Bad To Me: Introduction
Here at the Beatles Fan Club, we concentrate on the works of the Fab Four, including the songs that they gave away to other artists. Indeed, “Bad To Me” was one of those songs. There is a Beatles recording of this song, and that information is further down the page. First, we will concentrate on the success of the song by a band that released it as a single.
The songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song “Bad To Me.” However, they gave the song to Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, who took it to number one in the UK charts. The band also recorded this at Abbey Road Studios. Paul McCartney was there, while George Martin was the producer. Of course, with a team like that, this song would have to be good!
Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas was a British group from the 1960s. They released the single “Bad To Me,” with the B-side being another Lennon-McCartney composition, “I Call Your Name” (July 26, 1963).
This became a number-one hit in the UK, while in America it got to a respectable number-nine in the charts. Of course, this song was part of the “British invasion.”
Incidentally, the first song that Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas released was another Beatles song called “Do You Want To Know A Secret.” However, they only reached number two in the charts with their version.
This wasn’t the first Lennon-McCartney song to chart by another artist. The first of those was by Peter & Gordon with “A World Without Love,” then there was Mary Hopkin with “Goodbye.” Of course, there were numerous others.
Bad To Me: The Beatles Version
There is a recording of John Lennon singing a demo version of the song, but as of yet, it is not commercially available on an album. However, it did become an iTunes downloadable song in December 2013 as part of “The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963.”
This download had numerous Beatles songs but the last two were demos, Bad To Me and “I’m In Love.”
In Detail (Beatles Version)
- Recorded: May or June, 1963
- Release Date: December 17, 2013
- Genre: Pop
- Track Duration: 1:29
- Label: Apple, Universal Music Group
- Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
Listen to the bootleg version.
Recording Studio
John Lennon recorded “Bad To Me” (possibly on May 31, 19631) as an acoustic demo. Although we hear John Lennon singing throughout, there does appear to be an attempt at harmonies at the end.
This could be Paul McCartney or Lennon double-tracking, but we simply can’t tell.
The bootleg recording itself is not of particularly good quality, but with modern-day technology, this could easily become a decent sound.
After all, they did a good job with “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird.”
Indeed, they were possibly of worse quality, being recorded on a home cassette tape machine.
Obviously, if there is ever an official commercial update and release of the song, the Beatles Fan Club will announce that here.
Conclusion
“Bad to Me” is a good example of how The Beatles’ influence extended beyond their own recordings, impacting other artists and contributing to the broader pop music landscape of the 1960s.
- More information needed. ↩︎