A Shot of Rhythm and Blues

Written by Terry Thompson, A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (1961) was a Beatles cover of a song made popular by Arthur Alexander, a well-known soul singer in the US. Lennon sang lead in three recordings the Beatles made of the song for BBC in 1963, the third of which (August 1, 1963) was released on the retrospective album, Live at the BBC, in 1994. The first recording was in the Paris studios of the BBC on June 18, 1963 for a Pop Go the Beatles special broadcast, an important step in the path to "Beatlemania" in that summer of 1963. The song was also covered at the time by Clyde McPhatter and then later by Van Morrison and Linda Gail Lewis on You Win Again (2000). It is an important milestone in the history of Rock 'n' Roll, and in large measure because of the Beatles' high-energy interpretation.