BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS Bad to me Reaction - A gift from Lennon & McCartney - First hearing

[@Cynthia...]

I really like Billy J Kramer, and I love Little Children as well as this song. Thanks, Stephen and Harri.

[@ptournas]

I always liked this song. I liked their song "Little Children" too", I was 16 when it came out and I knew what is was like to visit your girlfriend when her parents weren't home and she was babysitting her younger siblings, so I could identify with the song! Good reaction again Harry. I like the wide variety of songs you choose to do, sometimes exploring a theme for several reactions, good mixes!

[@Blizzmatic777]

Paul McCartney Wrote 'World Without Love' a hit by Peter and Gordon, he also wrote 'come and get it' by Badfinger ...

[@dagmar.6954]

Another great band during the British invasion in the 60's. They had the same manager as the Beatles (Brian Epstein). They had several hits with Lennon/McCartney songs such as "Bad To Me", "I'll Keep You Satisfied", "From A Window", "I Call Your Name" etc. They also had a few other hits with "Little Children" & "Trains & Boats & Planes".

[@marybaillie8907]

My such a great tune from 1963/1964. The band was managed by Brian Epstein and has the wonderful Mersey Beat. John Lennon said he wrote this song while holidaying in Spain. Years later, he said He and Paul wrote it in the back of a van. Paul was present at Abbey Road Studios while this was recorded. This Number 1 tune was followed by "Little Children" a follow up Number 1. Just a great memory. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Stephen. 👏👏 Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦

[@jamesranville4290]

The Beatles did record a demo of this song it's on KZbin.

[@cojaysea]

I love that song . So sixties !

[@theodorabruin4601]

Billy J Kramer was dreamy...love this song! My era was the best!!!❤

[@brianparker663]

You can hear The Beatles' version of this song on the "Live at the BBC" album - although it was never recorded in the studio.

[@walterpanovs]

John Lennon is the one who suggested to Kramer that he use the initial "J" in his name for effect. It worked out well. If you look around you can find the Beatles' own versions (usually demos) of these songs that were successfully recorded by others during that time.

[@TennesseeLounge]

Billy J Kramer is from Liverpool as well

[@nationaltrails9585]

Good work on covering this aspect Beatle song authorship with songs like A World Without Love and Bad To Me. Another phenomena was other bands which recorded songs that sounded like and might be mistaken for The Beatles, one which comes to mind from 1965 was Lies by The Knickerbockers. :)

[@snarnok]

Billy J Kramer's backing band, The Dakotas had an instrumental hit called 'The Cruel Sea' which was composed by their lead guitarist Mike Maxfield.

[@aBeatleFan4ever]

Harri - This song went to #1 in the UK in August of 1963 and stayed there for 3 weeks. It was released in the US after The Beatles hit it big there in 1964 - and peaked at #9 on June 27th, 1964. John said in an interview in 1964 - that this was co-written by both John & Paul in the back of a van as they were traveling to a gig. Here is the demo that The Beatles made of the song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5WZipyhZpmSrbs

[@KILBOURN3100]

There is a recording of John singing this. It is adorable.

[@KennyY-bh3zl]

Another example of what a great songwriting team Lennon and McCartney were, that they could give away songs like this and "World Without Love" and "I Don't Want to See You Again" without even blinking. I had the pleasure of seeing Billy J. and the Dakotas at Madison Square Garden in '73 as part of a British Invasion reunion and they were great. I'm hoping for more from the Brit Invasion, Harri, "Needles and Pins", "Tell Her No", "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy", the Stones "Tell Me", "How Do You Do It" "Yesterday's Gone".

[@NoviJimB]

The number of quality songs The Beatles were writing back then is just astounding. By the time they made it over here in the U.S. they had already released two albums and several singles, and A Hard Day's Night was released not all that long after that (the albums were packaged quite differently here in the states). The U.S. couldn't get enough of their music in 1964. A large majority of the songs they had recorded through the end of 64 ended up on the charts here. In 1964 alone they had almost thirty songs on the hot 100. There were also a lot of songs that they wrote for other artists or were covered by other artists, and several songs that were about them - 'We Love You Beatles', 'My Boyfriend Got A Beatles Haricut', etc. Between all of those they acounted for almost fifty songs that made the charts - in one year! Truly amazing.

[@jerrypost9651]

You might be interested to know that the Beatles actually recorded a demo of this song, and it is out there on KZbin.

[@johnniekight1879]

Paul wrote many of Peter & Gordon's hits while John wrote many of Billy's hits. The Beatles version was sung by George. The Dakota's were the British version of The Ventures.

