Dale A. Does the British Invasion: BAD TO ME (John Lennon) by Billy J. Kramer With the Dakotas

"Bad to Me" is a song credited to Lennon–McCartney. In late interviews, John Lennon said that he wrote it for Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas while on holiday in Spain. However, in a 1964 interview he said that he and Paul McCartney wrote it in the back of a van, declaring McCartney a contributor.

It became one of the first occasions a Lennon–McCartney composition made the US Top 40 recorded by an artist other than the Beatles (the first being "A World Without Love" by Peter & Gordon; another being "Goodbye" by Mary Hopkin).

Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas released their recording of the song in 1963 and it became their first #1 in the UK Singles Chart. Paul McCartney was present during the recording session at Abbey Road Studios. The single was released in the US the following year, and was a top-ten hit there, reaching #9.

William Howard Ashton (born 19 August 1943), known professionally as Billy J. Kramer, is an English pop singer. With The Dakotas, Kramer was managed by Brian Epstein during the 1960s and scored hits with several Lennon–McCartney compositions never recorded by the Beatles, among them the UK #1 “Bad to Me" (1963).

Kramer and the Dakotas had a further UK chart-topper in 1964 with "Little Children" and achieved U.S. success as part of the British Invasion. Since the end of the beat boom, Kramer has continued to record and perform. His autobiography, Do You Want to Know a Secret, was published in 2016.

My base recording was done with two tracks on my Telecaster-inspired G&L ASAT. In the late 1940s and early 50s, inventor Leo Fender came up with the Telecaster design and assembly line manufacturing of guitars. After selling the Fender Musical Instruments company years later, he went on to make Music Man and then G&L Guitars. The G&L name came from George Fullerton & Leo Fender. They had work together since the origin. Leo often said these final creations were the best guitars he’d ever made.

I then put down a 12 string lead and transition phrases with my old mid-60s Harmony Stella H912 that former Delta Jets player Magic Earl had given me. I added bass with my mid-60s EKO violin shaped bass, inspired by Paul McCartney’s famous bass guitar used in The Beatles and to this day. The EKO Bass was given me by Uncle Paul Kraby in the 1980s.

I simply sang it through three times, one slightly left, one center and one a bit to the right. Somehow I managed to keep pretty close on the three vocals. I kept them, first time through, first time I’ve ever sang this.

See same video also at YouTube:
https://youtu.be/I2iW05O0I2o

And the entire Dale A. Does the British Invasion playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgSLl4PHyi6ainLhzVca2eOTaDGtWGbBn