ON THIS DAY IN 1963, ONE OF THE BEATLES BIGGEST HITS REACHED #1 ON THE UK RECORD CHARTS

Released in late November, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, written by McCartney and Lennon, immidiately surged to #1, replacing their own song, “She Loves You”, which had held the top spot for two weeks. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” went on to take the position for a further five weeks, and stayed in the top 50 for a total of 21 weeks.

The song was also the bands first #1 hit in the US, hitting the Billboard charts in January and hitting number one by early February. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” went on to become the groups best selling song, as well as earning them a number of impressive accolades, such as being listed at #2 on the Mojo list of “100 Records That Changed the World” and #16 on Rolling Stones “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

“I Want To Hold Your Hand” also went on to start an impressive record-setting spree from the group. It was the first of seven songs to hit #1 within the one year period of 1964, the first band to achieve such a feat. These seven songs, also including “Love Me Do” and “I Feel Fine” helped to define the immensely successful careers of The Beatle’s that was soon to come.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, ONE OF THE BEATLE’S BIGGEST SINGLES WAS RELEASED

The band’s fifth British single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was released to shocking advance orders exceeding 700,000, and within three days the record had sold 1 million copies, the groups second million seller after “She Loves You”, which blocked the song from reaching the top spot for two weeks.

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was also the bands first American number one hit, arriving on the Billboard chart in mid January,1964 and had reached number one by February, where it stayed for seven weeks, before being dislodged by “She Loves You” in a bizarre reversal of the British chart.

Written by Lennon and McCartney, the song would become the bands best-selling single worldwide, selling over twelve million copies. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 44th biggest hit of all time and Rolling Stone listed it at number sixteen on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

TODAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES WERE GIVEN THEIR VERY FIRST GOLD DISC, SIGNIFYING A MILLION SALES OF THEIR SINGLE, “SHE LOVES YOU”

The song was a multi record-breaking single for the charts, including being one of the five Beatles’ songs that held the top five simultaneously in April 1964. The song went on to become the groups best-selling single and the best-selling single of the 1960’s in the UK.

The single is another Lennon-McCartney original, written while on tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers, and was inspired by a Bobby Rydell hit which also featured a call and response pattern. It was recorded a week later at EMI Studios with George Martin producing. The song was immediately sought after, amassing over 500,000 pre-orders by the day of it’s release, thus entering the charts quickly, where it remained for 31 weeks, including 18 in the top 3. It remained the UK’s best selling single for a further 14 years.

The song was not immediately successful in the US, having predated the “British Invasion” and Beatlemania that took over the country in 1964. After this, the song re-emerged and entered the US Charts, where it spent 5 weeks at number 2, behind, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. This made the Beatles another record, becoming one of two artists to ever hold the top 2 spots simultaneously. The song became one of the groups main legacies, with the “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” refrain being one of the trademarks of The Beatles.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES MADE THEIR TELEVISION DEBUT

Performing on UK music program, “Ready, Steady, Go!”, the group mimed “Twist and Shout”, “I’ll Get You” and “She Loves You”. The program transitioned to real live performances the following year in 1964.

The group was also interviewed by Dusty Springfield, who assisted in hosting the program. Paul McCartney took part in judging a miming competition won by 13-year-old Melanie Coe, who made headlines years later when she ran away from home, prompting Paul to write the song “She’s Leaving Home”, without realising he’d met the girl before.

The show was recorded and later released, as well as two other Beatle’s performances on the show in the following years. 

On this day in 1963, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “I Wanna Be Your Man” for the Rolling Stones

In the early days of The Beatles, Lennon and McCartney often shared songs with their friends. The bands had arranged to meet through the Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who had also been a publicist for The Beatles. Oldham ran into Lennon and McCartney as he stepped out of a cab and invited them to a studio where the Stones were rehearsing.

The song was written primarily by McCartney and then finished in the corner of the studio with Lennon’s help, while Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were talking. The Stones finished the song and released it a couple of months later in November. The song was only released as single and never made it to a Rolling Stones album.

The Beatles also recorded a version of the song in November, sung by Ringo Starr, which would appear on the bands second album, “Meet the Beatles!” John Lennon was later dismissive of the song, calling it a throwaway. “I Wanna Be Your Man” clearly left an impression on other artists though, as the track was later referenced by Bob Dylan, The Stooges and The Saints.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, STEVIE WONDER, OR LITTLE STEVIE WONDER AS HE WAS KNOWN BACK THEN, HAD HIS FIRST HIT SINGLE DEBUT IN THE CHARTS WITH FINGERTIPS PT. 2

This song is important not only to Wonder, but also marked a pivotal moment in Ritchie Yorke’s career. Having received a copy of the song while working at a radio station in Tamworth, Queensland, Ritchie was suitably impressed by Wonder’s incredible instrumentation, especially given his age of 12 and his blindness. Unfortunately, the higher-ups at the station were less impressed and Ritchie was informed not to play anymore “black” music on their channel under any circumstance. At this point, Ritchie’s logical next move was to lock himself in the studio and play the song for as long as it took for them to get in and turn it off. He succeeded, playing the song eight times and was swiftly fired, leaving him free to pursue the other goals in music journalism that we all know he achieved. More on these events can be read here in his biography.

