George Martin - And I Love Her/Ringo's Theme - Beatles
$
40
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Description
George Martin
And His Orchestra
“And I Love Her”
“Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)”
United Artists 45 with Picture Sleeve
United Artists UA 745 - 1964
Although the Beatles first film, A Hard Day’s Night, turned out to be huge money maker that received rave reviews from movie critics and fans alike, it was initially conceived as a loss leader by United Artists. The idea was to produce a low budget flick with the Beatles, strictly to obtain the soundtrack. Bud Ornstein, European head of production for United Artists, explained it this way, “Our record division wanted to get the soundtrack album to distribute in the States, and what we’d lose on the film we’d get back on the disc.” As EMI’s contract with the Beatles did not specifically cover film soundtracks, United Artists was able to negotiate directly with Brian Epstein for the American rights to both the film and its soundtrack album.
United Artists obtained a split publishing interest in the songs used in the film for its subsidiary, Unart Music Corp. An essential element of the United Artists strategy was to begin production on the film in early 1964 so that the motion picture would be in theaters by July. The company wanted a quick release because it was concerned that the Beatles popularity would decline by summer’s end. Thus, the Beatles were scheduled to begin work on the film, and the songs for its soundtrack, shortly after their return from their first visit to America.
A Hard Day’s Night was not scheduled for release in America until August 12, 1964, but United Artists rushed out its Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album on June 26, 1964. The decision to issue the album ahead of the film proved to be a wise one. On July 1, the United Artists announced that the LP had sold and delivered one million copies in just four days. Billboard, in a story titled “Beatles’ LP: 4 Days That Shake Industry,” reported the news in its July 11 issue, stating that the album had become one of the fastest selling LPs in the history of the record business. The following week, the album entered the Billboard Top LP’s chart. One week later, on July 25, the album spent its first of fourteen straight weeks at the top of the charts. In all, the soundtrack LP was on the charts for 51 weeks. Cash Box and Record World also reported the album at Number One.
Although United Artists was not allowed to issue Beatles songs from the soundtrack LP in the singles format, the label did release the four George Martin instrumentals from the LP on 45s. The first single pulled from the album was “And I Love Her” backed with “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)”. “And I Love Her” bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, peaking at Number 105 in August of 1964. The flip side, an instrumental version of “This Boy” titled “Ringo’s Theme”, fared better, reaching Number 53 during its eight week stay on the charts. United Artists prepared an attractive picture sleeve for the record. The front of the sleeve is similar to the front cover of the soundtrack LP. It has the same four pictures of the boys and a red background area at the top with text and graphics in black and white. The back of the sleeve features nine of the fifteen black and white photos from the back cover of the album. As the record was not a big seller, the picture sleeve is much less common than the picture sleeves to the huge selling Capitol 45s.
This auction is for the United Artists 45 of the George Martin’s “And I Love Her” backed with “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)”. The record is in Good-Good+ condition, with wear on the labels. The “And I Love Her” side has a deep scratch that probably would affect playability. The Picture Sleeve is in Very Good condition, with wear but no writing or seam splits.
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The Fine Print: Payment is required within 3 days. Returns are accepted within 7 days, provided the item is not as described, and I am notified first. I reserve the right to cancel the auction at any time. Shipping is by Media Mail within the U.S. International bidders: Please contact me for shipping information before bidding.
I have many Beatles group and solo items including LP's, 45's, CD's, promo's, books and memorabilia. Please call Ron at (619) 328-2891 if you have questions about this or any other Beatles item.
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