Written by: Harrison
Recorded: 3 June 1964
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 21 November 1995
Available on:
Anthology 1
Personnel
George Harrison: vocals, rhythm guitar
John Lennon: tambourine
Paul McCartney: bass
George Harrison’s second solo composition, ‘You Know What To Do’ was recorded as a demo in 1964, but was never properly attempted by The Beatles as a group.
‘You Know What To Do’ was Harrison’s second songwriting effort, after ‘Don’t Bother Me’ on With The Beatles. The precise line-up on the recording is uncertain; there has been speculation that Harrison recorded it alone, although it is more likely that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were also involved.
A somewhat slight composition, its reception by the others in the group, and George Martin, may have discouraged Harrison from offering further songs until Help! in 1965.
In the studio
The Beatles had planned to record a 14th and final song for A Hard Day’s Night on the afternoon of at Abbey Road on 3 June 1964 – the song’s identity is unknown – but their plans were changed after Ringo Starr was taken ill with tonsillitis and pharyngitis.
Replacement drummer Jimmie Nicol was swiftly brought in for a rehearsal from 3-4pm, ahead of The Beatles’ imminent world tour, and afterwards the group recorded three demos.
At the beginning of a 5.30-9pm session they taped ‘You Know What To Do’, followed by two further demos: ‘It’s For You’, a McCartney composition written for Cilla Black; and ‘No Reply’, which would appear on the Beatles For Sale album.
Although copyrighted the previous day by Jaep Music, a publishing company formed by Brian Epstein and Dick James, ‘You Know What To Do’ remained unissued until 1995 when it was released on Anthology 1. Its existence was unknown until 1991, when evidence of the session came to light, and the misfiled tape was rediscovered in 1993.
In addition to your lineup, Wikipedia lists Jimmy Nicol as having played drums on the recording. I don’t have the album on me, so I don’t know if there are actually drums or not.
There’s a tambourine, but it’s far from certain that Nicol was playing it. There are no drums, though.
It’s been suggested (notably in Revolution In The Head) that Harrison may have recorded the demo alone, playing all the instruments. It’s almost impossible to be certain, though, given that little is known about it (and George isn’t around anymore).
Incidentally, in the liner notes for Anthology 1 Mark Lewisohn says that, although there are drums on the demo of the No Reply demo (recorded on the same day), neither Starr nor Nicol was present. My guess is that Jimmy left after the live rehearsals. It could have been one of the studio staff playing drums on No Reply – engineer Norman Smith is said to have been a fairly adept percussionist.
Actually, listening to the No Reply demo now, it sounds like there’s only one guitar on it, so the drums could easily have been played by John or George.
I always wondered why AHDN only had 13 songs. Now I know.
Glad I just heard this song. I like it a lot. The bass is cool sounding, sort of like it is Paul just fooling around, or someone else trying to play it. But I really do like the track.
As for that “No Reply’ demo. As a musician and beatles obsessive fan I make this observation. It’s Johns demo so it only makes sense he’d play guitar and sing and you hear Paul singing and playing bass.
George is not heard doing anything else… and the drumming sounds like somebody who can’t play very well (at least at that point in time) If I didn’t know better I’d say that was Pete Best.. lol cause it’s so shaky and basic. 😛
So yeah… it’s George. HIS excuse was… he’s a guitar player and not a drummer. hehe
It was a demo after all and obviously not intended for commercial release, so it didn’t matter if George’s drumming, assuming it was him, was shaky or rudimentary, being a guitarist first and foremost.
With the rejection of “You Know What to Do”, I can just picture George being advised by George Martin and perhaps John and Paul, “George, we appreciate that you are trying to write songs yourself, but please just work on improving your songwriting craft for now and wait for the right time to present them.” He obviously made the right choice to work hard on improving his songwriting craft, because with “Help!”, he successfully submitted “I Need You” and “You Like Me Too Much”.
It’s very unlikely that Pete Best would’ve been rehired, let alone welcomed back, by John, Paul, George or George Martin and John never once said anything positive about Pete’s drumming abilities.
If given the time and opportunity, this may have turned out as a good song. The lyrics melody is well combined with the chords progression, which develop quite well from the “middle part” to the third verse.
A simple sweet song with a Buddy Holly lilt to it. George was writing great stuff from the start.
I can hear that. Never thought about it in relation to Holly before. Interesting…..
Re: It’s For You, a McCartney composition written for Cilla Black
That’s incorrect. You’re my world is an italian song, Il mio mondo, written by Umberto Bindi and Gino Paoli in 1963. Cilla recorded the song with english lyrics by Carl Sigman, and the single was on top of the charts the month before, May 13, 1964.
What? It was indeed written for Cilla , and she recorded it in early July 1964 for release in late July.
I don’t know what that has to do with “You’re My World”, which was released in May 1964.
It’s true that this song never made it past the demo stages, but the rejection undoubtedly motivated George to work harder on improving his songwriting, efforts that were rewarded with being given two songs on the album “Help!”.
I’m not really sure if George recorded the version on “Anthology 1” self-reliantly, as some have speculated, and with no right-handed bass around, he obviously would’ve summoned Paul to play bass and I guess that the reason why John covered on tambourine was possibly because Ringo was sick with tonsillitis.
Whether they intended to record a proper version once Ringo was better but never got around to doing so I don’t know, but suppose they had or if Ringo hadn’t fallen sick, chances are that the line-up would’ve George on lead vocals and guitar, John on guitar, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums or tambourine.
That song is hard to get out of your head.
I often wonder what frame of mind the others were in after hearing the recording.
Of course, it’s only my opinion but DME is certainly in-line with this offering.