@@gavand_4423 Spot on ! .. My favourite 2 Beatles covers ( in order ) are Anna, followed by You've Really Got a Hold On Me, .. John's voice is just perfect on them, and the harmonies and arrangements were excellent .. Cheers, Wayne
@@gavand_4423 OH ME TOO!!! LOVE John's voice on "ANNA", it has so much anguish in it! ANOTHER one where Lennon puts so much emotion in his voice is on "BABY IT'S YOU."
They made a lot of covers "Roll Over Beethoven", "Long Tall Sally", "Twist and Shout", "Money(That's What I want)","Rock and Roll Music", "Till There Was You",....They're just a few of the ones that they brought to a much wider audience.
You (HarriBest) mentioned "Please Mr. Postman"; others include "Slow Down", "Baby It's You", "Boys", "A Taste of Honey", "Words of Love", "Kansas City" (in Little Richard's medley with his "Hey Hey Hey Hey!"), "Mr. Moonlight" and "Bad Boy". There's also a slew of others from the Beatles' released BBC performances: "Young Blood", "Soldier of Love", "Sure to Fall", "To Know Her Is to Love Her", "Memphis, Tennessee", "I Got a Woman", "Hippy Hippy Shake", "Some Other Guy", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Don't Ever Change", "Lucille", "Too Much Monkey Business", "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", "Ooh! My Soul", "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", "Nothin' Shakin'", and "Clarabella", amongst others!
Yes, although all the covers were in their very early years when they were still getting established, and a handful made it onto the first couple of albums until the record company finally had the confidence to let them exclusively record their own material.
Worth remembering that these lads clocked up about 1,000 hours of performing prior to ever releasing a record. A lot of covers, American r and b and Motown. They really dug the girl group harmonies of Motown as well as straight rock and roll. They were genuinely colourblind, musically and socially. They refused to play a racially segregated gig in the USA, so it became integrated at their demand. Ahead of their time in so many ways.
this version was the first version of this song I ever heard Paul especially loved the Motown sound and wondered why their drums and bass could not sound like thiers sadly one of the last Funk Brothers who played on this song Joe Messina passed away the other day
I remember listening to this as a kid when it first came out, and it was absolute magic. Imagine what it was like experiencing the Beatles music when it was all brand new and nothing else sounded even remotely like it.
I don't have to imagine, I just have to remember. I can tell you that they were the most important thing in my life and they had more authority and were more respected and revered than any teachers or adults, including my own parents.
It was MAGIC experiencing the Beatles for the first time when they came out. I KNOW because I was THERE, I was just a few months from turning 16 during Christmas break in 1963. I woke up to my clock radio to "I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND" and I looked at my radio and said out-loud, "WHAT is THAT!!??" I LOVED it IMMEDIATELY, it sounded SO DIFFERENT from what we had been hearing on the radio.
"Twist And Shout" (a cover of the song by The Isley Brothers on Atlantic Records) was a big hit in the US. It was recorded during their first recording session for Parlophone, and John Lennon was starting to lose his voice during the session. He had to fight through to get the song recorded to George Martin's satisfaction.
Hari, In my opinion you have summed it up well. Greatness meets greatness. I’ve read that Smokey Robinson was thrilled that the Beatles covered one of his songs. I guarantee you that the Beatles were honored to cover a song by such a legend. Thank you for your reaction. Loved it!
The record album was our introduction to The Beatles. Older people will have listened to that album front to back and then turned it over and started again. Repeatedly..
Check out The Beatles first LP. Half the album is covers! They loved Chuck Berry & Motown & some other American artists from the 50s n early 60s & they did a lot of covers. Most people don’t realize the Beatles are probably the best cover band ever!
Smokey loved the cover. He really appreciated the fact that the most popular band in the world recorded his music. Yes, they did cover other Motown artists, but I believe Barret Strong's "Money" is the only other studio track ever released. Oh and there were a lot of Motown covers of The Beatles.
Yes Smokey Robinson and Mowtown but a lot of black male & female artists had influence on the early Beatles. The biggest influences in their unique sound were Chuck Berry and Del Shannon in which the chord changes were similar but with a faster beat.
One of the Beatles many talents was, making covers of their idols' music. It was always done with a lot of respect and great skill. In my opinion, many of the covers are on par with the original, if not better.
It's easy to "discover" "The Beatles": buy their LPS, and listen to them in order of release. And it is the fact that their LPs were often rated at ##1 on the SINGLES charts because ALL the songs on every LP was played on the radio.
In the early Days The Liverpool lads were considered the best at cover songs.. they collected all the greats from the States then they reintroduced it back again ,,and brought the USA back into the world view
The Beatles, being in Liverpool, where the port was, were able to get imports of records from black musicians from America and studied them and tried to copy them. Rhythm and blues became a part of the Beatles because of this. Some black musicians became famous after the Beatles did a cover of their song. What goes around, comes around.
