100 Great Songs From The British Invasion 1963-66. ‘A World Without Love’- Peter and Gordon. Peter and Gordon’s first single- ‘A World Without Love’- went to #1 in late June 1964 in both the US Billboard Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart. They did have a little help from a friend- one Paul McCartney. Paul who was at time the boyfriend of Peter’s lovely sister Jane and sharing a room in with Peter in the Asher home at the time. ‘A World Without Love’ was a song Paul had written when he was sixteen years old. Peter and Gordon had signed a record contract and Peter asked Paul if he had anything he could use. Paul didn’t think ‘A World Without Love’ was good enough for The Beatles to use so he passed it on to Peter and Gordon. John Lennon would always crack up at the opening line of the song ‘Please lock me away.” The Beatles never recorded ‘A World Without Love’- the only recording was a demo by Paul- which Peter Asher has- which is just 33 seconds in length [ attached below] Some trivia to tell your friends: – Two Lennon-McCartney songs have went to #1- covered by other artists- ‘A World Without Love’- Peter and Gordon and of course Sir Elton John’s ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.’ Another Lennon-McCartney song ” Bad To Me’- was a #1 hit in the UK charts for Billy J. Kramer but peaked at #9 in the US Billboard Hot 100. By the way Paul had first offered ‘A World Without Love’ to Billy J. Kramer- and he rejected it. Ouch. The songwriting team of Lennon-McCartney had seven #1 hits in the calendar year 1964- a record. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed ‘A World Without Love’ as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. I will have more info on Peter and Gordon later in this series.

Single: ‘A World Without Love’- Peter and Gordon/ Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney/ Recorded January 21, 1964/ Time: 2:41/ Produced by Norman Newell/ Released on February 28, 1964/ Peaked at #1 1 week in US Billboard Hot 100, #1 in UK Singles Chart.