The Beatles' Last Parlophone Singles

When the Beatles' recording contract with EMI expired in 1976, EMI were free to re–release music from the Beatles' catalogue. Parlophone subsequently released three more Beatles singles. The first was Back in the USSR in 1976, to promote the newly–released compilation album Rock 'n' Roll Music. It spent six weeks on the UK chart, and peaked at No. 19.

In 1978, Parlophone issued Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band / With a Little Help from My Friends as the A–side of a single, with A Day in the Life as the B–side. This one spent just three weeks on the UK chart, and peaked at No. 63.

The last Beatles single on Parlophone to hit the UK charts was entitled Beatles Movie Medley. It was a medley of songs from A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, and Let it Be. Wikipedia notes that 'Parlophone Records initially refused to issue the single in the United Kingdom, regarding the medley as "tacky". But after the import demand for the US release grew, it was finally issued as Parlophone R 6055. The original flip side was an interview with The Beatles about the making of the movie A Hard Day's Night. It was later re–released with "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on the flip side.' This was the most successful of the three 'archive' singles on Parlophone: it spent nine weeks on the chart and peaked at No. 10.

Wikipedia also notes that in 1986, Twist and Shout "enjoyed a resurgence of popularity after Matthew Broderick lip–synced (sic) to the Beatles' version of it in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Coincidentally, the same song featured in the film Back to School (released two days after Ferris), sung by Rodney Dangerfield and patterned after the Beatles' arrangement. The use in the two films helped propel the single up the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 23." Wikipedia lists it in the Beatles UK Singles Chronology on its Twist and Shout page, but I can't find it on Wikipedia's Beatles Discography page or in Guinness's British Hit Singles & Albums.

© Haydn Thompson 2017