In Spite Of All The Danger - Music

Frogtoon Music - Song Info: In Spite of All the Danger

The-Beatles - Anthology 1

"In Spite Of All The Danger" Is The First Song Recorded By The Quarrymen Then Consisting Of John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Pianist John Lowe And Drummer Colin Hanton. McCartney Wrote The Song And Harrison Provided The Guitar Solo And So The Song Is Credited To McCartney–Harrison. Recording Took Place Sometime Between May And July 1958 At Percy Phillips' Home Studio In Liverpool. Composition Paul McCartney Wrote The Song On His Own Likely Around January 1958 And Possibly At George Harrison's Family Home In Upton Green. The Song Uses The B7 Chord Which McCartney Discovered With Harrison After A Multi-Bus Trip Across Liverpool To The Home Of A Stranger Who Knew The Chord. Harrison Wrote Both Of The Song's Guitar Solos And So McCartney Gave Him A Joint Credit. In The Beatles Anthology McCartney Describes It As "a Self-Penned Little Song Very Influenced By Elvis Presley ." In An Interview With Beatles Historian Mark Lewisohn McCartney Goes Further And Explains That The Song Is Very Similar To A Specific Elvis Song Though He Avoids Mentioning Which Particular One. Lewisohn Writes That Though McCartney Wrote The Track On His Own It Is Heavily Based On The Melody Of Elvis's "Tryin' To Get To You" Which Also Includes The Similar Lyric " In Spite Of All That I've Been Through." Musicologist Walter Everett Agrees Writing That "its Cadence Comes Close". Chris Ingram Says It Was "clearly Inspired" By It And John C. Winn Says It Was "fashioned After" It. Recording Around July 1958 The Quarrymen Paid For A Recording Session At Percy Phillips' Home In Kensington Liverpool Recording A Cover Of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day" And "In Spite Of All The Danger". Lennon McCartney And Harrison All Played Guitar John "Duff" Lowe The Piano And Colin Hanton The Drums. Recording Was Achieved With A Single Microphone Suspended From The Ceiling No Volume Balancing Possible. Curtains And Carpets Were Put In The Downstairs Living Room To Dampen The Noise Of Traffic From The Street Outside. At Nearly Three And A Half Minutes The Song Is Much Longer Than Most Pop Recordings Of The Time. Lewisohn Writes "anecdotes Have Percy Phillips Waving His Arms At Them Hurrying Them To A Finish Because He Could See The Disc-Cutting Lathe Reaching Its Ultimate Point Almost At The Center Label." Release With Only One Copy Of The Recording Made The Group Members Shared The Disc For A Week Each. Lowe Was The Last To Have It Keeping It For Nearly 25 Years. In 1981 He Prepared To Sell It At Auction But McCartney Intervened And Purchased It Directly From Him. McCartney Had Engineers Restore As Much Of The Record's Sound Quality As Possible And Then Made Approximately 50 Copies Of The Single That He Gave As Personal Gifts To Family And Friends. In 2004 Record Collector Magazine Named The Original Pressing The Most Valuable Record In Existence Estimating Its Worth At £100 000 With The 1981 Copies Made By McCartney Coming In Second On The List At £10 000 Each. "In Spite Of All The Danger" Was Not Released To The Public Until It Appeared On The 1995 Beatles Compilation Album Anthology 1 Along With "That'll Be The Day" Though The Former Was Shortened To 2 42 From Its Original 3 25 Runtime.