A Listen To The Beatle’s Decca Audition Tape

The Beatles, arguably the greatest music group of all time, were turned down by every record label they went to until a little arm twisting landed them on George Martin’s Parlophone label. One listen to this audition tape that the band did for Decca Records  leads you to understand why everyone passed however. The band played songs from their live show, and while certainly competent, didn’t provide even an inkling of what was to come later.

The audition took place in London at Decca Studios on New Year’s Day in 1962. The group (which included original drummer Pete Best) travelled down from Liverpool through a snowstorm with driver and roadie Neil Aspinall to arrive just in time for the 11am audition. Brian Epstein had travelled separately by train. The Beatles recorded 15 songs altogether with 5 of them,  “Three Cool Cats,” “The Sheik Of Araby,” “Like Dreamers Do and Hello Little Girl,” eventually appearing on the Anthology 1 collection in 1995.