The Last of Bert

April 23-27, 1962

Bert Kaempfert has a contract with the Beatles that was signed before they worked with him on cutting "My Bonnie" as the backing group for local rock hero Tony Sheridan.  The term of that contract was for one year, so it doesn't expire until June 30, 1962, but at Brian Epstein's insistence, Kaempfert is willing to let them out of it early, if they will cooperate with him on two more recordings.  Epstein wants out of the contract so he can get his group into EMI studios with George Martin ASAP.

The exact date of their last session with him is not known, but the likely songs are Swanee River (yeah, "Way down upon the Swanee River, far far away", that Swanee River), and Sweet Georgia Brown.  John and Paul have to be thinking, "We can write better material than this.  But a contract is a contract and if they pay us to play This Ol' Man, we'll do it."  Of course, Sheridan puts his own spin on the songs.

Whatever the exact date, the Beatles had to work around it, they were obligated to play everyday at the Star Club.