During a recording session in Hamburg's Friedrich-Ebert-Halle that lasted several days in the summer of 1961, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and drummer Pete Best recorded eight songs with Sheridan. Two of those songs were released as a 7-inch single 45 produced by the German musician Bert Kaempfert for the German Polydor label. The A side was "My Bonnie," the traditional Scottish tune the Beatles often performed for fun in the clubs in Hamburg's Reeperbahn red-light district. The B side was another traditional tune, "When the Saints Go Marching In," shortened on the record label to just "The Saints."
Released in October 1961, the "My Bonnie/The Saints" single made it to fifth place on the German music charts. That Polydor record by "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (later labels had "...and The Beatles") is now considered the first commercial record by the Beatles. It was the first time anyone could buy a record with the sounds of the Beatles. On the version released in Germany, Sheridan sang a few introductory German verses for "My Bonnie." The "Mein Herz ist bei dir nur" lines are followed by the traditional English "My Bonnie lies over the ocean" lyrics. Today anyone with a copy of that original German release
