June/July 1962: Paul's Records

     Sometime in the summer of 1962, Paul was photographed by his brother Michael outside Lime Street train station in Liverpool with English blues musician Long John Baldry.

    Tucked under Paul's arm are at least two 45 singles. Mike McCartney, in his new book Mike McCartney's Early Liverpool, remembers that Baldry would come up from London on the train and 'he and Paul would sometimes swap records that they had bought in specialist import shops. London and Liverpool both had docks where records arrived from all over the world, but mostly America. So, those two cities' sailors would get the very best in new music, including blues, which was very in at the time.'             

    While it is impossible to know what singles Paul held in this photo, it is possible to see that the colourful sleeve pattern belonged to the American label Mercury Records. In 1962, Mercury released singles by Little Richard, The Platters, Patti Page, Dinah Washington and Quincy Jones ('A Taste Of Honey'), just to name a few. Most of these are possibilities for Paul's records! In The Beatles - All These Years Volume 1: Tune In, Mark Lewisohn states that Paul learned 'A Taste Of Honey' in October 1962 from Lenny Welch's version. Quincy Jones' instrumental version on Mercury was released around the same time.