The Beatles recorded a version of ‘Searchin”, a 1957 hit for The Coasters, during their ill-fated audition for Decca on 1 January 1962.
‘Searchin” was the song that helped The Coasters cross over from the R&B charts to rock ‘n’ roll stardom. Its b-side, ‘Young Blood’, was also recorded by The Beatles, during a 1 June 1963 recording session for the BBC radio show Pop Go The Beatles.
The Quarrymen had played ‘Searchin” from their earliest days, after learning that someone in Liverpool was in possession of a copy. The single was released in March 1957, just two months before John Lennon first met Paul McCartney.
A rumour reached town one day that there was a man over the hills who had the record ‘Searchin” by The Coasters. Colin [Hanton], the drummer with John’s skiffle group, knew him and so there was a great trek to find the man, and indeed we found him. And relieved him of it. It was too big a responsibility for him to keep. We couldn’t return it. We just had to have it; it was like gold dust. ‘Searchin” became a big number with The Beatles; we always used to do it at the Cavern.
‘Searchin” is believed to have been the final song performed during the group’s audition for Decca Records in 1962. With its novelty vocals, including some uneasy falsetto and unconvincing American accent from McCartney, the song gave little indication of The Beatles’ rock ‘n’ roll potential.
The Decca recording was released on Anthology 1 in 1995, although the introduction was omitted; the full version has circulated on bootleg recordings since the 1970s.
In 1982 ‘Searchin” was one of eight songs chosen by Paul McCartney during his appearance on the long-running BBC radio show Desert Island Discs.
Lyrics
Gonna find her
Gonna find her
Well searchin’, mama
Yeah, honey searchin’
Searchin’ every which a-way, yeah yeah
Oh lord I’ve gone searchin’
My good lord, searchin’
You know honey
Searchin’ every which a-way, yeah yeah
But like that northwest Mountie, yeah
You know I’ll bring her in some day
Gonna find her
Gonna find her
Well Charlie Chan, Simon Smith
Got nothin’, child, on a-me
Sergeant Friday and a-Peter Gunn
And, ooh, let ’em be
No matter where she’s hiding
She’s gonna see me coming
Gonna walk right down that street
Like a Bulldog Drummond
Yeah ’cause I’m searchin’
Whoa, honey, searchin’
Oh my goodness
Searchin’ every which a-way, yeah yeah
But like a northwest Mountie
You know I’ll bring her in some day
Gonna find her
Gonna find her
Well now Charlie Chan, Simon Smith
Got nothin’, child, on a-me
Sergeant Friday and a-Peter Gunn
And ooh let ’em be
Yeah, ’cause no matter where she’s a-hidin’
She’s gonna see me comin’
I’m gonna walk right down that street
Like a Bulldog Drummond
Ah searchin’, yeah
Searchin’, oh my my goodness
Searchin’ every which a-way, yeah yeah
But like a northwest Mountie
You know I’ll bring her in some day
Gonna find her
Gonna find her
Yeah yeah lord, gonna find her
I’m gonna find her
‘Gonna find her, Gonna find her’
Yeaaaaaaaah – searchin’……
This is the best pre-fab song, cover, performance, or whatever (including Some Other Guy)
A head banger… For real. Heavy guitar strummin, pulsing drums, bass, and an outstanding freeway vocal by Paul…
Smooth backing by Lennon/Harrison.(Gonna find her)
This rocks!
It’s only flaw is: it’s too darn short.
And the sound quality’s poor, – though it has this Beatles-in-the-garage kind of charms…
Should’ve been a 9 minute strumm-a-long, like the Velvet Underground used to go on and on and on and louder and heavier…
(Gonna find her) Yeah-heah, cus I’m searchin’
X
Notice the revised lyrics. Peter Gunn didn’t even exist when The Coasters did the original version…
Does anyone have an explanation of where some of the lyrics come from? Did Paul modify the lyrics himself from those in the Coasters original?
he did. if you listen to the origional, there are a couple Paul put in that arent’ on the Coasters recording. it may be an olddie as far as when it was recorded, but for some reason i love the fact that the Beatles were Coasters fans. no one has ever secceaded in making the guitar part soound like the orgioanl, but this one is fun. i understand there is a recording of John singing the lead(only Paul owns it). this i understand was a big fan favorite when they played in the Cavern.
This song is how I got the 2 Beatles Anthology CDs, Anthology 1 and 3. I first found it on the Internet labeled “Sexy Paul Voice”, and I was like, “Really?” Turns out, it was the guys, and for me, when I heard Paul sing that song, I was like, “Whoa! He sure is talented!” A couple months later, mom borrowed my next door neighbor’s copy of Anthology 2 to put onto iTunes, and I really wanted to get the other two to put onto iTunes as well, and so, for my 17th birthday, I got them! I love these CDs because it has Beatles stuff no one has heard before, and this song is the best song on Anthology 1. Period. No explanation needed.
So catchy…in a good way!!
Does anyone know who is Simon Smith (or Sling as certain sources says) ? Is it a instance where the group could not decipher the original lyrics and put something that fitted or is it the name of a obscure british TV private eye or the like ?
I always assumed it was ‘Simon Saint’ as in The Saint. The other characters are all detectives. Sergeant Friday is from Dragnet.
One has to keep in mind that the Beatles, like most groups doing covers in those days, got the lyrics by listening to the records (often on a less-than-quality phono). Sometimes the words weren’t clear , other times the reference might be mis-understood (or unknown) in other countries. What to do? You filled-in the best you can and move on.