Song written in 1957 by John Lennon and credited to the song-writing team of Lennon and McCartney. It was said to have been from a “Thirties or Forties song” according to John Lennon and one which his mother would sing to him. The Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn identified it as “Scatterbrain” from 1939. The sound of the song has been said to have the influence and style of the sound of Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
The song was thought to be first recorded in 1960 where it was sung by John Lennon and Paul McCartney but it wasn’t released then. It was then recorded by The Beatles in 1962 for their Decca audition, with Pete Best on drums. The audition was unsuccessful so they they then recorded four tracks, including “Hello Little Girl” for the radio producer Peter Pilbeam in February 1962. A month later they recorded at the Playhouse Theatre for a BBC production but that song wasn’t included in the broadcast, but the others were.
Also in February 1962 George Martin was approached by the Beatles manager Brian Epstein and he gave him an acetate of the tracks “Till There Was You” and “Hello Little Girl” from their audition. The song wasn’t released as a single by The Beatles but it did get included o their 1995 album Anthology 1.
The following year, on 3rd July 1963, the Merseybeat band The Fourmost recorded the song as their debut single with the Beatles in the studio. 10 days later, on the 13th July, it was recorded by Gerry & The Pacemakers but The Fourmost’s version was chosen to be released. The Gerry & The Pacemakers version later appeared on their 1991 The Best of Gerry & the Pacemakers.
When The Fourmost version was released in August 1963 with “Just in Case” on the B side it became successful and reached No.9 0n the UK singles chart. This version was later released on the compilation The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away.
The song has since been recorded by many other artists that include Bas Muys, The Stool Pigeons, The Typhoons and several Beatles tribute bands.
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Little_Girl
- https://www.thebeatles.com/hello-little-girl
- https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/hello-little-girl
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lewisohn
- https://archive.org/details/beatlesasmusicia00ever
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourmost
- https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/15426/all
- https://www.jpgr.co.uk/col_r5056.html
- https://www.discogs.com/search?q=Hello+Little%20Girl&type=all