"Leave My Kitten Alone" is a 1959 R&B hit, written by Little Willie John,

Titus Turner Titus Lee Turner (May 1, 1933 – September 13, 1984) was an American R&B and East Coast blues singer and songwriter. His best-remembered recordings are "We Told You Not to Marry" and "Sound-Off". He also wrote "Leave My Kitten Alone", "St ...

and James McDougal, first recorded by Little Willie John. The song follows a 24-bar blues format.

Little Willie John

The original version of the song, by Little Willie John, on King Records, reached No. 13 on the ''Billboard''

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

and No. 60 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

on its first release in 1959.Joel Whitburn, ''Top Pop Singles 1955-2002'', Billboard, 2003, , p. 362 A second release again reached No. 60, after cover version by Johnny Preston reached No. 73 on the singles chart in early 1961. Over the intervening decades, numerous covers have been recorded, in different musical genres, sometimes with altered lyrics.

The Beatles

An early version by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

was released in 1994 on ''

Anthology 1 ''Anthology 1'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, including song ...

''. On August 14, 1964, during the recording sessions for ''

Beatles for Sale ''Beatles for Sale'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised ...

'',

recorded five takes of "Leave My Kitten Alone", adding overdubs to the last take. The song was never mixed and was not included on ''Beatles for Sale''. Take 5 was marked as the best take (only takes 4 and 5 exist, 4 being a false start). The song was remixed in 1982 by John Barrett in preparation for ''The Beatles at Abbey Road'', a video presentation shown as part of a public tour of the Abbey Road Studios the following year. It was again remixed in 1984 by

Geoff Emerick Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums ''Revolver'' (1966), ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) and ''Abbey Road'' ...

in preparation for inclusion on the unreleased '' Sessions'' project. In 1994,

remixed the song yet again, this time for the '' Anthology'' project; it finally saw official release on the project's first volume the following year.

Notes

{{authority control 1959 songs 1959 singles 1961 singles Songs written by Titus Turner The Beatles songs Johnny Preston songs King Records (United States) singles Mercury Records singles