In Spite Of All The Danger

Description

Learn to play – In Spite Of All The Danger

Written by: McCartney-Harrison
Recorded: 12 July 1958
Engineer: Percy F Phillips

Released: 21 November 1995

John Lennon: vocals, guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, guitar
George Harrison: backing vocals, guitar
John ‘Duff’ Lowe: piano
Colin Hanton: drums

Available on:
Anthology 1

Along with a version of Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be The Day, In Spite Of All The Danger was the first recording by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Both songs were recorded in Liverpool in 1958, and a single 78rpm disc was pressed.

In Spite Of All The Danger was the Quarrymen’s only original song at the time. It was sung by the group’s leader, John Lennon, and credited – uniquely – to McCartney-Harrison.

It says on the label that it was me and George but I think it was actually written by me, and George played the guitar solo! We were mates and nobody was into copyrights and publishing, nobody understood – we actually used to think when we came down to London that songs belonged to everyone. I’ve said this a few times but it’s true, we really thought they just were in the air, and that you couldn’t actually own one. So you can imagine the publishers saw us coming! ‘Welcome boys, sit down. That’s what you think, is it?’ So that’s what we used to do in those days – and because George did the solo we figured that he ‘wrote’ the solo.
Paul McCartney
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
The two recordings showed the group’s rock ‘n’ roll influences, in place of the skiffle that had dominated the Quarrymen’s repertoire in 1957. According to McCartney, In Spite Of All The Danger was inspired by Elvis Presley.

It was my song. It’s very similar to an Elvis song. It’s me doing an Elvis, but I’m a bit loathe to say which! I know which one! It was one that I’d heard at scout camp when I was younger and I’d loved it. And when I came to write the first couple of songs at the age of about 14 that was one of them.
Paul McCartney
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
The songs featured John ‘Duff’ Lowe on piano, a school friend of McCartney’s who was recruited for his ability to play the arpeggio at the beginning of Jerry Lee Lewis’ Mean Woman Blues. He later recalled the preparation that took place prior to the recording.

I can well remember even at the rehearsal at his house in Forthlin Road, Paul was quite specific about how he wanted it played and what he wanted the piano to do. There was no question of improvising. We were told what we had to play. There was a lot of arranging going on even back then.
John ‘Duff’ Lowe
A Hard Day’s Write, Steve Turner
The recording was made at Phillips Sound Recording Service, a recording facility in the living room of 38 Kensington, a Victorian terraced house owned by Percy F Phillips.

I remember we all went down on the bus with our instruments – amps and guitars – and the drummer went separately. We waited in the little waiting room outside while somebody else made their demo and then it was our turn. We just went in the room, hardly saw the fella because he was next door in a little control booth. ‘OK, what are you going to do?’ We ran through it very quickly, quarter of an hour, and it was all over.
Paul McCartney
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
According to the studio log book, Phillips charged the group a fee of 17 shillings and three pence to make a disc of their own. The Quarrymen played their two chosen songs live into a single microphone.

The tape was erased after the 10-inch shellac disc was pressed, Phillips’ custom practice to keep costs down. However, as the Quarrymen had only 15 shillings between them, Phillips held onto the disc until they returned with the full amount.

When we got the record, the agreement was that we would have it for a week each. John had it a week and passed it on to me. I had it for a week and passed it on to George, who had it for a week. Then Colin had it for a week and passed it to Duff Lowe – who kept it for 23 years.
Paul McCartney
Anthology