Searchin'

The Coasters were one of the 1950's most iconic groups. Songwriters Leiber and Stoller wrote Seachin' especially for them and the Coasters released it on the Atco label in March of 1957 (with Young Blood on the back). It was number one on the R&B chart for 12 weeks and rose to number 3 on list for pop singles.

The Beatles were aware of this song and liked it, performing it in the early days of the Cavern Club and in Germany. When time came to record a set of demo songs for the Decca audition on January 1, 1962, manager Brian Epstein judged that Searchin' was an obvious inclusion.

Paul sang lead with John backing him, George on lead guitar, and Pete Best was on drums. The Beatles' cover of Searchin' was unconvincing for a numer of reasons ranging from Paul's attempted raspy falsetto in an American accent, Pete Best's un-energetic drumming, John's backing vocal doesn't compliment Paul's lead, and even the guitar solo flopped - the whole affair is seems oddly uninspired for a Beatles track. The song did not really showcase what the group was capable of doing or their energy.

The Decca audition track was released as part of the Anthology 1 collection, but without the introduction. It's greater for its historical significance than its sound and gives some insight into why The Beatles struck out with Decca.