The Beatles' First is the first British packaging of the 1962 German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 album by Tony Sheridan

Tony Sheridan

Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...

 and The Beat Brothers (a.k.a. The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

) called My Bonnie

My Bonnie

My Bonnie is the name of a 1961 single, a 1962 album and a 1963 EP by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers, better known as The Beatles.-History:...

. It was recorded in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 in 1961. It has been released in 1964, 1967 and 2004.

Release history

The Beatles' First was released in 1964 by German Polydor

Polydor Records

Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

 (catalogue numbers LPHM46432/SPLHM237632) and was available in the UK as an import. On 4 August 1967, Polydor officially released the album in the UK, but with a different sleeve and catalogue number 236-201.

In the US, the album was released under the title In the Beginning (Circa 1960)

In The Beginning (Circa 1960)

In the Beginning is the first consolidated American packaging of the 1962 German album by Tony Sheridan, The Beatles, and The Beat Brothers called My Bonnie. In the Beginning was released by Polydor Records in 1970 It was recorded in Hamburg in 1961...

in 1970 (Polydor 24-4504.)

In New Zealand, the album was released three times:firstly in 1966 (cat. no. 237632,as above),secondly in the early 70's titled The Beatles in Hamburg (cat. no. NZ SP 125), the track Take out some insurance on me, baby was retitled If you love me, baby, and in 1977 as a double LP (cat. no. 118)

All subsequent releases of the Tony Sheridan/Beatles/Beat Brothers recordings are repackages of the same tracks.

This title is available in an expanded double CD set subtitled Deluxe Edition, with bonus tracks which was issued by Universal Music

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

 on 12 June 2004. The main tracks are in stereo

STEREO

STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...

 on the first CD and in mono

Monaural

Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...

 on the second CD. This release also contained a new sleeve. The similar album The Early Tapes of The Beatles

The Early Tapes of The Beatles

The Early Tapes of The Beatles is the first digital repackaging of the 1962 German album by Tony Sheridan and The Beatles called My Bonnie. The original repackage was first issued in Germany in 1964 and titled The Beatles' First. It was recorded at Hamburg in 1961. This repackage was released in...

(1984) was re-released on CD at a similar time to this deluxe edition release.

Original LP

All vocals by Tony Sheridan unless otherwise indicated.

Side one

1. "Ain't She Sweet
   Ain't She Sweet
   Ain't She Sweet was an American album featuring four tracks recorded in Hamburg in 1961 by The Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan and cover versions of Beatles and British Invasion-era songs recorded by the Swallows...
   
   " (Ager
   Milton Ager
   Milton Ager was an American composer.Ager was born in Chicago, Illinois, the sixth of nine children. Leaving school with only three years of formal high-school education, he taught himself to play the piano and embarked on a career as a musician. After spending time as an accompanist to silent...
   
   /Yellen
   Jack Yellen
   Jack Selig Yellen was an American lyricist and screenwriter.-Life and career:Born in Poland, Yellen emigrated with his family to the United States when he was five years old. The oldest of seven children, he was raised in Buffalo, New York and began writing songs in high school...
   
   ) (vocal: John Lennon
   John Lennon
   John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
   
   ) – 2:10
2. "Cry for a Shadow
   Cry for a Shadow
   "Cry for a Shadow" is an early Beatles instrumental. It was recorded on 22 June 1961 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany while they were performing as Tony Sheridan's backup band for a few tracks, under the moniker The Beat Brothers. It was written by George Harrison with John...
   
   " (George Harrison
   George Harrison
   George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
   
   /John Lennon) (instrumental) – 2:22
3. "Let's Dance
   Let's Dance (Chris Montez song)
   "Let's Dance" is rock band Slade's last single from 1988. The single was only released in the UK. The song was originally covered in 1985 and appeared on the Crackers – The Christmas Party Album the same year. The track was eventually released as a single after being dropped from RCA Records...
   
