The Strangers with Mike Shannon - One and one is two (1964)

I know this is rough but I think it's so catchy. Would like to have heard The Beatles do it with a Ringo vocal

Definitely prefer Paul's demo, but this is fun.

In McCartney's original the first chord is a minor and it sounds so much better.

Hailing from (Southern) Rhodesia the Instro group The Diamonds recorded in S. Africa solo, with a vocalist Harry Hayden, and backing Sergio Franchi’s sister Dana Valery before adding Mike Shannon as new lead singer (all issued by S. A. CBS) becoming one of the top bands in that music scene through 1963. They journeyed to England hoping to latch on to the Beat Boom - their crowning achievement is this galloping version of Macca’s One And One Is Two, recorded with the typically unvarnished sound of Philips’ Stanhope Place studio. (later owned by Paul Weller) Rejected by NEMS artists Billy J. Kramer and The Fourmost before the Strangers revamped it, OAOIT failed to chart but gained wide exposure on the 1979 EMI anthology LP The Songs Lennon & McCartney Gave Away.

3 groups rejected this song before this group took it. I think it's one of the only Beatle songs they gave away that didn't chart. The Beatles, Billy J. Kramer, and The Fourmost all passed on this tune...

The song -- written by Lennon and McCartney -- was initially rejected by Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas before subsequently being given to this South African group.

I heard this was an awful record--not so! Love that "early Beatles" sound. Thanks for sharing!

great !

This was before they recorded No More Heroes.

One and One Is Two- The Beatles in 1964. One and One and One is Three - The Beatles in 1969

i agree ringo would have nailed it

This band was apparently not a South African band, but rather a Rhodesian band called the Diamonds(who changed their name temporarily to the Strangers while in the UK)

Seems odd that this group from Africa would call themselves the Strangers when Joe Fagan had a group called the Strangers at that time. A group that went to Hamburg with the Beatles in the early days.

Argentinean band, The Beats, do a great version of this song.

I love their song "What can I do?" more than it

Should have been Ringo's vocal on the HARD DAY'S NIGHT album. You'll recall he was too ill to record a number and consequently there are only 13 tracks on the LP.

A catchy sounding song,but like Tip of my Tongue it was written in a hurry at request and it showed-it was said that John Lennon had nothing goid to say about them!

They went to Australia in the mid-60s and changed their name to the Rhodesians.

One and one is two or One and one are two?

#banaicovers