MONEY (1962) by the Beatles with Pete Best

In my view, 'Money' was the pick of the songs the Beatles recorded for their Decca Audition live in the studio on 1 January 1962.

First some background (courtesy of Wikipedia). Manager Brian Epstein made numerous trips to London to visit record companies with the hope of securing a record contract for the Beatles, but was rejected by many, including Columbia, Pye, Philips, and Oriole. The Beatles were driven down to London by Neil Aspinall on New Year's Eve in 1961, for a Decca audition, but Aspinall lost his way, and the trip took ten hours. They arrived at 10 o'clock at night, and John Lennon said that they arrived "just in time to see the drunks jumping in the Trafalgar Square fountain." On 1 January 1962, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Pete Best were auditioned by Decca producer Tony Meehan (ex-drummer of the Shadows) performing a total of fifteen songs in just under one hour. All the material was selected by Epstein, who decided on a selection of covers that the band had performed in various clubs over the years, interspersed with three Lennon/McCartney originals.

The Beatles later found out that Epstein had paid Meehan to produce the studio recordings.Eventually, Decca Records rejected The Beatles, saying that "guitar groups are on the way out" and "the Beatles have no future in show business", although it has since been suggested that their work that day did not yet reflect their true potential, and the "guitar" comment may have been intended as a polite let down.

There is no film of the Beatles recording their audition songs, so I have tried to put together the definitive slideshow of the early Pete Best era Beatles, although there are a few images with Stu Sutcliffe in there (he was no longer in the group when this song was recorded).

Comments and ratings are invited but please no 'my drummer is better than your drummer'..