The Beatles give a rousing performance. The new foursome is tight and has great fun together. Unlike the surly Pete, Ringo smiles and laughs as he plays. The cameras capture the new Beatles in all their glory—despite, between takes, some fans shouting, “We want Pete!”

Pete, it turns out, is there.

In the audience.

Years later, in his autobiography, Pete reveals, “I sneaked in and sneaked out again.”

The fans just need some time to warm up to Ringo, John thinks.

Besides, he doesn’t have time to worry about how Pete’s fans are taking the news.

He’s getting married tomorrow.

*  *  *

“You’re too young!”

Mimi’s voice thunders and echoes inside her kitchen.

“Cyn is having a baby. We are getting married tomorrow; do you want to come?” John has just told her.

The following morning, John and his longtime girlfriend, Cynthia Powell, exchange their vows at the registrar’s office, with Paul and George as witnesses and Brian as best man.

When they leave the building, it’s pouring rain.

It’s all so absurd that they burst out laughing.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I can’t do what ten people tell me to do…

—“(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay”

Brian hands John an acetate disc.

“What’s this?” John asks.

“The song that will be your first record for EMI. You’re going back in the studio Tuesday to record it. Mr. Martin believes it’s going to be a number one song.”

The Beatles come together at Brian’s record store to listen. The song, “How Do You Do It,” is pop treacle. They hate it.

Paul holds up the disc. “Well,” he says, frustrated, “what are we going to do with this?”

They decide to rearrange it.

*  *  *

The Beatles resume their gigs at the Cavern, mixing in their own songs. On Monday, September 3, the day before their studio date in London, the band debuts a new song, John’s “Please Please Me.”

On Tuesday, September 4, 1962, at 2:00 p.m., the Beatles enter the Abbey Road studios once again. John feels a bit more relaxed than he did the first time—they all do, because they have a real drummer with them.

It’s brilliant how this all worked out. I brought in Paul, Paul brought in George, and George brought in Ringo.

As they rehearse “Please Please Me,” the head of Parlophone comes down from the control booth to address the group.

“You need to tone down the drumming,” George Martin says, looking at Ringo.

A tense silence follows, and the producer cuts into it with further criticism.

“Double the speed,” he says, and the song “might have something.”

But the Beatles are there to record “How Do You Do It.” Though they polish it in two takes, they still don’t like the song.

“We want to record our own material,” John says, “not some soft bit of fluff written by someone else.”