The Story Behind “How Do You Do It?” by Gerry and the Pacemakers and How They Took a Beatles Reject and Made It a No. 1 Hit

When manager Brian Epstein secured a record deal for The Beatles with E.M.I. Records, the group wasn’t even in England. They were performing in Hamburg, Germany. Epstein sent two telegrams: one to share the good news with the Fab Four and another to Bill Harry, editor of the Mersey Beat newspaper, so it could be reported in the next issue. They scheduled a recording session for June 6, 1962. George Martin, the head of E.M.I. subsidiary Parlophone Records, had not seen The Beatles perform when they entered the studios at Abbey Road to make their first recordings. Martin had a song in mind to be the first single for the band, but the quartet from Liverpool had another idea. Eventually, Gerry and the Pacemakers were given the opportunity to record the song and took it all the way to No. 1. Let’s take a look at the story behind “How Do You Do It” by Gerry and the Pacemakers.

How do you do what you do to me
I wish I knew
If I knew how you do it to me, I’d do it to you
How do you do what you do to me
I’m feelin’ blue
Wish I knew how you do it to me, but I haven’t a clue

June 6, 1982

The Beatles recorded several songs that day, but none of the documentation was saved, and only “Love Me Do” and “Besame Mucho” survived. Producer George Martin said in The Beatles Anthology, “It was common in those days to find material for artists by going to Tin Pan Alley and listening to the publishers’ wares. That was a regular part of my life: I spent a lot of time looking for songs, and what I wanted for The Beatles was a hit. I was convinced that ‘How Do You Do It?’ was a hit song. Not a great piece of songwriting, not the most marvelous song I had ever heard in my life, but I thought it had that essential ingredient which would appeal to a lot of people.”

You give me a feeling in my heart
Like an arrow passing through it
Spose that you think you’re very smart
But won’t you tell me how do you do it

The Beatles Weren’t the First to Turn It Down

The song had been pitched to Adam Faith and Brian Poole, who turned it down. Ron Richards, who worked for Martin, said in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn, “‘How Do You Do It?’ was brought into my office by the man who wrote it, Mitch Murray, along with Barry Mason, later to write a number of hits himself. They offered me first option on the recording and played me Mitch’s demonstration acetate. I liked it so much that I immediately called Dick James, the singer-turned-music publisher, and he signed the song up straightaway. But the acetate stayed in my desk for a long time after that. We didn’t know who to give it to. Much later, when George was pondering about The Beatles’ first record, I played him Mitch’s acetate. He felt that it would be ideal for them and sent a copy to Liverpool right away so that they could learn their parts.”

How do you do what you do to me
If I only knew
Then perhaps you’d fall for me like I fell for you

Standing Their Ground

Martin urged The Beatles to learn the song. When they returned to Abbey Road Studios in September, they had a new drummer in tow: Ringo Starr had replaced Pete Best. They took another shot at “Love Me Do” and recorded “How Do You Do It?” Continued Martin in The Beatles Anthology, “In the first year, I had the final decision on songs, but they persuaded me to let them have their own songs on both sides of their first single. I was still thinking that we should release their recording of ‘How Do You Do It?’ They said, ‘Couldn’t we do one of our own, ‘Please Please Me?’”

You give me a feeling in my heart
Like an arrow passing through it
Spose that you think you’re very smart
But won’t you tell me how do you do it

Gerry Marsden Jumped at the Chance

Paul McCartney told Lewisohn, “[George Martin] knew it was a No. 1 hit, so he gave us it on a demo, a little white acetate. We took it back to Liverpool and said, ‘What are we gonna do with this? This is what he wants us to do, he’s our producer, we’ll have to do it, we’ll have to learn it.’ So we did, but we didn’t like it and we came back to George and said, ‘Well it may be a No. 1 but we just don’t want this kind of song, we don’t want to go out with that kind of reputation. It’s a different thing we’re going for, it’s something new.’ I suppose we were quite forceful really, for people in our position. And he understood. George later took our demo and played it to Gerry [Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers] and said, ‘They don’t want it. It’s a major hit, you do it,’ and Gerry leapt at the chance. He kept it very similar in tempo to our version, which was quite changed from the original demo because it was our arrangement, basically.”

How do you do what you do to me
If I only knew,
Then perhaps you’d fall for me like I fell for you
When I do it to you

“John Lennon, My Best Pal”

In the UK, Gerry and the Pacemakers hit No. 1 with their first three singles. “How Do You Do It?” was in the top spot for three weeks before it was knocked out by “From Me to You” by The Beatles. Marsden told New Zealand talk-show host Gerard Smith, “Mitch Murray wrote it for a guy called Adam Faith. And he didn’t like it. It was offered to The Beatles, and they recorded it, but John didn’t like it. John Lennon, my best pal. And he said, ‘No, Brian, we don’t like that as a single,’ and he tried it, and he said, ‘Gerry Marsden, give it to Gerry,’ cause he knew I’d do anything to get a record. So we did it, and when it got to No. 1, I told John, ‘You know that song you didn’t like?’ He said, ‘Oh, yeah.’ I said, ‘It’s gonna be No. 1 on Friday.’ … The Beatles wanted to do it as a harmony, but we just did it as a single voice.”

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