Today’s classic song of the day is a Beatles song that the Beatles didn’t record. The song is “Bad to Me” and it’s one of the first songs written by a Beatle that was given to another artist to record. That artist was Billy J. Kramer, who recorded it with his band the Dakotas. Their single, released in July of 1963 in the UK and May of 1964 in the U.S., went to #1 in the UK and #9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
“Bad to Me,” while credited to the Lennon-McCartney team, was written by John Lennon. Well, that’s according to one story told by Mr. Lennon, who told one interviewer he wrote it while on holiday in Spain. In another interview, however, he said that he and his pal Paul wrote it while driving in the back of a van. Take your pick.
What we do know for sure is that John Lennon recorded a solo demo of the song, which is what Mr. Kramer and his group used as a guide. The Billy J. Kramer recording was produced by the Beatles’ producer, George Martin, and released on the Parlophone label.
If “Bad to Me” was written by John Lennon, it’s one of his more melodic compositions. (Typically, Paul was the melody master.) It’s a straight-up pentatonic melody, flowing in pretty much step-wise motion. As I’ve said before, you can’t go wrong with a pentatonic melody, and this song proves it.
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas performing “Bad to Me” live on the June 7, 1964, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Mr. Kramer definitely rode the wave of the British invasion and benefited from getting first crack at a pretty decent song from one of that era’s best and most prolific songwriters.
