Young Blood

Young Blood was made popular by the Coasters, a classic rock group from the late 1950's, who created a distinctive sound that appealed to the Beatles. Songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (with Doc Pomus) are credited with creating this tune. It was released in March, 1957 on the flip side of Searchin' (which the Beatles also covered, notably for their Decca audition on January 1, 1962). Young Blood went to number 8 on the Billboard 100 and to the top of the R&B charts. Rolling Stone put it at number 414 in its 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This song appealed to the Beatles for several reasons. The lyrics tell of an age-old theme: Boy loves girl, but girl's father does not approve of boy. Boy insists on loving girl anyway. Musically, the song is a minor blues (e-minor/a-minor/B7) with A/C#/G#/B7 in the bridge. The Beatles enjoyed performing this song in their days at Liverpool's Cavern Club. The July, 1962 recording made there includes this song. When the BBC recorded many of the Beatles' songs in 1963, the group chose this for their performance on the second edition of Pop! Go the Beatles. The studio recording made on June 1, 1963 (and broadcast on June 11) is part of the 1994 collection, Live at the BBC. In that version, George Harrison takes lead vocals, with McCartney and Lennon coming in on the chorus and middle eight.