[@flamencoprof]

About 8 years ago I heard Cilla Black doing "It's for You" and the announcer said it was a Lennon-McCartney tune. I didn't recall hearing The Beatles doing the number. I wondered just how many other Lennon-McCartney penned numbers were not done by The Beatles. I found 28, wrote a blog post and made a KZbin playlist. Just checked the playlist and 4 have now disappeared. Gotta fix that! I have a list if it's wanted by anyone.

[@robertspino521]

the beatles did record it once but gave it to billy.. billy was british and friends with john. john wrote this for the most part.

[@robertspino521]

1963 it was written the beatles were young and the mersey beat was in full affect

[@robertspino521]

it was number 1.

[@sourisvoleur4854]

It really does have a John feel. Especially the wordplay.

[@davebzen795]

Stephen - I have never heard of this artist or the song. Great submission and review.

[@jolenewitzel7919]

Oldie but a goodie. ❤❤❤❤❤

[@mocrg]

It’s amazing how good a throw away song by the Beatles was.

[@marxlover100]

My favorite Billy J. Kramer song is another one penned by Lennon-McCartney. It is called "I'll Keep You Satisfied." Regarding "Bad to Me," if my memory serves correctly, I believe it was the flip side of "Little Children", which was up high on the charts of my local radio station in Southern California. When the popularity of that song began to wane, deejays began turning the record over and playing "Bad to Me". Suddenly, the two-sided record went zooming back up the charts of my local station. Here's what Wikipedia noted about the two songs: "In the United States, 'Little Children was backed with 'Bad to Me'. This was the only debut single of an act on the Hot 100, each of whose sides separately reached that chart's The Top 10 (No. 7 and No. 9, respectively)."

[@josephsiano5447]

Awesomeness!!!!!!! The Beatles

[@brisbaneshadowsplayers4225]

Billy J. was often double tracked to give his voice more 'punch'. The Dakotas were a great backing band, and also had instrumental hits, mostly written by the lead guitarist Mike Maxfield, who was an excellent musician.

[@jameshealy8402]

They were part of the Merseybeat sound with the likes of The Searchers , Gerry And the Pacemakers ,The Merseybeats and so on that took the country by storm

[@Beatles4Sale.]

A lot of the songs that Paul and John gave away the Beatles did either play live and/or record but not release. Just look for them on KZbin. They are there…not every single one but most of them including this one.

[@stephenqualtrough7322]

Thanks for the reaction to this Harri . In the first flush of Beatlemania Billy scored a number 1 with this in the UK. As an Epstein managed act Brian had persuaded the Paul and John team to donate this for Billy J. It was a follow up to Billy J hit Do you want to know a secret which was a Beatles cover and made number 2. This was whenThe Beatles fhemselves were number 1with From me to you

[@thomastimlin1724]

BJ Kramer and the Dakotas were British. The Beatles manager Brian Epstein managed them as well as many other Liverpool groups.

[@brandonflorida1092]

Here's the story of this song. In 1963, Lennon and manager Brian Epstein, went on a vacation to Spain. Epstein asked Lennon to write him a #1 hit for another group he had under management - Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. One evening, Epstein was very tired and collapsed on his bed. Lennon went to his room and wrote this. Indeed, it did go to #1. One would only give away a song of this caliber if one had a bottomless fountain of timeless classics. You might listen to "A World Without Love" by Peter and Gordon. Paul McCartney wrote it when he was 16 and never did anything with it. Years later, he was going out with the actress Jane Asher and gave it to her for her brother Peter's group, which was Peter and Gordon. When it came out in 1964, no one knew it was a McCartney composition. It also reached #1.

[@moorlock2003]

More Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas: I’ll Keep You Satisfied, From A Window, Sneaking Around

[@paulwalker9421]

Lennon and McCartney wanted to be song writers for others and they were. They wrote for many singers and others . The Rolling Stones first hit was from Lennon and McCartney . Look today how many songs have been written for movies and singers by just McCartney or George Harrison.

[@thomastimlin1724]

I believe the Beatles did a live Demo of this...notice the use of an augmented chord, And three electric 12 string guitar. Yes here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hp6vp3VunayZbtk

[@sourisvoleur4854]

Thank you! Pity it was miked so bad.

[@EricSmith-hd1wk]

😅Harri - they were under contract to Brian Epstein, so he simply took John and Paul’s place throwaway and gave it to BJC - and yes, of course they are British!

[@michaelpond6386]

Reminds me of a certain period of time when British groups all sounded this way almost like Gary and the Pacemakers.