievements, it blew a stimulating autumn breeze through an enervated pop scene, heralding a change in the tone of post-war British life ... The first faint chime of a revolutionary bell, 'Love Me Do' represented far more than the sum of its simple parts. A new spirit was abroad: artless yet unabashed — and awed by nothing." (MacDonald, Revolution in the Head, p.43)