Song of the Day 9/10: Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, “Do You Want to Know a Secret”

Bob Woodward is coming under fire for recording Trump back in March, when he was publicly downplaying COVID-19, saying that the new coronavirus was “deadly” and worse than the flu — and then sitting on the recordings until now, the better to flog his latest tome. If you want to know the rest of the secrets, you’ll have to buy the book. (Pro tip: Serialized book excerpts are like movie trailers — they reveal all the best parts, so there’s really no need to buy the book).

Though everyone remembers this as a Beatles song, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, who like the Beatles were managed by Brian Epstein, actually released their version earlier in 1963, but only in England, where it reached No. 2 on the singles chart.

The Beatles’ version appeared on the band’s first LP, “Please Please Me,” and was released as a single in the US in early 1964 by Vee-Jay Records, which won the rights to early Beatles singles in America because the geniuses at Capitol Records thought Americans weren’t interested in British music. The Beatles were actually a throw-in to seal the distribution deal for the guy Vee-Jay really wanted, an Australia-born country singer named Frank Ifield. By early 1964, Americans were interested enough in British music for Vee-Jay to sell 2.6 million records in one month.

John Lennon, the song’s primary composer, gave it to George Harrison to sing because, Lennon said later, “it only had three notes and he wasn’t the best singer in the world.” They released it as a single in 1964, and it was the rare Beatles track that didn’t make No. 1 — it stalled at No. 2, kept out of the top spot by “Can’t Buy Me Love.”