Part of the fun of collecting Beatles records is keeping an eye open
for Beatles-related items. Many Beatles songs have been re-recorded by
others artists over the years. These are called "covers". Pictured
here are a few of the more interesting Beatles covers released
during the Beatles years that have found their way into my collection.
Del Shannon had his first Top 40 number 1 hit in 1961 with Runaway.
He met the Beatles during his second tour of England in 1962, and his
recording of From Me To You was the first ever cover of a Beatles
record in the United States.
In another Beatles related note, Del Shannon wrote Peter and
Gordon's 1965 hit I Go To Pieces.
Although Billy J. Kramer was performing professionally before the
Beatles, he nevertheless owes his success to them. It was the Beatles'
manager, Brian Epstein, who brought Billy J. and his group The Dakotas,
at that time called The Coasters, to producer George Martin.
In 1963 Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas recorded Do You Want To
Know A Secret from a crudely recorded demo made by John Lennon. It
went to number 9 in the U.S., and is pictured here on its rarer demo label.
However, when the Beatles finally hit it big in America in
January, 1964, Swan attempted to cash in by releasing this single of
She Loves You/Do You Want To Know A Secret by another of their
artists, Roger Webb. It did not chart.
Dave Appell was a record producer who produced hits on Cameo Parkway
records in the 60's for such artists as Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell.
He later persuaded Tony Orlando to sing on a demo record, and Tony
Orlando and Dawn was born.
This version of She Loves You, recorded with his group the
Applejacks in 1964 did not chart.
The Beatlemania craze was generally misunderstood and disliked by all
adults at the time, making it natural for comedians to step in and
make fun of them.
This is the hillbilly parody of
She Loves You/I Want To Hold Your Hand by the comedic musical
team Homer and Jethro, who were pictured wearing corny Beatle wigs
on the picture sleeve of this record.
This is the Hit Records release of Please Please Me/My Bonny
(Lies Over The Ocean). It was recorded by unknown group
the Boll Weevils and released simply to try to cash in on
the success of the Beatles in 1964. These records with no
virtue other than their relationship to the bigger star's version
were called "ghost records", and were very common in the 50's
and 60's.
David Cassidy became a big star with his appearance
as Keith Partridge in The Partridge Family and the record
he made with them, I Think I Love You, sold six million
copies. He began his solo career in 1971, and recorded
Please Please Me in 1974, which didn't chart in the Top
40. Pictured here is the rare mono/stereo demo single.
In 1978, UK artists Thereza Bazar and David Van Day formed a group
called Dollar, and their first single Shooting Star went to
number 14 in the UK.
In 1979, Dollar released their version of I Want To Hold Your
Hand and it went to number 9 on the UK charts. Pictured here is
a Promotional copy made in the US.
Thingumybob by John Foster & Sons Ltd. Black Dyke Mills Band, a
brass marching band, was the second ever single on the Apple label in 1968.
Thingumybob was a TV series theme song written by Paul, and the
marching band did this very Pepperlandish rendition of
Yellow Submarine for the flip side.
This 45 is very rare, and one early Apple catalogue incorrectly listed
this Thingumybob/Yellow Submarine single as being by the Beatles.
Some of the historical info on this page is from the books
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll and
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn.
