Originally released by Buddy Holly in 1957, ‘Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues’ had been a part of The Beatles’ live repertoire until 1962. However, they didn’t recorded it until January 1969, during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions at the Apple Studios in London.
‘Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues’ had been the b-side of Holly’s US hit single ‘Words Of Love’, itself covered by The Beatles on 1964’s Beatles For Sale. In the UK it had been an album track on the 1958 collection titled Buddy Holly.
The song was among a number of cover versions performed by The Beatles during the January 1969 sessions which resulted in Let It Be. The group’s arrangement was slower than Holly’s, emphasising the sad, blues lyrics in place of the more uptempo pop original.
The Beatles’ version was unreleased until Anthology 3 in 1996.
Lyrics
She wrote me only one sad line
Told me she’s no longer mine
Shoo shoo mailman, that will do for some time
Mailman, bring me no more blues
Mailman, bring me no more blues
One more heartache is all I can use
Mailman, bring me no more blues
Mailman, bring me no more blues
I finally heard Holly’s version, close to 20 years after first hearing the Beatles version. Writing that the Beatles’ “arrangement was slower than Holly’s, emphasizing the sad, blues lyrics in place of the more uptempo pop original” is true, but doesn’t begin to describe how dramatically changed this song is from Holly’s tuneful, melodic original. A more faithful cover a la “Words of Love” would have sounded great on an early Beatles record.
When I first heard this, I thought it was a foreign version of “Revolution.”
Now I think it heavily influenced the latter. Especially hearing this 1969 version.
Cool to know how long it had been in their repertoire – they were all big Buddy Holly fans…
I would argue that the backing vocal is George, rather than Paul. It’s not easy to always tell, but in this case, I hear Mr. Harrison.
I think exactly the same!
Hey, you’re right, Jim!! I have just listened to the recording via the YouTube link and it’s more than evident that George is singing backup vocals, not Paul.
On the recording, George is clearly playing the lead lines as well as using his Leslie speaker (he sure had a fondness for Leslie speakers), John is obviously strumming his guitar in the same manner that he did on “Revolution”, Ringo is playing a bluesy shuffle on the drums and Paul is on bass. It’s quite hard to hear his bass, but it’s there if you listen carefully, so he must’ve been on his Höfner.
I used to think that the only bass that he used for the January 1969 sessions was his Höfner, but this is not true, because he also brought his Rickenbacker bass along to the Savile Row sessions, mostly as a backup.
I think these are the correct lyrics:
She wrote me only one sad line
Told me she’s no longer mine
Shoo shoo mailman, that will do for some time
Mailman, bring me no more blues
Mailman, bring me no more blues
One more heartache is all I can use
Mailman, bring me no more blues
Mailman, bring me no more blues
Thanks Rafael – that makes more sense. I’ve amended the article.
Hi Joe,
“Mailman” is one of my favorite Fab cover versions! I have a correction, though: The name of the first composer should read “Roberts,” not “Robets.”
Ruth Roberts, who passed away on June 30, 2011, also co-authored some well-known sports-related tunes, including “Mr. Touchdown, U.S.A.,” “It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame” and “Meet the Mets.”
Her New York times obit is here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/arts/music/ruth-roberts-meet-the-mets-songwriter-dies-at-84.html?ref=deathsobituaries
Sorry, that was a typo. I’ve fixed it now. Thanks for the information.
Being a lifelong Holly fan myself, I was always glad to see that The Beatles were too. The Crickets were the most influential band in rock & roll history in this sense; They were the first self-contained band. They played all their own instruments, wrote their own material, arranged it, recorded it & produced it the way they wanted (with help from Norman Petty). They were the first band to have artistic freedom in the studio. Bands nowadays take all of that freedom for granted, & every band that’s come along since owes that freedom to The Crickets, because they were the first.
And Paul McCartney used to have a competition, the winner of which would get the chance to record with the surviving Crickets. Does anyone know how long he did that? And through MPL he owns Buddy Holly’s music publisher.
Both bands were incredible. Great song, tribute to Buddy Holly the the fab 4 would recreate on on his tunes!
Sad the Beatles never recorded it more seriously. Lennon was thinking get back during those sessions sad he didn’t record in spite of all the danger. Also sad the Beatles didn’t record all. There songs and push out more product had McCartney been more of a help to Harrison maybe the magic would have continued longer
The version on Anthology has been edited in order to make it sound more like a seriously rehearsed take. I prefer the unedited version that sounds more like what it really is, a relaxed jam session.
Any ideas why footage of this excellent cover version didn’t make Peter Jackson’s film? Or did it and I just missed it?
This is one that should have stayed in the can. Absolutely dreadful. Sorry.
It should never have been put on Anthology.
Languid, Slow and they sound bored.
Sincerely, it’s awful. Shame on them. When they recorded it…it was the 2nd Day the Music Died.
It’s about as desirable to listen to as the theme song to M*A*S*H.
Holly’s version is not only better, or the ONLY version that anyone should be listening to… it provides the most frequent use of his wonderful “hiccup” style of singing in any one song (it’s also a rare instance of standout piano playing in any Holly song).
Just because it’s “the Beatles !!! Yay!!! it’s the Beatles!!!”…. does not make their version of Mailman good. It sucks. It just sucks.