''The Beatles' First!'' (subtitled ''Recorded in Hamburg 1961 - Featuring Tony Sheridan and Guests'') is a German compilation album of songs recorded in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

in 1961 and 1962 by

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

with

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

as his backing group. It was originally released in 1964 in West Germany, then issued in 1967 in England, 1969 in Canada and finally in the United States in 1970.

Recording history

On 22 June 1961, composer and musical director Bert Kaempfert produced the Beatles' first professional recording session backing English singer and guitarist

for the German label Polydor. Performed in the auditorium of Friedrich-Ebert-Hall, a high school in the borough of Hamburg-Harburg often used as a studio,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

is on bass,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

on rhythm guitar, Pete Best on drums (which only includes snare, hi-hats and cymbal) with

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

and Sheridan sharing lead guitar parts. McCartney, Lennon and Harrison also perform backing vocals. The session, which possibly ended the next day, saw the recording of " My Bonnie" and " The Saints" (released as a single that same year and on an LP called '' My Bonnie'' in January 1962, all credited to Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers), "

Why Why may refer to: * Causality, a consequential relationship between two events * Reason (argument), a premise in support of an argument, for what reason or purpose * Grounding (metaphysics), a topic in metaphysics regarding how things exist in v ...

", an original song by Sheridan, and the covers " Nobody's Child" by

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian country music guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' country charts betw ...

and " If You Love Me, Baby (Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby)" by

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...

but the latter with different lyrics. Two other tracks on which Sheridan does not appear, the instrumental "Beatle Bop" (later renamed " Cry for a Shadow"), credited to Harrison - Lennon, and the standard " Ain't She Sweet", sung by Lennon, are also recorded. These five songs will remain unreleased for nearly three years. " Sweet Georgia Brown" and " Swanee River" were recorded at Rahlstedt studio in Hamburg on 24 May 1962, during a second session designed to end the Beatles recording contract with Polydor in order to give free rein to their new manager,

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein ( ; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put hi ...

. "Sweet Georgia Brown" was released in October 1962 on a German E.P. entitled " Ya Ya" and credited again to Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers but the recording of the second song was lost.

Release history

''The Beatles' First!'' was released in April 1964 by German

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

(Polydor 20328) and was available in the UK as an import. Four songs by Sheridan with other musicians were added to the eight recorded by the Beatles. The track "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby" was mistitled "If You Love Me, Baby". The following month, Polydor

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

issued a 10 inch LP, simply entitled ', that compiled exclusively the Beatles' Hamburg recordings. On 4 August 1967, Polydor officially released ''The Beatles' First'' in the UK (catalogue number 236-201), but with a sleeve designed by Barry Zaid which omits the

exclamation mark The exclamation mark (also known as exclamation point in American English) is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show wikt:emphasis, emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks ...

. In New Zealand, the album was released three times: firstly in 1966 (cat. no. 237632, as above), secondly in the early 1970s, titled ''The Beatles in Hamburg'' (cat. no. NZ SP 125) and in 1977 as a double LP (cat. no. 118). In Canada, the album was released in 1969 with the title '' Very Together'' (Polydor 242.008), while the US issued the album the following year under the title '' In the Beginning (Circa 1960)'' (Polydor 24-4504) with "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby" correctly named. All subsequent releases of the Tony Sheridan/Beatles/Beat Brothers recordings are repackages of the same tracks. The album was released on CD in 1984 under the title '' The Early Tapes of The Beatles'' which included two more bonus tracks by Sheridan and the complete recordings of the songs " Ya Ya" and "My Bonnie", the latter with its slow intro sung in English. It was expanded to a double-CD set subtitled ''Deluxe Edition'', with two tracks replacing the previous edition's bonus tracks, issued by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

on 12 June 2004. The main tracks are in

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

on the first CD and in mono on the second CD. This release used similar artwork from the original German sleeve. The eight tracks recorded by the Beatles were compiled, in all their published variations, in the double album "Beatles Bop – Hamburg Days" in 2001 by

Bear Family Records Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging primarily in country music but varying in everything from 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History T ...

and ten years later by Time Life with the title ''The Beatles With Tony Sheridan – F1rst Recordings: 50th Anniversary Edition''.

