How Do You Do It?



"How Do You Do It?" was the debut single by Liverpudlian band Gerry and the Pacemakers. The song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 11 April 1963, where it stayed for three weeks.

History
The song was written by Mitch Murray, who offered it to Adam Faith and Brian Poole but was turned down. George Martin of EMI decided to pick it up for the new group he was producing, the Beatles, as the A-side of their first record. The Beatles recorded the song on 4 September 1962 with Ringo Starr on drums but opposed releasing it, feeling that it did not fit their sound, but worked out changes from Murray's demo-disc version. These included a new introduction, vocal harmony, an instrumental interlude, small lyric changes and removal of the half-step modulation for the last verse. Although Murray disliked their changes, the decision not to release the Beatles' version was primarily a business one. Instead, "Love Me Do" became their first single. The Beatles' version of "Love Me Do" with Starr on drums is available on Past Masters. The Beatles' EMI Artist Test version of "Love Me Do" recorded on 6 June 1962 with Pete Best on drums was officially released only in November 1995 on the retrospective Anthology 1 album as well as The Beatles' version of "How Do You Do It?" recorded on 4 September 1962 with Starr.

Gerry and the Pacemakers' version, also produced by Martin, became a number-one hit in the UK until it was replaced by "From Me to You" (the Beatles' third single). It was the title song of a 7-inch EP that also featured "Away From You", "I Like It" and "It's Happened to Me" (Columbia SEG8257, released July 1963). The single entered the US charts on 5 July 1964, eventually reaching number nine.

Other versions

 * Dick and Dee Dee released a version of the song on their 1966 album Songs We've Sung on Shindig.
 * A version by the Supremes appears on the album The Supremes - A Bit Of Liverpool on Motown 1964 (Motown Record Corp. #623)