Blogpost #14

Welcome Back, Beatle fans! I hope you enjoyed last week's full-length interview with Paul McCartney. This week's show celebrates the anniversary of the Beatles' first professional recording session. It happened nearly half a century ago, if you can believe that. The session actually resulted in a hit single in Germany, and it started a chain of events that changed the world in a million ways.

It all started in Hamburg, Germany in June 1961 at a nightclub called The Top Ten. One of their star attractions was a 20-year old rock singer named Tony Sheridan, who often performed live with the Beatles. He was signed to a contract with Polydor Records and the Beatles were hired as his backing group, and they received a one-time payment with no royalties.

Their first session was scheduled for a Thursday night, June 22, 1961, but it stretched into the following Friday morning. Tony and the boys only had time to tape five numbers, so they had to return the following Saturday morning to tape two more. In addition to these seven songs, there was an eighth number taped nearly a year later during their return to Hamburg. Tony Sheridan was not available, so he added his vocal at a later session. Reports of a ninth track (allegedly the Beatles performing "Swanee River" with added piano and sax) have been greatly exaggerated.

The first release from the Beatles/Sheridan sessions was "My Bonnie", an uptempo version of the old folk lullaby "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean". It came out on a German single in late 1961 with a slow introduction sung by Sheridan in German. It was backed with "The Saints", based on "When The Saints Go Marching In". The group was credited as Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers on the single, which sold about 20,000 copies and peaked at 32 on the Deutsche Hit Parade in January 1962. That same month, Polydor reissued the single in Great Britain with a slow introduction in English instead of German. This version was credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beatles. In June 1962, both songs were released on a German LP titled "My Bonnie" with the Beatles being credited on the back cover.

Since the initial release of these tracks in 1961, Polydor has reissued them in every country in every imaginable audio format: singles, EPs, LPs, 8-Tracks, cassettes, and CDs. There's even a documentary on DVD featuring new interviews with Tony Sheridan, and it's available from Amazon.com.

Next week's show will be a birthday tribute to Mel Brooks. You'll hear rare TV appearances with Carl Reiner, Andy Williams, Ed Sullivan and Dick Cavett.