The boys did a few covers early on in their career. they are, "Anna (Go to Him)" "Chains" "Boys" "Baby It's You" "A Taste of Honey" "Twist and Shout" "Till There Was You" "Please Mr. Postman" "Roll Over Beethoven" "You Really Got a Hold on Me" "Devil in Her Heart" "Money (That's What I Want)" "Long Tall Sally" "Slow Down" "Matchbox" "Rock and Roll Music" "Mr. Moonlight" "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" "Words of Love" "Honey Don't" "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" "Bad Boy" "Act Naturally" "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" "Maggie Mae"
How much influence did the Beatles get from Motown? Tonnes! The Beatles actually had the distinction of introducing the British public to Motown by playing Please Mr Postman live on a radio broadcast. Other than Goffin and King, the Beatles included Smokey, the Shirells, Arthur Alexander, Willie Dixon, the list goes on. When they came to the US, they called up all the radio stations and requested for them to play Motown songs for them - only Motown songs. By the way, great channel!
As you probably know, their manager Brian Epstein originally ran the music department of a store his family owned in Liverpool. To make his record department stand out, he had a policy of stocking at least one copy of every popular music release from the US - many of them black and Motown artists. After he and the Beatles got together, he let them come into the store after hours, when they would spend hours going through the racks, listening to everything, looking for new material. This was when they were still, in essence, a covers band - as were all bands back then. Most music in the UK charts was either American or a British artist's cover of a US hit. It was only when the Beatles had to play very long gigs (as in the Hamburg clubs, where for months on end they played seven hours a night, every night of the week), or when other bands were on before them and played the songs they'd planned to do, that John and Paul started introducing more of their own numbers, to fill the gaps... They'd been writing their own songs individually since their mid teens, but the pressure to come up with new stuff all the time got them working together and taking it more seriously, as well as scouring Brian's record department for 'hidden treasures'... just like you're doing here, Harri, on YT, all these years later, in 2021... :-)
Thank you for your reaction to this lesser known great Beatles tune! "Twist and Shout" was probably their biggest hit that they didn't write, though there were other songs including "Til There Was You" and "Roll Over Beethoven". Two early beautiful love songs they wrote when John was about 23 and Paul 21 are "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her"! Both are amazing pieces of work, especially from someone so young! Cheers!
I am so glad to see that you are going in order whereas most reactors listen to the later Beatles and only occasionally go back to their earlier music. By doing it this way you are experiencing two things. First you can see for yourself how the Beatles quickly evolved into great songwriters and their musicianship got tighter and more complex as time went on. Beginning with "Rubber Soul" they no longer did cover songs but the fact that their early albums are filled with them show that they loved old American rock and roll and as you see there was no shortage of their covering black American groups and individuals. Second, you get to see the Beatles as we saw them at the time. We knew that the album "Beatles For Sale" was different from "A Hard Day's Night" and "Meet The Beatles" only we did not know we were at the edge of their "middle early period" which generally speaking was the period between the music they produced after "A Hard Day's Night" up to "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver." That album more or less marked the end of their middle period and the beginning of the psychedelic chapter which was basically "Sgt. Pepper," "Magical Mystery Tour," and The "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack. I am not a Beatle expert by anyone's standards but I was there at the time and my opinions are based on what I saw back then and the way I interpreted their growth and changes. in 2021 this is as close as you can get to going back to the 1960s and joining us old timers in what was a magical moment of time that we will never see again in the same way and of the same measure.
Hi..this was my exact intention.But i am getting fans who are impatient and want to also hear the era that they like.So i am.gonna have to start mixing up the albums and songs..Its tough to try to please all 😀
I think you've got most of the answers below Harri, basically in their early years they did a lot of covers. Once you've finished going through the Beatles catalogue, try John Lennon's Rock and Roll album, I've always loved it, brilliant covers.
There were MANY covers done by the early Beatles My favorites: Words Of Love ( buddy holly ) Act Naturally ( sung by Ringo ) Long Tall Sally ( little richard ) Rock and Roll Music ( chuck berry ) and Anna ( great vocals by John ). This is only a partial list. If they covered it they liked and admired it.
What I liked about The Beatles covers is that they didn’t change the arrangements. They loved the originals and covered it perfectly. Too many artists change the arrangements on covers “to make it theirs” and don’t honor the original. This is my favorite Beatles cover but Long Tall Sally, Roll Over Beethoven, Rock and Roll Music, Chains, Anna, Act Naturally, Money, Slow Down, Till There Was You, a butt load more were perfectly done.
