How Do You Do It?
| "How Do You Do It?" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 EP cover | ||||
| Single by Gerry and the Pacemakers | ||||
| B-side |
"Away from You" (Marsden-Chadwick) | |||
| Released |
14 March 1963 (UK)[1] 5 July 1964 (US) | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded |
22 January 1963 EMI Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Merseybeat | |||
| Length | 1:59 | |||
| Label |
Columbia DB4987 (EMI)[2] Laurie 3261 (USA) | |||
| Writer(s) | Mitch Murray[2] | |||
| Producer(s) | George Martin[2] | |||
| Gerry and the Pacemakers singles chronology | ||||
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"How Do You Do It?" was the debut single by Liverpudlian band Gerry and the Pacemakers.[2] The song was number one in the UK Singles Chart on 11 April 1963, where it stayed for three weeks.[3]
History
The song was written by Mitch Murray,[2] who offered it to Adam Faith and Brian Poole but was turned down.[4] George Martin of EMI decided to pick it up for the new group he was producing, the Beatles, as the A-side of their first record.[4] The Beatles recorded the song but opposed releasing it, feeling that it did not fit their sound, but worked out changes from Murray's demo-disc version. These included a new introduction, vocal harmony, an instrumental interlude, small lyric changes and removal of the half-step modulation for the last verse.[4] They recorded the song in September, 1962; although Murray disliked their changes, the decision not to release the Beatles' version was primarily a business one.[5] Love Me Do was their first single instead. The recording was officially released in November of 1995 on the Beatles retrospective Anthology 1 album.
Gerry and the Pacemakers' version, also produced by Martin, became a number-one hit in the UK until it was replaced by "From Me to You" (the Beatles' third single).[6] It was the title song of a seven-inch EP record also featuring "Away From You", "I Like It" and "It's Happened to Me" (Columbia SEG8257, released July 1963). The single entered the US charts on 5 July 1964, eventually reaching number nine.[7]
Other versions
- Dick and Dee Dee released a version of the song on their 1966 album, Songs We've Sung on Shindig.[8]
References
- ↑ "How Do You Do It?" on YouTube
- 1 2 3 4 5 Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 71. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ↑ "Official Singles Chart UK Top 100". Theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- 1 2 3 Lewisohn, Mark (2013). Tune In: The Beatles, All These Years, Vol. 1. Crown Archetype. p. 670-671.
- ↑ Lewisohn (2013), p. 699
- ↑ "How Do You Do It". The Beatles Bible. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- ↑ "The Hot 100 : September 5, 1964 | Billboard Chart Archive". Billboard.com. 1964-09-05. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- ↑ Dick and Dee Dee, Songs We've Sung on Shindig Retrieved May 2, 2015
External links
| Preceded by "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard and The Shadows |
UK number-one single 11 April 1963 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "From Me to You" by The Beatles |
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