Anatomy of an Album: "with the beatles" Quiz

Answer: All My Loving

"All My Loving" reached number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. It was not released as a single in the UK.

"All My Loving" was track three on the "with the beatles" album. Its B-side was "This Boy" which was the B-side of the UK single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and not on the "with the beatles" album. "Roll Over Beethoven" was track eight on the album and reached number 68 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Its B-side was "Please Mister Postman" which was track seven on the album. Neither of these two A-sides were released as A or B-sides in the UK. All four tracks were also on the US "Four By The Beatles" E.P. (extended play single) which reached number 92 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. The E. P. was not released in the UK.

Answer: Don't Bother Me

George Harrison had his first self penned song on a Beatles album with "Don't Bother Me" which was track four on the "with the beatles" album in 1964.

George wrote the song when The Beatles were appearing in Bournemouth, UK, in 1963. George was ill and had taken to his bed at the hotel they were staying in. He did not rate the song very highly at the time (I still like it anyway). A few days after the final recording of the song in September 1963 George became the first Beatle to set foot in the USA. He was visiting his sister Louise who lived at 113 McCann Street (later, the Hard Day's Nite Bed and Breakfast) in Benton, Illinois. While there he appeared with a group named The Four Vests at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Eldorado, Illinois. If only someone had recorded it!

Answer: The Music Man

"Till There Was You" was written by Meredith Willson and appeared in his 1957 musical "The Music Man". It was sung by Barbara Cook in the Broadway production and by Shirley Jones in the 1962 movie version. The first released version of the song was by Sue Raney with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra in 1957.

A version of the song titled "Till I Met You", was sung by Fran Warren on the US TV programme "The Big Show" in 1951. The first version of the song to chart was sung by Anita Bryant, it reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.

It did not chart in the UK. A version by Peggy Lee reached number 30 on the UK chart in 1961. It did not chart in the US.

Answer: The Marvelettes

"Please Mr. Postman" was a US number one hit for one week in 1961 for the Marvelettes. It did not chart in the UK.

"Please Mr. Postman" was the first US number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for a Motown record label. The Marvelettes formed at the Inkster High School in Michigan in 1960 were: Katherine Anderson, Juanita Cowert, Georgia Dobbins, Gladys Horton and Georgeanna Tillman. Although the song was written by William Garrett, group member Georgia Dobbins reworked it for the group. She had to leave the group before the recording for family reasons and was replaced by Wanda Young. The song was then reworked a second time by Robert Bateman, Brian Holland and Freddie Gorman.

Answer: True

The "with the beatles" album on the Parlophone record label entered the UK album chart on 30 November 1963 and was number one for 21 weeks. It spent 51 weeks on the chart. It replaced their own "Please Please Me" album at number one giving the Fab Four 51 consecutive weeks at number one.

Two weeks before its release "with the beatles" had amassed advanced orders of more than 250,000 copies. The Beatles were awarded a silver disc for the sale of 250,000 copies four days before the release of the album. Although the release of the album was overshadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the same day (November 22 1963) it had sold more than 500,000 copies before the end of the first week. It sold so many copies that it reached number 11 on the singles chart in the UK music paper "The New Musical Express". By the end of 1964 the sales of the album had passed the 950,000 mark. It finally reached sales of 1,000,000 in the UK in September 1965.

Answer: Tchaikovsky/Berry

Track eight on the "meet the beatles" album is "Roll Over Beethoven", with the line "Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news" written by Chuck Berry.

Chuck Berry's original recording was a number 29 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1956. It did not chart in the UK. It was the first Chuck Berry song to appear on a Beatles album in the UK. The highest and at the time of this quiz the only charted version of the song in the UK, was that by The Electric Light Orchestra which reached number six in 1973. This version reached number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 the same year.

Answer: John, George, Paul and Ringo

The photograph of The Fab Four, John, George, Paul and Ringo, on the album cover of the "with the beatles" album, was shot in a corridor of the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth, UK.

The photograph was taken by photographer Robert Freeman in 1963 for which he was paid £75. He had recently been taking photographs of Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow. The fall of Khrushchev and the rise of The Beatles in 1964 is purely coincidental. The alternative answers are the order of The Fab Four on other albums. George, John, Paul and Ringo ("Help!"). John, Ringo, Paul and George ("Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"). George, Paul, Ringo and John ("Abbey Road"). I know you will be checking them now.

Answer: The Rolling Stones

"I Wanna Be Your Man" was a number 12 hit for the Rolling Stones on the UK chart in 1963. It did not chart in the US.

Ringo gets to sing his one song again. This time it is a Lennon/McCartney song with John Lennon playing a Hammond organ on the track. It became The Rolling Stones' first UK Top 20 hit when it entered the chart on the 14 Nov 63. This was over two weeks before Ringo's version on the "with the beatles" album entered the UK album chart on the 30 Nov 63. In the US it was the B-side of The Rolling Stones' number 48 hit "Not Fade Away" in 1964.

Answer: "Roll Over Beethoven"/"Devil In Her Heart"

On the "with the beatles" album George Harrison sings lead vocal on track 8. "Roll Over Beethoven" written by Chuck Berry and track 12. "Devil In Her Heart" written by Richard Drapkin.

"Devil In Her Heart" was written by Richard Drapkin as "Devil In His Heart". It was first recorded by the US girl group The Donays in 1962 but did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 or the UK chart. John Lennon takes the lead vocal on all of the alternative song titles, "It Won't Be Long"/"All I've Got To Do", "Little Child"/"Please Mister Postman" and "Not A Second Time"/"Money (That's What I Want)".

Answer: Smokey Robinson

"You've Really Got A Hold On Me" written by William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. was a number eight hit for The Miracles on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. It did not chart in the UK.

With a slight change to the title "You Really Got A Hold On Me" was the first song recorded by The Beatles for the "with the Beatles" album in July 1963. This was not the first time The Fab Four had recorded the song. They made four recordings of it for the BBC, the first of which was in May 1963 for the BBC radio show "Pop Go The Beatles". John Lennon takes the lead vocal with George Harrison on close harmony and Paul McCartney on backing vocals.