The Beatles biggest hit cover was "Twist and Shout" It was prominently featured in the parade in the 1980's classic comedy film, "Ferris Beuller's Day Off"
All the albums up to Help! have some covers on them with the exception of A Hard Day's Night which is entirely Lennon/McCartney. Although no singles were issued from this album (With The Beatles) in the UK, you could argue that they all charted because the album sold so well it reached number 11 in the singles chart!! Yes, I am old enough to remember all that ...arghhh!!
John Lennon said he wrote This Boy as an attempt to create a song for The Beatles in the style of Smokey Robinson. Robinson’s influence on the Beatles was immense. In their first press conference in New York, they were asked why they covered so many Black artists’ tunes. Because it is great music, they answer. You can hear George in the background saying they are “better than us.” Lennon’s performance here is arguably even more raw than Smokey’s. He really “got” the song.
Harri, Wikipedia has all their cover songs, including The Shirelles, Ray Charles, Larry Williams, Little Richard, everybody. Their first album was recorded in one day and consisted of their stage act composed mostly of covers.
I saw below someone mention "With A Little Help From My Friends," a "Lennon/McCartney" composition sung by Ringo Starr (his best singing, in my opinion). If you ever decide to react to this one, PLEASE start it out with the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" song before it, because they really go together. Towards the end of the first song the lyrics go like this: I don't really want to stop the show But I thought you might like to know That the singer's going to sing a song And he wants you all to sing along So let me introduce to you The one and only Billy Shears And Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band And then, the second one begins with "BI--LLY SHEARS!" and Ringo begins the song. I love how they do it.
I'm a 71+ yrs old granny and was either a freshman or sophomore in high school when they came to America and were on the Ed Sullivan show, '64 I think... there were no repeats or recording of things in those days - if you missed something you missed it forever (until 50+yrs later and the internet...) The first album I knew of was 'Meet the Beatles' - it was a slightly different album I believe in the UK (With the Beatles??) some songs were different - and there may have been another very early album (yay, real round records that unfortunately broke occasionally, boo hoo...) That early album or maybe their 2nd album, called the Beatles - Second Album - original, huh? had a few cover songs of artists they admired - I remember 'Long Tall Sally', (lead sung by Paul I believe) - he was the harder rocker singer of them all -...'Til there was you' (beautiful !! ) 'Roll over Beethoven', I think some covers were 'B' sides of Beatles penned singles (45 - rpm 'revolutions per minute' to you youngsters. :) Ringo was shy and sweet - he had a tough childhood health-wise - had to watch some things throughout his life - he had a hard time with the food when they went to India and had to leave for home before the others - I was a bit partial to George back then, somehow made sense that I also was a fan of Spock in Star Trek, too - the quiet intellectual types...I ramble... I hope that helps - I'm enjoying your journey and the memories for me - keep going...
The third Motown song The Beatles covered was "Money (That's What I Want)" but they had big hits with The Isley Brothers "Twist And Shout", Meredith & Eileen Wilson's "Til There Was You" and The Shirelles' "Baby It's You" and "Boys." They also covered Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven", Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally", "A Taste of Honey" from the 1961 Broadway play, The Cookies "Chains" and "The Devil in Her Heart" by The Donays, whose lead singer, Yvonne Vernee, would later become the lead singer for Motown's Elgins when Ian Levine revived the group in the 1990's.
a few years ago i was in detroit to see paul mccartney......we drove to the motown studio(Hitsville USA) we parked the car and watched paul and his band come out from a private tour....soon after paul had at the steinway piano picked up and rebuilt for about $300,000.00us.........go and look for pauls russian rock n roll album and johns rock n roll album...all songs they loved and played
04:13 Dude, that's funny, bc Smokey practically *WAS* Motown for a very long time. As performer, producer and he wrote literally dozens of Motown's top-40 hits in the '60s. A real giant.
The Beatles, on many occasions, said they were heavily influenced by Motown artists. They covered the Isley Brothers, Marvelletes, and Smokey and the Miracles.
Thank you for this; haven't heard it in years! I think The Beatles were influenced by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and whatever Motown music that was out then.
Hey try the Beatles covers of: "Bad Boy" (Larry Williams song), 1959; covered by the Beatles, 1965. Larry Williams played backup for Little Richard. "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard and later the Beatles, and "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" is a rock and roll song written and recorded by Larry Williams in 1958. Although identified as a "genuine rock & roll classic"] it had limited success on the record charts. Seven years later, the Beatles recorded the song, and John Lennon performed it with the Plastic Ono Band in 1969.
John loved “ Smokey Robinson “. One of my favorite songs by the early Beatles is “this boy” and the other one is “ Anna” by the American Arthur Alexander . You should listen to them both
Dusty Springfield would bring suitcases of records from the US as she was a massive fan of soul music. She played these to friends among them the beatles Lennon loved the song on first hearing and included on there next album. You did ask if anyone new how the track came about.
