The version of "Lend Me Your Comb" heard on Anthology 1 could just as easily have been included on Live at the BBC, since it was performed live for a BBC show in 1963. I believe that a few different people might have actually recorded "Lend Me Your Comb," but the Beatles are definitely emulating Carl Perkins' version, which was released as the B-side to his 1956 single "Glad All Over." That song was also in the Beatles' repertoire, and CAN be found on Live at the BBC.
Anyway, "Lend Me Your Comb" lends more support to what I'm starting to call my Universal Theory of Beatles Covers-- the Beatles almost always play their covers with a sense of deep love and respect for the originals (I swear in this one George's guitar solo might be a note-for-note imitation of Perkins'), with their contribution to it typically being the heaping dose of manic energy they inject. The Perkins version of "Lend Me Your Comb" is awesome, but sounds much more country-fried, due in part to its lazier swing. But the Beatles rock it out, bumping up the tempo and changing the drumming. Ringo's almost doing something resembling a samba beat or some other weird thing I don't know the name for, isn't he? It definitely helps kick the energy up a notch. So do the vocals, which are awesome, especially when John and Paul are whooping it up going into the guitar solo. I love John and Paul on this kind of Everlys-esque vocal anyway (oh my God, I love the Everlys, not matter how dorky that is). It just warms my heart.
Listen to the original, and you'll hear what I mean.
You know, it's a cute song. It might not have the veneer of a rock and roll classic like Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" or something, but I so love it. Hope you dig it too, because that, sadly, has to be it from me today.
"Lend Me Your Comb," released in the U.K. and the U.S. disc 1 track 27 of Anthology 1, November 20, 1995.
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First time I've heard this song, Meg. The vocals are great. Paul sounds like he's having such fun with it. I'm going off subject a bit here, but all the pictures in the video remind me of how much attention and general hoopla was given to the Beatles' haircuts, and how much strife it caused in almost every male teenager's relationship with his parents as he fought them over growing his hair long(er) in the Beatles style. I bet i had more arguments with my parents over hair than anything else.
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