Bad to Me
1963 single by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Bad to Me" is a song credited to Lennon–McCartney. In late interviews, John Lennon said that he wrote it for Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas[2] while on holiday in Spain. However, in a 1964 interview he said that he and Paul McCartney wrote it in the back of a van, declaring McCartney a contributor.[3] Lennon's original demo of the song was released on iTunes in December 2013 on the album The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963. It became one of the first occasions a Lennon–McCartney composition made the US Top 40 recorded by an artist other than the Beatles (the first being "A World Without Love" by Peter & Gordon).
| "Bad to Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Single by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas | ||||
| from the album Little Children | ||||
| B-side | "I Call Your Name" | |||
| Released | 26 July 1963 (UK) May 1964 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 26 June 1963 | |||
| Genre | Pop, beat | |||
| Length | 2:22 | |||
| Label | Parlophone R5049[1] | |||
| Songwriter | Lennon–McCartney[1] | |||
| Producer | George Martin[1] | |||
| Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| "Bad to Me" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Beatles | |
| from the album The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963 | |
| Released | 17 December 2013 |
| Recorded | 1963 |
| Genre | Merseybeat |
| Length | 1:29 |
| Label | Apple, Universal Music Group |
| Songwriter | Lennon–McCartney |
Chart performance
Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas released their recording of the song in 1963 and it became their first number 1 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] Paul McCartney was present during the recording session at Abbey Road Studios. The single was released in the US the following year, and was a top-ten hit there, reaching number 9.[4] In Canada "Bad To Me' reached number 12 on both the CHUM and RPM charts.[5][6][7]
Cover versions
- Terry Black released a version of the song on his 1965 debut album, Only 16.[8]
- Graham Parker recorded a version of the song for the 2003 album Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney, new versions of 17 Lennon–McCartney songs that were originally released by other artists.[9] Leif Garrett also recorded a version of the song for his self-titled debut album. Finnish rock band Hurriganes covered this song in their third album, Crazy Days.
- Recordings of "Bad to Me" as the Beatles may have performed it are available on the 1989 album by Bas Muys entitled Secret Songs: Lennon & McCartney[10][11] and on the 1998 release It's Four You by the Australian tribute band The Beatnix.[12]