The Beatles endeared themselves to African Artists when they discovered they were doing a few of their songs [royalties going to the writers didn't hurt either!] and jumped on board the Beatles train and did Beatles covers...Stevie Wonder did the Beatles song "We Can Work It Out" for example. if there was competition, it was friendly. I like the drumming Ringo does on this. Esp. on the fills. If you listen to the Beatles at the BBS, radio programs, yu will hear other covers from Motown they did NOT put on studio albums, like Keep Your Hand Off of My Baby, Soldier of Love...and some Chuck Berry numbers.
The Beatles covered many, many black artists, especially in their first few albums. In all, they probably covered over a couple of dozen artists, like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Smokey Robinson. On Parlophone Record albums Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and Beatles For Sale, they covered many black artists. On A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul and onward, they only recorded their own songs. Some of their best black artist covers: Anna, Money, Roll Over Beethoven, Twist and Shout, Long Tall Sally, Please Mr. Postman, Kansas City/Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!, Rock and Roll Music, Mr. Moonlight, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, Chains, Devil in Her Heart, Boys, Baby It's You, Bad Boy. Recorded on a German label, Odeon, and on Decca: Road Runner, Little Queenie, Searchin', Three Cool Cats, Memphis Tennessee, Sweet Little 16. Recorded by the BBC on Pop Go the Beatles!, there were just too many to list them all. Many British Invasion bands from the early '60's, including the Beatles, considered themselves to be Rhythm and Blues influenced bands.
Paul McCartney took huge influence from James Jamerson as a bass player. As songwriters - Beatles and Smokey Robinson are at the same level. I believe Tracks of My Tears is the most perfect song ever written
"To:Mr.Harribest,you mentioned Mr.Smokey Robinson and The Miracles': There's one of quite a few 'Smokey Robinson songlyrics,titled;"Mickey's Monkey", of the year 1964: 5--28--2022"
I’ve always maintained that not only were The Beatles the best band ever, they were also the best cover band ever
They really were, as you know they covered songs of artists that they admired, and in almost all cases their covers were better!
John Lennon’s voice never gets boring. He sounds so good in this one. Try “I Should have Known Better” or “If I Fell”
This Boy...
On The Ed Sullivan show. John was it, for me. Great singing voice.
"I Should have Known Better" is a fantastic song.
Twist and Shout is a great cover as is Kansas City
One of my favorites of their covers is Anna, sung by John ... just great!
This is my favorite cover they did. John sings the hell out of it.
His performance was indeed great
I love this cover but I personally like their cover of Anna (Go to Him) the most 😎
@@gavand_4423 Spot on ! .. My favourite 2 Beatles covers ( in order ) are Anna, followed by You've Really Got a Hold On Me, .. John's voice is just perfect on them, and the harmonies and arrangements were excellent .. Cheers, Wayne
@@gavand_4423 OH ME TOO!!! LOVE John's voice on "ANNA", it has so much anguish in it! ANOTHER one where Lennon puts so much emotion in his voice is on "BABY IT'S YOU."
mine is Money and Leave My Kitten Alone
John has such a beautiful voice just beautiful!!
John Lennon, so much soul. He loved Smokey Robinson. And Smokey appreciated how much $$ he made him. And he was flattered. All good. Beautiful
Something about John’s voice …. It sounds like he’s singing directly to you. ❤
They made a lot of covers "Roll Over Beethoven", "Long Tall Sally", "Twist and Shout", "Money(That's What I want)","Rock and Roll Music", "Till There Was You",....They're just a few of the ones that they brought to a much wider audience.
You (HarriBest) mentioned "Please Mr. Postman"; others include "Slow Down", "Baby It's You", "Boys", "A Taste of Honey", "Words of Love", "Kansas City" (in Little Richard's medley with his "Hey Hey Hey Hey!"), "Mr. Moonlight" and "Bad Boy". There's also a slew of others from the Beatles' released BBC performances: "Young Blood", "Soldier of Love", "Sure to Fall", "To Know Her Is to Love Her", "Memphis, Tennessee", "I Got a Woman", "Hippy Hippy Shake", "Some Other Guy", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Don't Ever Change", "Lucille", "Too Much Monkey Business", "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", "Ooh! My Soul", "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", "Nothin' Shakin'", and "Clarabella", amongst others!
Yes, although all the covers were in their very early years when they were still getting established, and a handful made it onto the first couple of albums until the record company finally had the confidence to let them exclusively record their own material.
Please Mr Postman was one of the best, loved the video.. ruclips.net/video/Jzy4R8EbWJ4/видео.html
And "Baby It's You," Words of Love, "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby," and others.
