The Beatles - "Love Me Do" (1962)

I find it so wonderful how these 'three' words (LOVE ME DO) can make such a magical hit song. "Love Me Do" is an early Lennon/McCartney song, principally written by Paul McCartney in 1958–1959 while playing truant from school at age 16. John Lennon wrote the middle eight.

The song was The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962. When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four. In the United States the single was a number one hit in 1964.

"Love Me Do" is intrinsically a song based around two simple chords: G7 and C, before moving to D for its middle eight. It first profiles Lennon playing a bluesy dry "dockside harmonica" riff , then features Lennon and McCartney on joint lead vocals, including Everly Brothers style harmonising during the beseeching "please" before McCartney sings the unaccompanied vocal line on the song's title phrase. Lennon had previously sung the title sections, but this change in arrangement was made in the studio under the direction of producer George Martin when he realised that the harmonica part encroached on the vocal (Lennon needed to begin playing the harmonica again on the same beat as the "do" of "love me do" although, according to Ian MacDonald, for the earlier 6 June audition the harmonica was overdubbed, allowing Lennon to sing the title phrase unhindered).

This is illustrative of the time constraints on this particular session - their first recording session proper; as for instance, when a similar situation later occurred on the "Please Please Me" single session, the harmonica was superimposed afterwards using tape-to-tape overdubbing. Described by MacDonald as "standing out like a bare brick wall in a suburban sitting-room", "Love Me Do" with its stark "blunt working class northerness" rang "the first faint chime of a revolutionary bell" compared to the standard tin pan alley productions occupying the charts at the time.

"Love Me Do" was recorded by the Beatles on three different occasions with three different drummers:

Rod Stewart - "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (1978)

"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" is a 1978 hit song for Rod Stewart. It was written by Stewart and Carmine Appice, and produced by Tom Dowd. "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" spent one week at the top of the British charts in December 1978 and four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, starting 10 February 1979. It also topped the charts in Australia for two weeks. Royalties from the song were donated to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Stewart performed the song at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979. The song was criticized by many in the rock press as a betrayal of Stewart's blues-oriented rock roots due to its disco-like arrangement, but Stewart and others were quick to point out that other widely respected artists, such as Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones, had also released disco-flavoured songs. It was also alleged that Stewart created the song through partial musical plagiarism. Carmine Appice, who played drums on this song told Songfacts: "This was a story of a guy meeting a chick in a club. At that time, that was a cool saying. If you listen to the lyrics, 'She sits alone, waiting for suggestions, he's so nervous...' it's the feelings of what was going on in a dance club. The guy sees a chick he digs, she's nervous and he's nervous and she's alone and doesn't know what's going on, then they end up at his place having sex, and then she's gone." In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked the song #301 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.