I Love My Beatles 45s!

The main reason I "love" these records is that they were hand-me-downs from my older (and therefore much cooler) older sister.  She outranked me in the knows-better category by eight years.

The story goes that Capitol, who was contractually connected to their British record label Parlophone Records, didn't want to release "She Loves You," and that's how Swan got the release.

Wikipedia gives the above image as the single's sleeve.  But the only way I ever saw the record was in the below "plain brown wrapper."

So either Sue replaced the picture sleeve, or never had it.  Perhaps the disc was passed on from someone else?

While looking at the records I took note of the inner-groove notations.  As you can see, they are stamped onto the surface.

She Loves You [mechanically stamped]: MASTERING [line break] RECO-ART PHILA [larger letters]  S-4152-S

I’ll Get You [mechanically stamped]: MASTERING [line break] RECO-ART PHILA [larger letters]   S-4152-I

And, here's the other 45 from sweet sister Sue:

These Capitol discs have hand-scratched inner-groove notations.

I Want to Hold Your Hand [hand-SCRATCHED]: 45-X-4471-F-I 

I Saw Her Standing There hand-SCRATCHED]: 45-X-4472-GR

Look at the picture sleeve once more.  I played with brightness and circled the numbers Sue added to the group photo.  Now read Sue's ID of two of the group:

That's right!  In the chaotic world of teen music, Sue got some bad info.  She ID'd #1, Paul, as "John Lennon."  She DID get Ringo right.  And no, there are no other names given for #3 or #4 anywhere on the sleeves or discs.

So, besides their boffo beat and their place in pop-music history, these 45s mean a lot to me because they came from big-sister Sue, and also represent a time when information came from the vagaries of AM-radio DJs or fan magazines, or hearsay and gossip.

See you on Monday for another post appropriate to the Month of Love!