# The 7 Best Merseybeat Tracks of All Time

Liverpool, 1962: dockside kids who had heard American records first because the ships brought them, playing rhythm and blues faster and tighter than the originals, in a city with three hundred working beat groups.

- **Origin:** Liverpool, England, 1962
- **Tempo:** 120–170 BPM
- **Also known as:** beat music, british invasion, liverpool sound
- **Tracks:** 7
- **Updated:** 2026-08-31
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/merseybeat/

## The list

### 1. [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [She Loves You](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--she-loves-you/)

*1963 · Parlophone*

The best-selling British single of the sixties, and structurally strange — it opens on the chorus and ends on a sixth chord George Martin thought was corny. Two years from Hamburg to this.

Also on: [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20She%20Loves%20You) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S302kF8MJ-I)

### 2. [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [Please Please Me](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--please-please-me/)

*1963 · Parlophone*

Originally a Roy Orbison-style ballad, sped up at Martin's suggestion until it became something else. The harmonica and the shared vocal are the whole Merseybeat formula in two minutes.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Please%20Please%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=czw8eqepir8)

### 3. [Gerry and the Pacemakers](https://waxonia.com/artist/gerry-and-the-pacemakers/) — [Ferry Cross the Mersey](https://waxonia.com/track/gerry-and-the-pacemakers--ferry-cross-the-mersey/)

*1964 · Columbia*

The scene's sentimental heart, and the only one of these records that is actually about Liverpool. Gerry Marsden knew exactly what he was selling and it has outlasted the cynicism.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gerry%20and%20the%20Pacemakers%20Ferry%20Cross%20the%20Mersey) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=08083BNaYcA)

### 4. [The Dave Clark Five](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-dave-clark-five/) — [Do You Love Me](https://waxonia.com/track/the-dave-clark-five--do-you-love-me/)

*1963 · Columbia*

Tottenham rather than the Mersey, and included because the label stuck to anything with that beat. Drums recorded far louder than anyone else dared.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Dave%20Clark%20Five%20Do%20You%20Love%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay6gWYPagWk)

### 5. [The Kinks](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-kinks/) — [You Really Got Me](https://waxonia.com/track/the-kinks--you-really-got-me/)

*1964 · Pye*

Dave Davies slit his amplifier speaker with a razor blade and invented a guitar sound. The point where beat music stops being cheerful and starts being a threat.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Kinks%20You%20Really%20Got%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fTTsY-oz6Go)

### 6. [The Swinging Blue Jeans](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-swinging-blue-jeans/) — [Hippy Hippy Shake](https://waxonia.com/track/the-swinging-blue-jeans--hippy-hippy-shake/)

*1963 · HMV*

A Chan Romero cover taken at a tempo that leaves the band audibly hanging on. The Cavern sound with none of the studio polish the Beatles were already getting.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Swinging%20Blue%20Jeans%20Hippy%20Hippy%20Shake) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ke8mzgex4U)

### 7. [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [Twist and Shout](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--twist-and-shout/)

*1963 · Parlophone*

Recorded last on the final take of a fourteen-hour day with Lennon's voice already gone. The damage is the performance, and it could not be repeated.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Twist%20and%20Shout) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xcdwr9RCg2A)

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