   " (Lee) (by Tony Sheridan
   Tony Sheridan
   Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
   
    & The Beat Brothers
   The Beatles
   The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
   
   ) – 2:32
4. "My Bonnie
   My Bonnie
   My Bonnie is the name of a 1961 single, a 1962 album and a 1963 EP by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers, better known as The Beatles.-History:...
   
   " (traditional) – 2:06
5. "Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby
   If You Love Me, Baby
   "If You Love Me, Baby" also known as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby " is a song written by C. Singleton and W. Hall...
   
   " (Hall/Singleton) – 2:52
6. "What'd I Say
   What'd I Say
   According to Charles' autobiography, "What'd I Say" was accidental when he improvised it to fill time at the end of a concert in December 1958. He asserts that he never tested songs on audiences before recording them, but "What'd I Say" is an exception...
   
   " (Ray Charles
   Ray Charles
   Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
   
   ) (by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers) – 2:37

Side two

7. "Sweet Georgia Brown
   Sweet Georgia Brown
   "Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey .The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra...
   
   " (Bernie
   Ben Bernie
   Ben Bernie , born Bernard Anzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, often introduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue....
   
   , Casey
   Kenneth Casey
   Kenneth Casey was a United States composer, publisher, author and child actor.He is best remembered as the lyricist for the song "Sweet Georgia Brown".-External links:...
   
   , Pinkard
   Maceo Pinkard
   Maceo Pinkard was an American composer, lyricist, and music publisher. Among his compositions is "Sweet Georgia Brown", a popular standard for decades after its composition and famous as the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.Pinkard was inducted in the National Academy of...
   
   ) – 2:03
8. "The Saints
   When the Saints Go Marching In
   "When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band...
   
   " (traditional) – 3:19
9. "Ruby Baby
   Ruby Baby
   "Ruby Baby" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by The Drifters and was a major R&B hit for them in 1956...
   
   " (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
   Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
   Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
   
   ) (by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers) – 2:48
10. "Why
    Why (Tony Sheridan song)
    "Why" is one of the early songs performed by The Beatles when they were backing Tony Sheridan as the Beat Brothers. In the UK, it is the B-side of the instrumental rock tune "Cry for a Shadow". Originally intended to be the A-side, the record label Polydor chose not to release it...
    
    " (Compton/Sheridan) – 2:55
11. "Nobody's Child
    Nobody's Child (song)
    "Nobody's Child" is a song written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree. It was first recorded by Hank Snow in 1949 and it became one of his standards, although it did not chart for him...
    
    " (Cy Coben, Mel Foree) – 3:52
12. "Ya Ya
    Ya Ya (Lee Dorsey song)
    "Ya Ya" is a song by Lee Dorsey. The song was written by Lee Dorsey, Clarence Lewis, Morgan Robinson and Morris Levy. It was inspired by a children's nursery rhyme.-Chart performance:...
    
    " (Dorsey
    Lee Dorsey
    Lee Dorsey was an African American pop/R&B singer during the 1960s. Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint with instrumental backing provided by the Meters.-Career:...
    
    /Robinson) (by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers) – 2:48

Deluxe Edition

Disc one – Stereo

1. "Ain't She Sweet"
2. "Cry for a Shadow"
3. "Let's Dance"
4. "My Bonnie"
5. "Take Some Insurance On Me, Baby"
6. "What'd I Say"
7. "Sweet Georgia Brown"
8. "The Saints"
9. "Ruby Baby"
10. "Why"
11. "Nobody's Child"
12. "Ya Ya"
13. "My Bonnie" (English intro)
14. "My Bonnie" (German intro)

Disc two – Mono

1. "Ain't She Sweet"
2. "Cry for a Shadow"
3. "Let's Dance"
4. "My Bonnie"
5. "Take Some Insurance On Me, Baby"
6. "What'd I Say"
7. "Sweet Georgia Brown"
8. "The Saints"
9. "Ruby Baby"
10. "Why"
11. "Nobody's Child"
12. "Ya Ya"
13. "My Bonnie" (English intro)
14. "My Bonnie" (German intro)
15. "Let's Twist Again" (performed by Tony Sheridan)
16. "Top Ten Twist" (performed by Tony Sheridan)