It’s one of those Beatles covers that I read about but never heard until the Anthology came out. This song belongs in their pre-early period, as far as playing it. They played this in Hamburg and The Cavern.
This was recorded during the Beatles for Sale sessions in 1964; it captures the band hard into their early rock and R&B roots. John Lennon takes the lead with a sharp vocal that cuts through the song like all of his other vocals. It’s the kind of song that feels like it could’ve torn up the stage at the Cavern Club and Hamburg. It was excluded from the album at that time.
The Beatles were huge fans of that early American R&B and rock ’n’ roll, and this one fit right into their club repertoire, tough, fast, and built to move a crowd. Their version keeps that same bite, just filtered through their Liverpool interpretation. They don’t go raw like Bad Boy (one of my favorite covers they did), but it’s good.
Beatles For Sale was made when they were just plain worn out (look at their faces above, on the album cover). Beatlemania was getting on their nerves, what nerves they had left. George Harrison said Beatlemania was an attack on their nervous system. He explained it well; he said that they didn’t change as much, but the people all around, plus the public, went nuts. They lived inside this bubble until 1966, when they finally said no more touring after that year. It was probably, in some ways, the best decision they ever made. It might have prolonged the band’s life a little.
I looked up the reason why this song was excluded from Beatles For Sale. The only thing I could find is that George Martin thought there were too many covers on the album already. I would agree with that, but why not leave off “Mr. Moonlight” instead of this? This is a totally personal opinion, but Mr. Moonlight (besides Lennon’s vocal, which is special in it) is in the top 5 of my most disliked Beatles songs, not just covers, which it is, but all Beatles songs.
They just didn’t have the time to write more originals. Everyone was waiting for “the bubble to burst” on their success, but it never did. Hell, I’m still posting about them 60 years later. They only had 8 original songs on this album, and filled out the rest with covers they did in Hamburg and Liverpool. Leave My Kitten Alone was not an original; it was written by Little Willie John, Titus Turner, and James McDougal and released in 1959 by Little Willie John.
Leave My Kitten Alone
You better leave my kitten all aloneYou better leave my kitten all aloneWell, I told you, big, fat bulldogYou better leave her alone
You better leave my kitten all aloneYou better leave my kitten all aloneThis dog is gonna get youIf you don’t leave her alone
Well, Mister DogI’m gonna hit you on the top of your headThat child is gonna miss youYou’re gonna wishThat you were dead
If you don’t leave my kitten all aloneWell, I told you, big, fat bulldogYou better leave her alone
Well, alright!
Well, Mister DogI’m gonna hit you on the top of your headThat gal is gonna miss youYou’re gonna wishThat you were dead
If you don’t leave my kitten all alone, oh yeahWell, I told you, big, fat bulldogYou better leave her alone
Hey, heyYou better leaveYou better leaveYou better leaveYeah, you better leaveYou better leaveOh, you got to leaveYeah, heyWell, I told you, big, fat bulldog
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