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Pop Go the Beatles
Running time	29 minutes (5:00 pm – 5:29 pm)
Home station	BBC Light Programme
Hosted by	Lee Peters; Rodney Burke;
Starring	The Beatles
Created by	Vernon Lawrence
Produced by	Terry Henebery; Ian Grant;
Original release	4 June –; 24 September 1963
No. of episodes	15
Opening theme	Pop Goes the Weasel

Pop Go the Beatles was a weekly radio show that ran for fifteen episodes on the BBC Light Programme from June to September 1963. Hosted by Lee Peters for the first four episodes and Rodney Burke for the following eleven, the show would feature a guest band and then a conversation with and performance by the Beatles.

Background

The show was first pitched by studio manager Vernon Lawrence to his assistant Donald MacLean on 30 April 1963. At first only four episodes were booked, but eleven more were later added due to the show's success.^[1] The first four episodes of the show were hosted by disc jockey Lee Peters, whom the Beatles secretly referred to as "Pee Litres" behind his back, and the following eleven were hosted by Rodney Burke.^[2] It was produced by Terry Henebery for the first thirteen episodes and Ian Grant for the final two, with a budget of £100 per episode. The BBC estimated at the time that the show was heard by 5.3% of the British population, or 2.8 million people, though it only received 52 out of 100 on the Appreciation Index.^[1]

Content

Each episode of the show would begin with a guest act and then feature a conversation with and performance by the Beatles, usually comprising six songs. Guest acts on the show included the Hollies, the Searchers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, and Russ Sainty.^[3] Throughout the run of the show, the Beatles played many covers that they never recorded in the studio, including Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Memphis, Tennessee", and "Carol"; Carl Perkins' "Sure to Fall", "Glad All Over", and "Lend Me Your Comb"; Arthur Alexander's "Soldier of Love" and "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues"; Ann-Margret's "I Just Don't Understand"; Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman"; Elvis Presley's "That's All Right"; the Jodimars' "Clarabella"; and Chan Romero's "Hippy Hippy Shake".^[2]^[4] The theme song for the show was a rock arrangement of the song "Pop Goes the Weasel" performed by the Beatles.^[1]^[5]

Legacy

Many of the performances on the show were reissued on the compilation album Live at the BBC. Paul McCartney said about the recordings that "We are going for it, not holding back at all, trying to put in the best performance of our lifetimes.”^[6] Rolling Stone and Slate magazines both published retrospectives on the series, with the former saying the fifth episode was "...when the Beatles pulled even with their heroes, and then surpassed them" and the latter saying that the format of the show "compelled the band to dig deep into its repertoire" and show off their influences.^[4]^[2] Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn wrote that the band getting their own show at that point was "a remarkable coup", noting that the first episode was recorded less than a year after their first recording session for EMI.^[7]

Episodes


Episode No.	Date recorded	Date aired	Host	Guest	Songs performed by the Beatles
1	24 May	4 June	Lee Peters	The Lorne Gibson Trio	"From Me to You" "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" "Do You Want to Know a Secret" "You Really Got A Hold On Me" "Misery" "The Hippy Hippy Shake"
2	1 June	11 June	Lee Peters	The Countrymen	"Too Much Monkey Business" "I Got to Find My Baby" "Young Blood" "Baby It's You" "Till There Was You" "Love Me Do"
3	1 June	18 June	Lee Peters	Carter-Lewis and the Southerners	"A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" "Memphis, Tennessee" "A Taste of Honey" "Sure to Fall (in Love with You)" "Money (That's What I Want)" "From Me to You"
4	17 June	25 June	Lee Peters	The Bachelors	"I Saw Her Standing There" "Anna (Go to Him)" "Boys" "Chains" "PS I Love You" "Twist and Shout"
5	2 July	16 July	Rodney Burke	Duffy Power and the Graham Bond Quartet	"That's All Right (Mama)" "There's a Place" "Carol" "Soldier of Love (Lay Down Your Arms)" "Lend Me Your Comb" "Clarabella"^[a]
6	10 July	23 July	Rodney Burke	Carter-Lewis and the Southerners	"Sweet Little Sixteen" "A Taste of Honey" "Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on the Trees)" "Love Me Do" "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes" "So How Come (No One Loves Me)"
7	10 July	30 July	Rodney Burke	The Searchers	"Memphis, Tennessee" "Do You Want to Know a Secret" "Till There Was You" "Matchbox" "Please Mister Postman" "The Hippy Hippy Shake"
8	16 July	6 August	Rodney Burke	The Swinging Blue Jeans	"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)" "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" "Kansas City"/"Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" "To Know Her Is to Love Her" "The Honeymoon Song" "Twist and Shout"
9	16 July	13 August	Rodney Burke	The Hollies	"Long Tall Sally" "Please Please Me" "She Loves You" "You Really Got a Hold On Me" "I'll Get You" "I Got a Woman"
10	16 July	20 August	Rodney Burke	Russ Sainty and the Nu-Notes	"She Loves You" "Words of Love" "Glad All Over" "I Just Don't Understand" "Devil in Her Heart" "Slow Down"
11	1 August	27 August	Rodney Burke	The Cyril Davies Rhythm and Blues All Stars with Long John Baldry	"Ooh! My Soul" "Don't Ever Change" "Twist and Shout" "She Loves You" "Anna (Go to Him)" "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues"
12	1 August	3 September	Rodney Burke	Brian Poole and the Tremeloes	"From Me to You" "I'll Get You" "Money (That's What I Want)" "There's a Place" "Honey Don't" "Roll Over Beethoven"^[b]
13	3 September	10 September	Rodney Burke	Johnny Kidd & the Pirates	"Too Much Monkey Business" "Till There Was You" "Love Me Do" "She Loves You" "I'll Get You" "The Hippy Hippy Shake" "A Taste of Honey"
14	3 September	17 September	Rodney Burke	The Marauders	"Chains" "You Really Got a Hold On Me" "Misery" "A Taste of Honey" "Lucille" "From Me To You" "Boys"
15	3 September	24 September	Rodney Burke	Tony Rivers and the Castaways	"She Loves You" "Ask Me Why" "Devil in her Heart" "I Saw Her Standing There" "Sure to Fall (In Love With You)" "Twist and Shout"

Notes

^ The Beatles also recorded "Three Cool Cats", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Ask Me Why" for the BBC on 2 July, but these were not broadcast at the time.^[8]
^ The Beatles also recorded "Lucille" and "Baby It's You" for the BBC on 1 August, but these were not broadcast at the time.^[9]