Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey....I waws listening to my cd "Aint she sweet: the early tapes of the beatles" a european release....not a boot.....and I was noticing that the record (The Beatles Featuring tony sheridan) has the track "take out some insurance on me baby" while the cd, the same track is listed (same song) with a different title..."if you love me, baby"

Well, don't the two often go hand-in-hand?

I do believe the proper song name is "take out some insurance on me baby"... I've always like that and wanted to do it but my band mates think I'm nuts. Oh well.

Tony Sheridan used to try to get John to use larger semi-hollow body guitars on stage and thought that Lennon's little Ric 325 was like a toy and that it made a cheap sound.

Tony Sheridan was schmaltz. That's why the German burgermeister-types who frequented those cheezy clubs loved him. Old UK tradition. Tom Jones (who's much cooler now than he was in the '60s, BTW), Englebert Honkerdonk or whatever the h*** he called himself, Matt Munro (the singing bus conductor), etc.

It's no wonder he preferred something big and square like those yumbo Gibbies. A jangly Rick was beyond his ken.

Right on the money, JJ...

there is a booklet to the CD by Hans Olof Gottfridsson, he wrote:
" This song is known under two different titles. When first released by American blues artist Jimmy Reed in 1959 it went under the title 'Take Out Some Insurance On Me,Baby'. Polydor also uses this title for the song on some of the record releases by Tony Sheridan and the Beatles; on others, however, they used the title 'If You Love Me, Baby'."

Words and music: Singleton-Hall

Back in 60-61 John, Paul, George, Pete and Stu didn't think Tony Sheridan was schmaltz. Remember, this was pre EVERYTHING. Its easy to look back now and call it schmaltz (and I'd even agree with you), but back then Tony was cool and the lads (especially John) looked up to him.

Nobody's agruing with you on that one. Schmaltz is relative, and German Strip Klubbe and pop beer hall music was the height of schmaltz, even then. I mean, c'mon, "Besame Mucho"?

They looked up to Tony because he was a "name" at least there and then. But this was lowbrow stuff.

A lot of what John did in later life was in reaction to, and denial of, the "values" he held and discarded, growing up fatherless. He spent a lot of time and effort looking for a father figure, and Tony was one of them.

>> I mean, c'mon, "Besame Mucho"?

yup, you got me there. Paul was always the real showman in that band and he went for "Besame Mucho" like a ham sandwich. Perhaps the all-time worst Beatle cover.

Yea, Tony was a "name" and perhaps a father figure (or at least an older brother) to John. But by 1960 standards, Tony was a true "rocker" (albeit a lowbrow one) and could well have helped forge the early Beatles sound in ways we dont know..... (just speculation here). Compared to some of the other player/bands at the time (Rory Storm, Faron and the Flamingos, Gerry Marsden), Tony must have appeared to John as the "real deal rocker" and there was certainly an attraction and learning as well.

... and lets not forget one of Liverpool's almost comically bad/weird bands at the time: The Undertakers. George Harrison mentions them in particular as one of the musical and fashion styles that the Beatles were NOT. Looking at the Undertakers (and there is an old film of them) its clear to see that when the Beatles came back from Hamburg they were a total breath of fresh air and simply blew everyone else in town off the map.

Sheridan could have been Lennon's 'twin' older brother maybe, since they were both born in 1940.

IMO, The Beatles would have ridden the tail of Burl Ives back then if they thought it might have gotten them somewhere. Tony was hot then and they latched onto it.

huh... I aways thought Sheridan was a few years older... live and learn... born Anthony Sheridan McGinnity, 21 May 1940, Norwich, Norfolk, England.

http://www.icebergradio.com/artist/25485/tony_sheridan.html

Yup, the Beatles would indeed ridden the tail of Burl Ives if that is what they had to do. Lets just be happy old Burl wasn't playing around the Reiperbahn at the time!

From that website... I never heard about THIS:

(after returning to Hamburg in '68)... Sheridan then converted to the Sannyasin religion, renamed himself Swami Probhu Sharan, living with his family in Ottersberg near Bremen, Germany.

yea, that Swami Sharan can really rock! or is it schmaltz?

Tony and the boys

Imagine Burl Ives converting and renaming himself a Swami...

"Hey Burl...I mean, Swami Prabhu Frosty, yer gettin' chicken grease on yer saffron robe!"

What model is Tony Sheridan playing in the photo above? It has to be real close to the Gibson 160E. Did the Beatles get the idea from Tony?