🎸 The Beatles and “Please Mr. Postman”: When Liverpool Met Motown 🎵

In December 1961, long before they became famous outside Liverpool, The Beatles added “Please Mr. Postman” to their live repertoire, making it their third Tamla song after the Miracles’ “Who’s Lovin’ You” and Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want).” The song became a staple at their live concerts at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, where Billy Hatton of the Four Jays recalled seeing one of the Beatles’ first live performances of it, calling it “a Wow moment.”Since the original Marvelettes version hadn’t made it into the British charts, few in the UK knew the song, allowing the Beatles to make it their own among all Liverpool groups. John Lennon sang lead vocal with the same reckless abandon he usually reserved for songs like “Twist And Shout”—matching the rough desperation he heard in the original.For their recording on With the Beatles in 1963, John Lennon sang lead with Paul McCartney and George Harrison providing backing vocals, while all three added handclaps. Due to their different vocal range from the Marvelettes, the Beatles modulated their version into A major. Between recording two takes of overdubs, the band added handclaps while Lennon double tracked his original vocal. The intensity of their performance drew critical acclaim: Music critic Robert Christgau considered the Beatles’ covers of “Please Mr. Postman” and “Money” as two of the band’s best ever recordings, “both surpassing the superb Motown originals.”Origins of the Motown ClassicThe song The Beatles had fallen in love with was written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, and became the debut single for the Marvelettes on Motown’s Tamla label. The song’s creation involved multiple contributors: William Garrett originally wrote it as a blues tune and gave it to his friend Georgia Dobbins, a founding member of the Marvelettes, who transformed it into a doo-wop song before Motown songwriters Brian Holland, Robert Bateman and Freddie Gorman further refined it. One particularly authentic detail: Freddie Gorman himself was a real-life postman, lending extra authenticity to the lyrics. The Marvelettes’ version achieved historic significance by becoming the first Motown song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1961, also topping the R&B chart. The recording featured lead vocalist Gladys Horton, whose delivery combined desperation and hope in equal measure. An interesting footnote to the recording session: among the musicians was Marvin Gaye on drums, who was serving time as a session musician, just after the commercial failure of his debut album.This essay continues below. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.Motown Meets The Beatles (Audio CD)The British Invasion’s Love Affair with Girl GroupsThe practice of male rock groups covering songs originally performed by female vocal groups, particularly from the Motown stable, was not merely common during the early 1960s—it was fundamental to the British Invasion sound. The Beatles displayed an early interest in girl group music, covering songs by groups like the Shirelles, the Cookies, and the Donays.Liverpool had a connection with Motown. British label Oriole Records represented Tamla Motown in the UK, and with its busy docks, Merseyside was the biggest source of Motown records in Britain. As Mersey Beat magazine founder Bill Harry explained, Liverpool bands adapted Motown songs to fit the developing Liverpool sound—the basic three guitars/drums/harmony lineup, creating a hybrid he called “the Mersey Motown sound.”The Beatles weren’t alone in this practice. British beat groups from the late 1950s played American music for their friends, imitating all kinds of hit sounds—from Chuck Berry to the Shirelles, from Carl Perkins to the Isley Brothers. However, The Beatles took this admiration further than most of their contemporaries, making Motown covers a central part of their identity during their formative years.What Attracted The Beatles to MotownThe Beatles’ attraction to Motown—and to “Please Mr. Postman” specifically—went far beyond simple musical appreciation. As Ringo Starr recalled, the shared love of Motown helped the band gel: “When I joined The Beatles we didn’t really know each other, but if you looked at each of our record collections, the four of us had virtually the same records. We all had The Miracles, we all had Barrett Strong and people like that. I suppose that helped us gel as musicians, and as a group.”The musical appeal was multifaceted. The song tapped into a youthful emotional reservoir and brought teenage girlhood to the forefront of American music in a way rarely seen before. John Lennon understood the song’s emotional core well, singing it with the same reckless abandon he usually reserved for songs like “Twist And Shout”—matching the rough desperation in Gladys Horton’s pleading ...