Coming into that day, the Beatles already had two singles under their belts. In October 1962, they released “Love Me Do,” the bluesy vamp that McCartney had first dreamed up while playing hooky from ...

The last notes of “Please Please Me” still hung in the stale air of EMI’s Studio Two on November 26th, 1962, when George Martin’s disembodied voice crackled over the talkback from the control room ...