Worth remembering that these lads clocked up about 1,000 hours of performing prior to ever releasing a record. A lot of covers, American r and b and Motown. They really dug the girl group harmonies of Motown as well as straight rock and roll. They were genuinely colourblind, musically and socially. They refused to play a racially segregated gig in the USA, so it became integrated at their demand. Ahead of their time in so many ways.
There’s a clip of the Beatles phoning a radio station to request “pride and joy” Marvin Gaye
They got a hold on me!
John even wrote a Smokey style song, "This Boy."
this version was the first version of this song I ever heard Paul especially loved the Motown sound and wondered why their drums and bass could not sound like thiers sadly one of the last Funk Brothers who played on this song Joe Messina passed away the other day
I remember listening to this as a kid when it first came out, and it was absolute magic. Imagine what it was like experiencing the Beatles music when it was all brand new and nothing else sounded even remotely like it.
I don't have to imagine, I just have to remember. I can tell you that they were the most important thing in my life and they had more authority and were more respected and revered than any teachers or adults, including my own parents.
Hearing this stuff brand new is tough relate to you, truly magical?
@@davidantonacci9525 INDEED!!!!
Roll over Beethoven
It was MAGIC experiencing the Beatles for the first time when they came out. I KNOW because I was THERE, I was just a few months from turning 16 during Christmas break in 1963. I woke up to my clock radio to "I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND" and I looked at my radio and said out-loud, "WHAT is THAT!!??" I LOVED it IMMEDIATELY, it sounded SO DIFFERENT from what we had been hearing on the radio.
Lennon didn' like "The Beatles'" cover versions. But this is better than the original; it is actually EMOTIONAL.
Great cover of Smokey and The Miracles’ classic. You know immediately that John is the lead.
I adore your reverence for the Beatles.
John is amazing, Another gem!!!
"Twist And Shout" (a cover of the song by The Isley Brothers on Atlantic Records) was a big hit in the US. It was recorded during their first recording session for Parlophone, and John Lennon was starting to lose his voice during the session. He had to fight through to get the song recorded to George Martin's satisfaction.
Explains.why he was so husky😀
You can hear his hacking cough right at the end of the track.
@@HarriBestReactions Paul especially loved the Motown sound and John loved Smokeys writing
When you get to the song I FEEL FINE Ill be listen over and over
Have always loved this cover and John's voice on it. Another great cover with John on lead vocals is Anna by Arthur Alexander. Stay safe🤘✌
If you have a listen to tomorrow never knows by them you wont even believe that it's the Beatles and that the song was made in the year 3000
Hari, In my opinion you have summed it up well. Greatness meets greatness. I’ve read that Smokey Robinson was thrilled that the Beatles covered one of his songs. I guarantee you that the Beatles were honored to cover a song by such a legend. Thank you for your reaction. Loved it!
Smokey Robinson, songwriting god himself, loved The Beatles covering one of his songs.
Been listening to Beatles since 1964,I was 9 yrs old,so many great songs son, thanks 😎💪
I was 10 years old listing to this song over and over. Their music was the song book of my youth.
John and George on vocals. George even did a song on one of his later solo albums "Pure Smokey" as a tribute.
Listen to Baby it’s you next . Lennon’s voice is soooo good . Another Motown song
Another great Beatle cover of Motown is "Mr Postman".
Great cover
Yes! My fav cover!!
And " Baby Its You" and "Anna"
The record album was our introduction to The Beatles. Older people will have listened to that album front to back and then turned it over and started again. Repeatedly..
Check out The Beatles first LP. Half the album is covers! They loved Chuck Berry & Motown & some other American artists from the 50s n early 60s & they did a lot of covers. Most people don’t realize the Beatles are probably the best cover band ever!
Smokey Robinson was a big influence on the Beatles. George Harrison has a song called Pure Smokey as a tribute to Smokey.
Another great John sung tune from the Beatles early days is "You can't do that"
The Beatles did a nice cover of Baby It’s You by The Shirelles.
Smokey loved the cover. He really appreciated the fact that the most popular band in the world recorded his music. Yes, they did cover other Motown artists, but I believe Barret Strong's "Money" is the only other studio track ever released. Oh and there were a lot of Motown covers of The Beatles.
Oh yes, Smokey had a big influence on them ... They were influenced by the best! John had such a great expressive voice.
One of my favorite of their covers! 😃😃
Yes Smokey Robinson and Mowtown but a lot of black male & female artists had influence on the early Beatles. The biggest influences in their unique sound were Chuck Berry and Del Shannon in which the chord changes were similar but with a faster beat.
"Anna" is a great cover song sung by John.
Mr moonlight was a great early cover off beatles for sale but it wasn't a single
They covered twist and shout, big hit
One of the Beatles many talents was, making covers of their idols' music. It was always done with a lot of respect and great skill. In my opinion, many of the covers are on par with the original, if not better.
