THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE BEATLES

In his distinguished tenure at Decca Records, Dick Rowe signed an unbelievable roster of talent, including The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, The Animals, Them (featuring Van Morrison), The Zombies, Tom Jones, Small Faces, The Tornados, and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Unfortunately for Rowe and his label, he will always be known for the one band he let get away.

The Beatles first came to Rowe’s attention via a young writer in Decca’s employ named Tony Barrow. Barrow hailed from the Liverpool area, but was a few years older than The Beatles. He had moved to London to take a job writing liner notes for the label, while still contributing to The Liverpool Echo on the side. When Brian Epstein signed The Beatles to work as their manager, he consulted Barrow for advice… and help. While Barrow turned down his request to write about the band in his Echo column, he did promise to mention the group to Decca’s A&R department. Rowe was the head of that department.

For Rowe, the request to consider this unknown Northern band put him in a slightly awkward position. He was hardly interested in The Beatles, whoever they were, but he knew that Epstein was a valued customer for Decca. His NEMS music store was a major retailer in the North and Epstein’s was a relationship Rowe could hardly afford to damage. And so, Rowe sent an assistant, Mike Smith, up to Liverpool to see what the fuss was all about.

They blew through 15 songs in a little over an hour, getting more comfortable as they went along. The songs were:

1. “Like Dreamers Do” (Lennon-McCartney)

2. “Money (That’s What I Want)” (Bradford-Gordy; originally recorded by Barrett Strong)

3. “Till There Was You” (Willson; originally composed for the musical The Music Man)

4. “The Sheik of Araby” (Smith-Wheeler-Snyder; an old vaudeville number turned rock ‘n’ roll by Joe Brown and The Bruvvers)

5. “To Know Her is to Love Her” (Spector; originally recorded with slightly different lyrics by Phil Spector’s Teddy Bears)

6. “Take Good Care of My Baby” (King-Goffin; made famous by Bobby Vee)

7. “Memphis, Tennessee” (Chuck Berry)

8. “Sure to Fall (In Love with You)” (Perkins-Claunch-Cantrell; Carl Perkins’ follow-up to “Blue Suede Shoes”)

9. “Hello Little Girl” (Lennon-McCartney)

10. “Three Cool Cats” (Lieber-Stoller; originally recorded by The Coasters)

11. “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” (Buddy Holly)

12. “Love of the Loved” (Lennon-McCartney)

13. “September in the Rain” (Warren; 1937 standard, originally performed by James Melton)

14. “Besame Mucho” (Velázquez-Skylar; Mexican ballad)

15. “Searchin’” (Lieber-Stoller; originally recorded by The Coasters)

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