Beatles A Day in the Life Blog posts of '1963' 'July'

The Beatles at the Imperial Ballroom, Nelson

Another riotous appearance in Nelson

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London and Playhouse Theatre, London and Studio Two, EMI Studios London

The Beatles spent the morning and evening at EMI recording more material for their second LP, either side of an afternoon's work at the BBC.

The morning session began at 10:00 and saw the group first tape a cover of the Marvelette's "Please Mister Postman", completed in nine takes, and then tackle the first Lennon-McCartney song for the LP, the superb "It won't be long". Ten takes were recorded but it remained unfinished when the session halted at 1:30 pm, half an hour later than scheduled.

The Beatles taped two BBC radio recordings during the afternoon, the first an interview for the "Pop Chat" section of the show "Non Stop Pop", broadcast, again in teh Light Programme, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon on Saturday, August 24th.

The short interview for "Non Stop Pop" was conducted by bandleader Phil Tate and was recorded just after 2:30 pm, when the Beatles arrived at the Playhouse Theatre to rehearse and record the "Saturday Club" session.

The "Saturday Club" recording took place immediately afterwards (much earlier than the contracted time of 5:30-6:30), the Beatles taping six numbers, "Long tall Sally", "She loves you", "Glad All over", "Twist and Shout", "You really got a hold on me", and "I'll get you." The last three of these fell within the final 29 minutes of the domestic broadcast, simultaneously aired by the BBC's General Overseas Service.

Resuming at EMI on time at 5:00 pm, George Martin overdubbed a piano track onto the previously taped "Money (That's what I want). They taped a 5-take remake of "Till there was you" and an eight-take recording of Chuck Berry's rock classic "Roll over Beethoven". They resumed work on "It won't be long", moving it on to take 23, and, finally, recorded Paul's "All my Loving", certainly his best and most complex piece of songwriting yet - this was completed in 13 takes. The session ended at 11:00 pm, an hour later than scheduled.

The Beatles took a break today, it seems.

The Beatles - ABC Cinema, Great Yarmouth

Odeon Cinema, The Centre, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Visiting from London, Dezo Hoffmann spent one of these six days with the Beatles, taking photographs and color (mute) 8mm home movies of the group at their hotel and on location on the beach at nearby Brean Down, where they dressed in Victorian bathing-costumes and also went go-karting.

The Beatles - Queen's Theatre, Bank Hey St. Blackpool, Lancashire

Ritz Ballroom, Promenade, Rhyl, Flintshire

Two sold-out nights by the Beatles in North Wales, a year after their Rhyl/Wales debut in the ballroom above Burton's tailor shop. The group returned to Liverpool immediately after the 2nd of the Saturday "Houses".

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

Originally booked for 6:00 to 10:00 pm, the Beatles recorded in EMI studio Two from 7:00 to 10:45, beginning sessions for their 2nd album with the taping of four songs, all cover versions - "You really got a hold on me" (11 takes), "Money (That's what I want) (seven), "(There's A) Devil in her heart" (six) and "Till there was you" (three).

Such sessions for this 2nd album revealed the maturity which the Beatles had already gained inside the recording studio, the cover of "Smokey Robinson and the Miracles", "You really got a hold on me" being a superb reading of another artist's work.

Playhouse Theatre, London

Yet another BBC radio recording, this time for the Sunday morning pop show East Beat, transmitted in the Light Programme on July 21st between 10:31 and 11:30 am.

The program was taped between 8:45 and 9:45 pm before it's usual teenage audience. The Beatles performed four songs, "I saw her standing there", "A shot of rhythm and blues", "There's a place", and "Twist and shout".

BBC Paris Studio, London

The Beatles taped three editions of their Light Programme radio series "Pop Go the Beatles", in this one day.

Working at the Paris Studio, they rehearsed and recorded Program 8 between 3:00 and 5:30 pm, Program 9 between 6:00 and 8:30 pm, Program 10 between 8:45 and 10:30, transmissions were on August 6th, 13th, and 20th, each between 5:00 and 5:29 pm. (Guest groups in the three shows were the "Swinging Blue Jeans, "The Hollies", and "Russ Sainty and the Nu-Notes.)

The Beatles failed to meet the appointed time of 10:30 am for the first recording (which would have been at the Playhouse Theatre in London) and then opted to make three shows this day than rather leaving the recording of Program 10 until the 17th, for when it had been scheduled at the Playhouse between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm.

In Program 8, they performed "I'm gonna sit right down and and cry (over you)", "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey", "To Know her is to love her", "The Honeymoon Song", and "Twist and Shout". In the 9th show they featured, "Long Tall Sally", "Please Please Me", "She Loves You", "You Really got a Hold on me", "I'll Get you" and "I Got a Woman".

In Program 10, the Beatles played "She Loves You", (although broadcast actually repeated the version from the 9th show), "Words of Love", "Glad All Over", "I Just Don't Understand", "There's a Devil in her Heart", and "Slow Down".

The Beatles February 1963 recording session at EMI has gone down in popular music history, the group taping all ten new tracks for the debut album in one day. But on this day, July 16th, in less time, the group actually taped 18 new tracks, with only one repetition, and considerable on-mike conversation, too. A remarkable feat!