They were just good people with good values
@@HarriBestReactions and a lot of talent! :-)
Twist and Shout is a Beatles classic and more well known than the Isle Bros original.
the Isle Bros version was a cover too.
It's easy to "discover" "The Beatles": buy their LPS, and listen to them in order of release.
And it is the fact that their LPs were often rated at ##1 on the SINGLES charts because ALL the songs on every LP was played on the radio.
I much prefer their older stuff/covers like this, nice reaction
In the early Days The Liverpool lads were considered the best at cover songs..
they collected all the greats from the States then they reintroduced it back again ,,and brought the USA back into the world view
Smokey and the Miracles covered Beatles' songs too. The Supremes as well.
Great reaction of a great cover! A lot of people think the Beatles wrote "Twist and Shout," but that was an Isley Brothers song originally.
The Beatles, being in Liverpool, where the port was, were able to get imports of records from black musicians from America and studied them and tried to copy them. Rhythm and blues became a part of the Beatles because of this. Some black musicians became famous after the Beatles did a cover of their song. What goes around, comes around.
Great song, great version, good review.
The boys did a few covers early on in their career. they are,
"Anna (Go to Him)"
"Chains"
"Boys"
"Baby It's You"
"A Taste of Honey"
"Twist and Shout"
"Till There Was You"
"Please Mr. Postman"
"Roll Over Beethoven"
"You Really Got a Hold on Me"
"Devil in Her Heart"
"Money (That's What I Want)"
"Long Tall Sally"
"Slow Down"
"Matchbox"
"Rock and Roll Music"
"Mr. Moonlight"
"Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!"
"Words of Love"
"Honey Don't"
"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby"
"Bad Boy"
"Act Naturally"
"Dizzy Miss Lizzy"
"Maggie Mae"
How much influence did the Beatles get from Motown? Tonnes! The Beatles actually had the distinction of introducing the British public to Motown by playing Please Mr Postman live on a radio broadcast. Other than Goffin and King, the Beatles included Smokey, the Shirells, Arthur Alexander, Willie Dixon, the list goes on. When they came to the US, they called up all the radio stations and requested for them to play Motown songs for them - only Motown songs.
By the way, great channel!
Enjoyed your reaction, as always.
Twist And Shout was a massive cover hit amongst many others :)
As you probably know, their manager Brian Epstein originally ran the music department of a store his family owned in Liverpool. To make his record department stand out, he had a policy of stocking at least one copy of every popular music release from the US - many of them black and Motown artists. After he and the Beatles got together, he let them come into the store after hours, when they would spend hours going through the racks, listening to everything, looking for new material.
This was when they were still, in essence, a covers band - as were all bands back then. Most music in the UK charts was either American or a British artist's cover of a US hit.
It was only when the Beatles had to play very long gigs (as in the Hamburg clubs, where for months on end they played seven hours a night, every night of the week), or when other bands were on before them and played the songs they'd planned to do, that John and Paul started introducing more of their own numbers, to fill the gaps... They'd been writing their own songs individually since their mid teens, but the pressure to come up with new stuff all the time got them working together and taking it more seriously, as well as scouring Brian's record department for 'hidden treasures'... just like you're doing here, Harri, on YT, all these years later, in 2021... :-)
"The Beatles" also covered the Motown song "Please Mr. Postman".
Thank you for your reaction to this lesser known great Beatles tune! "Twist and Shout" was probably their biggest hit that they didn't write, though there were other songs including "Til There Was You" and "Roll Over Beethoven". Two early beautiful love songs they wrote when John was about 23 and Paul 21 are "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her"! Both are amazing pieces of work, especially from someone so young! Cheers!
I am so glad to see that you are going in order whereas most reactors listen to the later Beatles and only occasionally go back to their earlier music. By doing it this way you are experiencing two things. First you can see for yourself how the Beatles quickly evolved into great songwriters and their musicianship got tighter and more complex as time went on. Beginning with "Rubber Soul" they no longer did cover songs but the fact that their early albums are filled with them show that they loved old American rock and roll and as you see there was no shortage of their covering black American groups and individuals. Second, you get to see the Beatles as we saw them at the time. We knew that the album "Beatles For Sale" was different from "A Hard Day's Night" and "Meet The Beatles" only we did not know we were at the edge of their "middle early period" which generally speaking was the period between the music they produced after "A Hard Day's Night" up to "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver." That album more or less marked the end of their middle period and the beginning of the psychedelic chapter which was basically "Sgt. Pepper," "Magical Mystery Tour," and The "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack. I am not a Beatle expert by anyone's standards but I was there at the time and my opinions are based on what I saw back then and the way I interpreted their growth and changes. in 2021 this is as close as you can get to going back to the 1960s and joining us old timers in what was a magical moment of time that we will never see again in the same way and of the same measure.