Track listing

Original LP

All vocals by

unless otherwise indicated. All songs recorded with the Beatles unless noted The Beat Brothers and marked by an asterisk. ;Side one # " Ain't She Sweet" (

Ager Ager or AGER may refer to: * Ager (surname) Places * Ager (river), a river in Upper Austria * Àger, a municipality in Catalonia, Spain * Viscounty of Àger, a medieval Catalan jurisdiction that branched off the County of Urgell * Ager, Californ ...

/ Yellen) (vocal:

) – 2:10 # " Cry for a Shadow" (

/John Lennon) (instrumental) – 2:22 # * " Let's Dance" (Lee) (The Beat Brothers) – 2:32 # " My Bonnie" (traditional) – 2:06 # " If You Love Me, Baby (Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby)" (Hall/ Charles Singleton) – 2:52 # * " What'd I Say" (

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

) (The Beat Brothers) – 2:37 ;Side two #

" Sweet Georgia Brown" ( Bernie, Casey, Pinkard) – 2:03 # " The Saints" (traditional) – 3:19 # * " Ruby Baby" (

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...

) (The Beat Brothers) – 2:48 # "

" (Bill Crompton & Tony Sheridan) – 2:55 # " Nobody's Child" (

Cy Coben Seymour "Cy" Coben (4 April 1919 – 26 May 2006) was an American songwriter whose hits were recorded by bandleaders, country singers, and other artists such as The Beatles, Tommy Cooper and Leonard Nimoy. Biography Early life Coben was born i ...

, Mel Foree) – 3:52 # * " Ya Ya" ( Dorsey/Robinson) (The Beat Brothers) – 2:48

The Early Tapes of The Beatles

# ''Ain't She Sweet'' – 2:12 # ''Cry for a Shadow'' – 2:23 # ''When the Saints Go Marching In'' – 3:18 # ''Why'' – 2:58 # '' If You Love Me, Baby'' – 2:53 # * ''What'd I Say'' – 2:39 # ''Sweet Georgia Brown'' – 2:05 # * ''Let's Dance'' – 2:33 # * ''Ruby Baby'' – 2:52 # ''My Bonnie'' – 2:42 # ''Nobody's Child'' – 3:55 # * '' Ready Teddy'' ( John Marascalco and

Robert Blackwell Robert Alexander "Bumps" Blackwell (May 23, 1918 – March 9, 1985) was an American bandleader, songwriter, arranger, and record producer, best known for his work overseeing the early hits of Little Richard, as well as mentoring Ray Char ...

) – 2:01 (added track by The Beat Brothers) # * ''Ya Ya'' – 5:08 (complete recording) # * ''

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

'' ( Jerry Leiber and

Mike Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...

) – 2:38 (added track by The Beat Brothers)

Deluxe Edition

;Disc one – Stereo # "Ain't She Sweet" # "Cry for a Shadow" # * "Let's Dance" # "My Bonnie" # "Take Some Insurance On Me, Baby" # * "What'd I Say" # "Sweet Georgia Brown" # "The Saints" # * "Ruby Baby" # "Why" # "Nobody's Child" # * "Ya Ya" # "My Bonnie" (English intro) # "My Bonnie" (German intro) ;Disc two – Mono # "Ain't She Sweet" # "Cry for a Shadow" # *"Let's Dance" # "My Bonnie" # "Take Some Insurance On Me, Baby" # * "What'd I Say" # "Sweet Georgia Brown" # "The Saints" # * "Ruby Baby" # "Why" # "Nobody's Child" # * "Ya Ya" # "My Bonnie" (English intro) # "My Bonnie" (German intro) # * " Let's Twist Again" (added track by The Beat Brothers) # * "Top Ten Twist" (added track by The Beat Brothers)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatles First, The 2004 compilation albums Albums produced by Bert Kaempfert German-language compilation albums 1960s German-language albums The Beatles with Tony Sheridan albums 1964 compilation albums Polydor Records compilation albums