The song itself was originally intended as a fairly simple jazz ditty recorded for his first album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, intended to showcase Wonder’s skills on various instruments including the bongos and harmonica. The much more popular live version was recorded at the Regal Theatre in Chicago and Wonder’s encore spawned the even more successful Part 2. The song was released in late May and immediately surged through the charts, becoming the first live recording to reach #1. This was only the first of Wonder’s extensive catalogue of number one hits, which totalled over 65 incredible songs over the course of his career.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES SET OUT ON ONE OF THEIR EARLY TOURS ALONGSIDE THE LEGENDARY ROY ORBISON

Orbison was originally slated as the headline act of the tour, with the Beatles opening, but after the reaction to the band early on, the boys were promoted to co-headliners, making this tour the first where the band was the featured act.

The tour ran through 21 dates throughout England, Wales and Scotland, continuing until the 9th June. The band played a number of tracks, including early hits like “Love Me Do”, “Twist and Shout” and “Please, Please Me”. These early tours were instrumental and building The Beatles popularity at home before they hit the US for the British Invasion in the mid-60’s.

Interestingly, years later in 1988, Orbison and Beatle George Harrison would be reunited to perform in the supergroup known as The Traveling Wilburys alongside Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES WERE PREPARING TO SET OUT ON ONE OF THEIR EARLY TOURS ALONGSIDE THE LEGENDARY ROY ORBISON

Orbison was originally slated as the headline act of the tour, with the Beatles opening, but after the reaction to The Beatles early on, the boys were promoted to co-headliners, making this tour the first where the band was the featured act. The band also played a set in Norwich today without Orbison, which was an enthusiastic success as over 1700 people arrived to see the concert.

The tour ran through 21 dates throughout England, Wales and Scotland, continuing until the 9th June. The band played a number of tracks, including early hits like “Love Me Do”, “Twist and Shout” and “Please, Please Me”. These early tours were instrumental and building The Beatles popularity at home before they hit the US for the British Invasion in the mid-60’s.

Interestingly, years later in 1988, Orbison and Beatle George Harrison would be reunited to perform in the supergroup known as The Traveling Wilburys alongside Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES ICONIC DEBUT ALBUM REACHED THE TOP OF THE UK CHARTS

After a slew of successful singles throughout early 1963, Parlophone hastened to organise and release the bands debut album, Please, Please Me on the 22nd March, 1963 in order to bolster the early success of singles like Love Me Do and Please, Please Me.

The album contained 14 songs, eight of which were written by Lennon and McCartney. Rolling Stone magazine later called this evidence of the band’s invention of the self-contained rock band concept, musicians in a band writing and performing their own compositions with their own instruments, an idea certainly taken for granted nowadays. George Martin originally intended to record the band playing live at their favourite haunt, The Cavern Club, but technological restraints led him to take the band to EMI studios in London, where the album was recorded in record time.

The album’s cover photograph was also shot in record time, with the original plan of shooting in front of the insect house at the London Zoo being scrapped in favour of the distinctive shot of the band looking down the stairwell at EMI studios. The cover was shot by theatre photographer legend Angus McBean, who after being contacted sped to the studio to shoot the cover.

Despite the hurried nature of the recording, design and release of this album, the debut shot to the top of the UK charts, where it remained for an astonishing 30 weeks, before being replaced by their next album, With The Beatles. Though the release was too early to be recognised by the US, it was later picked up and appreciated by the country, quickly going platinum and being recognised by publications like Rolling Stone, who listed it at #39 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time, slightly behind other Beatle’s releases like Abbey Road and Revolver. 

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, BOB DYLAN PLAYED HIS FIRST EVER SOLO CONCERT IN NEW YORK

Performing at New York’s Town Hall, Dylan had only headlined at small clubs and bars, and the 200 seat Carnegie Recital Hall, at which he drew less than 70 people. After releasing his second solo LP, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” solidified his artistic prowess and he quickly grew into the incredible performer we know today. Though the album wasn’t yet released, Dylan played mostly songs from it, choosing only 3 tracks from his solo debut.

The concert he held has since become a staple in the history of popular music, and drew incredibly positive reviews. Many reviewers claim it is the concert that solidified Dylan into a star, as he played an extensive 23 song set, and concluded with a long poem, titled “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie”. Recordings of the concert are available here.