Why This Beatles’ Producer Hated “Love Me Do”

The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” and several of the group’s earlier covers didn’t sit well with producer George Martin. Notably, John Lennon spoke extensively about “Love Me Do.”

Martin talked about listening to The Beatles’ demo tape in an interview he gave to The Christian Science Monitor in 1995. Along with the original songs “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You,” it also featured versions of “Over the Rainbow” and “Your Feet’s Too Big.” He said about the songs:

“Pretty rotten songs, really, and they still are.

“You could hear a certain vitality there, but it was pretty rough. Most people who [first] heard The Beatles thought they weren’t much use.”

How Martin interprets “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You” is incorrect in every way. Neither song ranks as one of The Beatles’ greatest or most innovative works. However, they succeed in all that they set out to do as bubblegum pop tunes. Because it blends aspects of country, rock ‘n’ roll, and bubblegum pop into one fantastic song, “Love Me Do” is exceptionally enticing. The eclecticism of the song foreshadows the Fab Four’s subsequent work’s genre-hopping.

If Paul McCartney wrote ‘Love Me Do’

An interview from 1980 is included in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Lennon remembered that Paul McCartney penned “Love Me Do” when he was a youngster, and he was questioned about it in the letter.

Before the Lennon-McCartney songwriting collaboration began, according to the “Imagine” singer, McCartney wrote the song. Lennon couldn’t remember if he had contributed to the song’s bridge or not.

How the Songwriting Grew More Personal

If the early love songs of The Beatles were autobiographical, Lennon was questioned about it. He claimed:

“They were basically made up. They weren’t about real situations. I think ‘In My Life’ was the first song that I wrote that was really, consciously about my life, and it was sparked by a remark a journalist and writer in England made after In His Own Write came out.”

For reference, Lennon’s first collection of short tales was titled In His Own Write.

The Beatles’ decision to start releasing personal music is admirable. Many of the best songs ever are about fake events; thus, there was nothing wrong with their choice to produce entirely hypothetical songs like “Love Me Do.” The Beatles definitely needed to record a song like “Love Me Do” before they went on to more complex material.

Although “Love Me Do” isn’t the best song ever, Martin and Lennon were excessively critical of it.