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In Spite of All the Danger

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"In Spite of All the Danger"
Song

"In Spite of All the Danger" is one of the first songs recorded by The Quarrymen, then composed of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, pianist John Lowe and drummer Colin Hanton.

The song was written by McCartney and Harrison, and is the only song to credit the two alone. It was recorded on Saturday 12 July 1958[1] (three days before Lennon's mother death) at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool (see 1958 in music). It cost 17 shillings and six pence. Along with their cover of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" recorded at the same session, these songs are the second recordings of what would become The Beatles. (The first recording of the Quarrymen was a reel-to-reel recording made by an audience member on 6 July 1957, during the Quarrymen's last set for the 1957 Rose Queen garden fête at St. Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool.[2][3] However, 6 July 1957 was the date on which McCartney first met Lennon. So, while it's true that an audience member made a recording that night—the recording was not under the band's control, and it was made before McCartney or Harrison joined the band.)

Only one copy of the "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All Danger" recordings was made, and each band member kept the acetate disc for a week. Lowe was the last have it, keeping it for nearly 25 years. In 1981, Lowe attempted to sell it at auction, but McCartney intervened and purchased it from him. McCartney had engineers restore as much of the record's sound quality as possible and then made approximately 50 copies of the single that he gave as personal gifts to family and friends. In 2004, Record Collector magazine named the original pressing as the most valuable record in existence, estimating its worth at £100,000, with the 1981 copies made by McCartney coming in second on the list at £10,000 each.

"In Spite of All the Danger" was not released to the public until it appeared on 1995's Anthology 1 collection (see 1995 in music) along with "That'll Be the Day". The Anthology version (2:44) runs a little shorter than the unedited original (3:25).

McCartney played the song throughout his 2005 world tour (see 2005 in music).

Personnel

References

  1. ^ http://www.phillipsacetates.com/the-recordings.html
  2. ^ http://www.beatlesource.com/savage/1950s/57.07.06%20fete/57.07.06fete.html
  3. ^ Atkinson, Malcolm. "The Quarry Men's First Recordings". Abbeyrd’s Beatle Page. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  • "The 10inch aluminium and acetate disc was cut by Percy Phillips (according to the Studio Log) on the 12th July 1958". "Phillipsacetates.com" (Accessed November 2, 2010).
  • Barnes, Anthony. "It cost 90p to make. But the first Lennon/McCartney disc is now worth £100,000". Belfast Telegraph, November 1, 2004. (Accessed June 15, 2006).
  • Cross, Craig. "In Spite of All the Danger". Retrieved October 7, 2005.
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