I never understood why The Beatles version of "How Do You Do It" wasn't a hit. The Beatles seemingly never thought much of it. After their uninspired demo, it was easy to see why Gerry And The Pacemakers made a more assertive effort recording this underated little song and did a fine polished version of it.

They basically never wanted to release it as they wrote their
own stuff & wanted to put their own material out.
I persoanlly can't stand the song, it was an imbarrasment to the
beatles & i find the lyrics very awful!
As Macca said in the Anthology, "We cannot be seen with that song"!

Quoted from Andy Smith

As Macca said in the Anthology, "We cannot be seen with that song"!

I knew it wasnt theirs-also that they were none too fond of it, but I always liked their version on Anthology 1

cracks me up what Paul said about it--I have the entire 8-hour DVD of Anthology but I havent looked at it for about 3 years--didnt recall macca's comment.....   Gerry Marsden did a better vocal though

Gerry Marsden was a great singer but i never liked the pacemakes
records. apart from Don't Let the Sun Catch your Crying!

liked "I Like It" , their version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" and a really nice one, "I'll Be There"

Quoted from 829

I knew it wasnt theirs-also that they were none too fond of it, but I always liked their version on Anthology 1

I liked it too.

Quoted from 829

I never understood why The Beatles version of "How Do You Do It" wasn't a hit. The Beatles seemingly never thought much of it. After their uninspired demo, it was easy to see why Gerry And The Pacemakers made a more assertive effort recording this underated little song and did a fine polished version of it.

Wayne: Wow. That is old. You know, I bet those guys actually have pacemakers by now.

It's funny how much Beatles fans would hate the song if would be released as a single back in 1963, but how fans actually love the song being avalable in Anthology.
The problem with the song is that is even worse than Love Me Do. They couldn't release that! It's awful.

Interesting notes from Richie Unterberger. Quoted:

For about 25 years after the event, an almost poetically perfect story of how the Beatles' first chart-topping single arose was accepted as gospel. George Martin, the story went, wanted The Beatles to record How Do You Do It -written by Mitch Murray, a songwriter from the Britisch equivalent of Tin Pan Alley- as their second single. The Beatles hated the song. George Martin made them record it anyway. The Beatles, however, insisted they had something better, and played him something they'd written, Please Please Me; it went to No. 1 in Britain; not only was the Beatles' judgment vindicated, but their ability to write their own material would never again be questioned. The story crumbled, however, when it was discovered, with the aid of unimpeachable EMI paperwork, that in fact Martin had wanted to release How Do You Do It as their first single. It was Love Me Do that the Beatles persuaded him to release instead. [...]

It's been said that the Beatles deliberately fouled up their recording of How Do You Do It to roadblock its release. As Paul McCartney said in Barry Miles's biography Many Years From Now, 'We knew that peer pressure back in Liverpool would not allow us to do How Do You Do It. We know we couldn't hold our heads up with that sort of rock-a-pop-a-ballad. We would be spurned and cast into the wilderness." As new, unproven recording artists, however, they really weren't in the position to be so obstinate. They did learn the number at Martin's request in advance of their EMI session, even performing it (presumably for a very brief period) live. When they did record it, they didn't so much screw it up as sound uninspired, albeit deliberately so.

Yet they thought "Love Me Do" was a hotter song?!

Apparently. And I tend to agree.

I love the song, even the anthology version, and gerry and the pacemakers version,

does anyone have Mitch Murry's version?

This video is class:

I like The Beatles version but it isn't exactly a great song.

I seem to remember that the original version was quite slower and that The Beatles more or less pimped it up and gave it a more Beatlesesque sound. Still it didn't work for them, but it was The Beatles' version that Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded. Not sure if it is a fact though.

Quoted from McLennon

I love the song, even the anthology version, and gerry and the pacemakers version,

does anyone have Mitch Murry's version?

This video is class:

I'm not sure if there is a Mitch Murray version: he was a composer, not a singer. And funny to see the Gerry-video. Thanks for that. I must say the girls in the audience are looking somewhat bored. Certainly not hysteria, but he gets an applause.

Quoted from Bobber

I seem to remember that the original version was quite slower and that The Beatles more or less pimped it up and gave it a more Beatlesesque sound. Still it didn't work for them, but it was The Beatles' version that Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded. Not sure if it is a fact though.

That's the way I remember it. Even though it wasn't their song, if it hadn't been for The Beatles Gerry would probably never have had the hit.

Quoted from McLennon

does anyone have Mitch Murry's version?

I've been after that too - there is an except of it on the Anthology 1 DVD. I wanted to see just how much The Beatles added to Mitch Murray's original arrangement.

Did you know Mitch Murray is now a professional speach writer?!

Quoted from The End

Did you know Mitch Murray is now a professional speach writer?!

Is that where you get all your copy from then?

Quoted from Bobber

Apparently. And I tend to agree.

Don't get me wrong: I do like "Love Me Do," but if they wanted to impress George Martin enough to warrant recording another song over the "bona fide" hit, I'd say pull out something a bit more rockin'.  Of course, "Love Me Do" worked, despite it being a pretty soft song.  

I never did understand where "Love Me Do" came from, especially so early in their career.  They started out doing smoking covers of American R&R, yet their very first original composition was a soft ballad?!  It took balls, I gotta say that.  Their roots were in searing R&R, yet they debut with what would later be classified as "Soft Rock."

Quoted from Buttmunker

I never did understand where "Love Me Do" came from, especially so early in their career.  They started out doing smoking covers of American R&R, yet their very first original composition was a soft ballad?!  It took balls, I gotta say that.  Their roots were in searing R&R, yet they debut with what would later be classified as "Soft Rock."

??? I don't know how you come to this conclusion. LMD is very much in keeping with their sound at the time. It was (and still is?) a jaunty little R'nB based pop song with a (then) trendy harmonica sound. It sits very nicely with the rest of the material on Please Please Me (hardly an album of "smoking" or "searing R'n'R") and is very similar to the next two singles (Please Please Me was much slower before Mr Martin got his hands on it and From Me To You is definately of the same ilk.) Don't forget the likes of The Sheik of Araby and Besame Mucho from Decca. And it's hardly a ballad. Rather than unusual it is typical.
George Martin was in charge and I don't think he would have accepted the release of something like Seventeen. He was trying to produce music that would have the widest possible appeal. Rather than requiring "balls" it was more a safe bet.

Well, since I started this thread, I should add one parting note on "How Do You Do It"

Don't misunderstand me, never implied it was one of their best early tunes--far from it. Just meant that it wasn't their worst--but that's all subjective It's pretty obvious the Beatles sounded something less than inspired on the disc, and I was merely pointing out the comparison between it and the Pacemakers version.

(ps: I wonder if Peter Noone would've scoffed at it--sounds right up the Hermit's alley ) (not to demean them, even some of THEIR stuff was slightly decent by early Brit Invasion standards --e.g., "No Milk Today" "Kind of a Hush" (although they were later singles) etc..)