Romance and Russia, the two words just go together. Unless, of course, you are trying to speak in Russian.
The Russian language is not one that is typically considered a romance language. Based on the Cyrillic alphabet, there are a lot of stops and starts not to mention the occasional harsh noise. Given the fact that I was from California and thus could barely speak proper English, it was all the more a challenge.
In that I was living in Russia for a year, it was inevitable I would pick up a Russian girlfriend. Hey, there had to be at least one crazy one in the city!
Russian women are much sought after for their beauty and grace. Indeed, 9 out of 10 desperate men prefer to order addresses from a Russian mail order bride web site versus all other nationalities. Okay, I made that up, but you get the idea.
In truth, I found Russian women to be all they are touted to be and excellent cooks. As a single male in Siberia sans microwave, the cooking part was critical. Due to the lack of Pepto in Siberia, poisoning oneself is not recommended.
Still, Russian women do suffer from one flaw inherent in all women. Upon finding a boyfriend lacking in certain areas, a Russian woman will endeavor to fix them. In my case, the improvement involved the Russian language and love.
Looking back at "Love Me Do" today it may be hard to understood what it was about this song that excited so many people in the UK back in 1962. I think in order to really understand it you have to know what kind of music was popular at that time and how much different "Love Me Do" sounded. While it wasn't a really great song, it did have a certain charisma, a certain "rock n roll" attitude that set it apart.
I think the best way to understand this it to listen to "How Do You Do It?" which is the song that their producer Geore Martin wanted them to release as a single. This wasn't one of their originals (like "Love Me Do" was) it was a "professionally written" song and while it is actually catchier than "Love Me Do" (and did hit #1 for three weeks when Gerry and the Pacemakers released their version of it in 1963) it also has none of the excitement that The Beatles original does.
A very simple song based around three chords. Actually it's mostly based on two chords with the 3rd one coming in as a big "surprise" on the bridge. But simple doesn't necessarily mean bad. It has a pretty catchy melody and the simple 4 note riff on the harmonica by John Lennon manages to wedge itself into the memory of the listener as well.
While not nearly as memorable as "Love Me Do," this song does actually have quite a bit more musical complexity to it and in some ways foreshadows much of The Beatles later work (in subtle ways.) I think what's most remarkable about it is how much different it sounds than the A-Side. It's a totally different style.
