DECCA SESSIONS
(Speed Corrected)

THE BEATLES :
ORIGINAL DECCA TAPES
January 1, 1962
SPEED CORRECTED

All track taken from original tapes and digitally reprocessed



Track Name
THE ORIGINAL DECCA TAPES JANUARY 1, 1962

01 - Like Dreamers Do
02 - Money
03 - 'Till There Was You
04 - The Sheik Of Araby
05 - To Know Her Is To Love Her
06 - Take Good Care Of My Baby
07 - Memphis
08 - Sure To Fall ( In Love With You )
09 - Hello Little Girl
10 - Three Cool Cats
11 - Crying, Waiting, Hoping
12 - Love Of The Loved
13 - September In The Rain
14 - Besame Mucho
15 - Searchin'


THE STORY OF THE DECCA AUDITION
MONDAY JANUARY 1, 1962

Then a "bank holiday" only in Scotland, the Beatles undertook their most important assignment to date this fresh New Year's day morning: their first formal audition for a British record company, Decca.
Recording at the company's London studio - situated less than two miles from rival EMI's in Abbey Road - the Beatles nervously taped 15 songs, chosen by Brian Epstein to show off every facet of their talent. The likely order of performance was "Like Dreamers Do', 'Money (That's What I Want)', 'Til There Was You', 'The Sheik Of Araby', 'To Know Her Is To Love Her', 'Take Good Care Of My Baby', 'Memphis', 'Sure To Fall (In Love With You)', 'Hello Little Girl', 'Three Cool Cats', 'Crying, Waiting, Hoping', 'Love Of The Loved', 'September In The Rain', 'Besame Mucho', and 'Searchin". In other words, three Lennon/McCartney compositions ('Like Dreamer's Do', 'Hello Little Girl', and 'Love Of The Loved'), two eccentric arrangements of old standards, seven cover versions of 1950's material - emcompassing rock and roll, R&B and C&W - two soft ballads and a comtemporary chart hit.
It's unlikely the Beatles were given any opportunity to perform more than one take of any song, and each was recorded strictly live onto two-track mono tape, no overdubbing permitted. Decca's A&R assistant Mike Smith was in the control room - it was he who had seen the Beatles at the Cavern Club 19 days earlier - and the audition began around 11:00 am, ending apporximately an hour later.
MARK LEWISOHN (used without premission)