Hi..this was my exact intention.But i am getting fans who are impatient and want to also hear the era that they like.So i am.gonna have to start mixing up the albums and songs..Its tough to try to please all 😀
My favourite Cover sung by John is "Bad boy"
I think you've got most of the answers below Harri, basically in their early years they did a lot of covers. Once you've finished going through the Beatles catalogue, try John Lennon's Rock and Roll album, I've always loved it, brilliant covers.
It’s great that you are reviewing this song. There is a great drum fill at the end.
Such a treat!
There were MANY covers done by the early Beatles
My favorites: Words Of Love ( buddy holly ) Act Naturally ( sung by Ringo ) Long Tall Sally ( little richard ) Rock and Roll Music ( chuck berry ) and Anna ( great vocals by John ). This is only a partial list. If they covered it they liked and admired it.
Chains
What I liked about The Beatles covers is that they didn’t change the arrangements.
They loved the originals and covered it perfectly.
Too many artists change the arrangements on covers “to make it theirs” and don’t honor the original.
This is my favorite Beatles cover but Long Tall Sally, Roll Over Beethoven, Rock and Roll Music, Chains, Anna, Act Naturally, Money, Slow Down, Till There Was You, a butt load more were perfectly done.
My favorite Smokey Robinson song. I love both versions equally.
The Beatles biggest hit cover was "Twist and Shout" It was prominently featured in the parade in the 1980's classic comedy film, "Ferris Beuller's Day Off"
Mark Lewisohn said that the first Motown song to appear on the BBC was a Beatles performance. They introduced Motown songs to UK audiences.
Twist and shout, Mr postman.
All the albums up to Help! have some covers on them with the exception of A Hard Day's Night which is entirely Lennon/McCartney. Although no singles were issued from this album (With The Beatles) in the UK, you could argue that they all charted because the album sold so well it reached number 11 in the singles chart!! Yes, I am old enough to remember all that ...arghhh!!
hahahahaha Great memories for you Brian
Great to see you Harri doing a Smokey classic, the beatles dont let motown down.lol
Greatness meets Greatness.. brilliant
Lennon genius!
John Lennon said he wrote This Boy as an attempt to create a song for The Beatles in the style of Smokey Robinson. Robinson’s influence on the Beatles was immense. In their first press conference in New York, they were asked why they covered so many Black artists’ tunes. Because it is great music, they answer. You can hear George in the background saying they are “better than us.” Lennon’s performance here is arguably even more raw than Smokey’s. He really “got” the song.
Harri, Wikipedia has all their cover songs, including The Shirelles, Ray Charles, Larry Williams, Little Richard, everybody. Their first album was recorded in one day and consisted of their stage act composed mostly of covers.
I saw below someone mention "With A Little Help From My Friends," a "Lennon/McCartney" composition sung by Ringo Starr (his best singing, in my opinion). If you ever decide to react to this one, PLEASE start it out with the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" song before it, because they really go together.
Towards the end of the first song the lyrics go like this:
I don't really want to stop the show
But I thought you might like to know
That the singer's going to sing a song
And he wants you all to sing along
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Billy Shears
And Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
And then, the second one begins with "BI--LLY SHEARS!" and Ringo begins the song. I love how they do it.
I'm a 71+ yrs old granny and was either a freshman or sophomore in high school when they came to America and were on the Ed Sullivan show, '64 I think... there were no repeats or recording of things in those days - if you missed something you missed it forever (until 50+yrs later and the internet...) The first album I knew of was 'Meet the Beatles' - it was a slightly different album I believe in the UK (With the Beatles??) some songs were different - and there may have been another very early album (yay, real round records that unfortunately broke occasionally, boo hoo...)
That early album or maybe their 2nd album, called the Beatles - Second Album - original, huh? had a few cover songs of artists they admired - I remember 'Long Tall Sally', (lead sung by Paul I believe) - he was the harder rocker singer of them all -...'Til there was you' (beautiful !! ) 'Roll over Beethoven', I think some covers were 'B' sides of Beatles penned singles (45 - rpm 'revolutions per minute' to you youngsters. :) Ringo was shy and sweet - he had a tough childhood health-wise - had to watch some things throughout his life - he had a hard time with the food when they went to India and had to leave for home before the others - I was a bit partial to George back then, somehow made sense that I also was a fan of Spock in Star Trek, too - the quiet intellectual types...I ramble...
I hope that helps - I'm enjoying your journey and the memories for me - keep going...
You have a lot of knowledge about the songs you rest to. I see you've done research. Very good Harri. Best music reactions on RUclips.
