Beatles Set List, c. 1962

This Beatles handwritten setlist includes songs like “Love Me Do,” and “P.S.”, confirming that this was created some time in 1962. “P.S.” stands for “P.S. I Love You,” a song that Paul McCartney wrote when the group traveled to Hamburg to perform in 1962. The two songs appeared on the Beatles’ first single, which was released in the United Kingdom on October 5, 1962, with “Love Me Do” on the A-side.  

Most of the entries on the list represent Rock’n’Roll classics that are not Beatles originals. “Beethoven” and “Hippy” are renditions of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” and Chan Romero’s “Hippy Hippy Shake.” “A Taste of Honey” was a popular song performed by the Ventures. The lack of originals may seem surprising since Paul McCartney and John Lennon had written some of their own songs before 1962. However, the Beatles performed mostly cover tunes in their early years since those songs were frequently requested by audiences. The Beatles also genuinely liked and admired these classic numbers, making sure that their first album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom on March 22, 1963, featured some of them, including “A Taste of Honey.”