The third Motown song The Beatles covered was "Money (That's What I Want)" but they had big hits with The Isley Brothers "Twist And Shout", Meredith & Eileen Wilson's "Til There Was You" and The Shirelles' "Baby It's You" and "Boys." They also covered Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven", Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally", "A Taste of Honey" from the 1961 Broadway play, The Cookies "Chains" and "The Devil in Her Heart" by The Donays, whose lead singer, Yvonne Vernee, would later become the lead singer for Motown's Elgins when Ian Levine revived the group in the 1990's.
a few years ago i was in detroit to see paul mccartney......we drove to the motown studio(Hitsville USA) we parked the car and watched paul and his band come out from a private tour....soon after paul had at the steinway piano picked up and rebuilt for about $300,000.00us.........go and look for pauls russian rock n roll album and johns rock n roll album...all songs they loved and played
She's Got The Devil In Her Heart-Beatles
04:13 Dude, that's funny, bc Smokey practically *WAS* Motown for a very long time. As performer, producer and he wrote literally dozens of Motown's top-40 hits in the '60s. A real giant.
Anna by Arthur Alexander is another song The Beatles covered. It's quite good, I would recommend listening to that one.
The early beatles in England loved the blues. They collected and traded songs.
They didKansas city as well.
The Beatles, on many occasions, said they were heavily influenced by Motown artists. They covered the Isley Brothers, Marvelletes, and Smokey and the Miracles.
This is Smokey’s song love.
On that same album they covered both the Marvelletts Please Mr. Postman and Barrett Strong's, Money. All Motown, all versions are quite good.
Twist and Shout was a cover and a Beatles hit.
Thank you for this; haven't heard it in years! I think The Beatles were influenced by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and whatever Motown music that was out then.
Hey try the Beatles covers of: "Bad Boy" (Larry Williams song), 1959; covered by the Beatles, 1965. Larry Williams played backup for Little Richard. "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard and later the Beatles, and "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" is a rock and roll song written and recorded by Larry Williams in 1958. Although identified as a "genuine rock & roll classic"] it had limited success on the record charts. Seven years later, the Beatles recorded the song, and John Lennon performed it with the Plastic Ono Band in 1969.
You really need to hear That boy.
PS If you haven’t done “Money,”
that’s a fabulous early cover
Thanks again!!!
Any time!
John loved “ Smokey Robinson “. One of my favorite songs by the early Beatles is “this boy” and the other one is “ Anna” by the American Arthur Alexander . You should listen to them both
Dusty Springfield would bring suitcases of records from the US as she was a massive fan of soul music. She played these to friends among them the beatles Lennon loved the song on first hearing and included on there next album. You did ask if anyone new how the track came about.
The Beatles endeared themselves to African Artists when they discovered they were doing a few of their songs [royalties going to the writers didn't hurt either!] and jumped on board the Beatles train and did Beatles covers...Stevie Wonder did the Beatles song "We Can Work It Out" for example. if there was competition, it was friendly. I like the drumming Ringo does on this. Esp. on the fills. If you listen to the Beatles at the BBS, radio programs, yu will hear other covers from Motown they did NOT put on studio albums, like Keep Your Hand Off of My Baby, Soldier of Love...and some Chuck Berry numbers.
The Beatles covered many, many black artists, especially in their first few albums. In all, they probably covered over a couple of dozen artists, like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Smokey Robinson. On Parlophone Record albums Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and Beatles For Sale, they covered many black artists. On A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul and onward, they only recorded their own songs. Some of their best black artist covers: Anna, Money, Roll Over Beethoven, Twist and Shout, Long Tall Sally, Please Mr. Postman, Kansas City/Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!, Rock and Roll Music, Mr. Moonlight, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, Chains, Devil in Her Heart, Boys, Baby It's You, Bad Boy. Recorded on a German label, Odeon, and on Decca: Road Runner, Little Queenie, Searchin', Three Cool Cats, Memphis Tennessee, Sweet Little 16. Recorded by the BBC on Pop Go the Beatles!, there were just too many to list them all. Many British Invasion bands from the early '60's, including the Beatles, considered themselves to be Rhythm and Blues influenced bands.
Melhor banda do Mundo . Imortais!! Abraços. -John em dueto com George ; Chorus : Paul e George. No piano George Martin.
Song that was not written by the Beatles? "Searchin". You going to fucking love it!
The Beatles took a lot of influence from Motown the listened to it all the time!
they also covered Money love the piano
Paul McCartney took huge influence from James Jamerson as a bass player.
As songwriters - Beatles and Smokey Robinson are at the same level.
I believe Tracks of My Tears is the most perfect song ever written
Although I think the Beatles edge Smokey slightly. They were a hit machine.
I love Smokey loads and loads though
"To:Mr.Harribest,you mentioned Mr.Smokey Robinson and The Miracles': There's one of quite a few 'Smokey Robinson songlyrics,titled;"Mickey's Monkey", of the year 1964: 5--28--2022"