Parlophone R

This is a list over Beatles and solo-Beatles singles in the famous Parlophone “R” – series. Parlophone records in the UK started this series decades before The Beatles began their recording career, and jazz lovers may be familiar with the ten inch 78 r.p.m. records from the thirties. The “R”-series contained records that were more expensive than records released in the contemporary “F” – series. The series consists of single records bearing catalogue numbers starting with the letter R followed by a four digit number. For instance the 78 r.p.m. record with the catalogue number R 2379 is by McKenzie & Condon’s Chicagoans and contains the foxtrots “Liza”/”Sugar”.

In the late fifties, the format changed, but the R-series continued with 45 r.p.m. seven inch discs. The Beatles made their debut with R 4949 – “Love Me Do”.

The four lads from Liverpool remained faithful to the R-series throughout their career, and despite the fact that they switched label to their own “Apple” company label on their records, the R-numbering continued.

When they embarked on their solo careers in the seventies, all four still released singles on Parlophone, in the R-series. In the mid-seventies, George Harrison and Ringo Starr signed with other labels, thus their later singles were released in other series by other record companies. John remained unsigned until he made a comeback in 1980, when he signed to the Geffen label. After his death, Yoko Ono again signed his recordings to Parlophone records, and we started seeing R-series singles with John again. George also re-signed with Parlophone shortly before his death, which resulted in a couple of new R-series singles by him. Paul McCartney remained with EMI until 2006, although for a couple of years he was with Capitol, and not Parlophone. Still, his Capitol singles stayed loyal to the R-series numbering, and he released his singles in this series until 2005.

In the listing below, the word “label” means record company. Often, the record label of Paul’s singles bears a design taken from a contemporary album.

The 12″ – single format is recognized by the prefix 12 before the R, and the CD-single has the prefix CD. These releases are still in the R-series, continuing the numbering. There’s also one 7″ picture disc, with an RPD prefix. Only 12″-singles, picture discs and CD-singles that lack their 7″ counterpart has been listed. Planned but unreleased singles in the R-series are listed with comments. Date format: day/month/year.

NUMBER: DATE: ARTIST: FORMAT: LABEL: TITLE:

R 4949 5/10/62 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Love Me Do

R 4983 11/01/63 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Please Please Me

R 5015 12/04/63 Beatles 7″ Parlophone From Me To You

R 5055 23/08/63 Beatles 7″ Parlophone She Loves You

R 5084 29/11/63 Beatles 7″ Parlophone I Want To Hold Your Hand

R 5114 20/03/64 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Can’t Buy Me Love

R 5160 10/07/64 Beatles 7″ Parlophone A Hard Day’s Night

R 5200 27/11/64 Beatles 7″ Parlophone I Feel Fine

R 5265 9/04/65 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Ticket To Ride

R 5305 23/07/65 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Help!

R 5389 3/12/65 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Day Tripper

R 5452 10/06/66 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Paperback Writer

R 5493 5/08/66 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Eleanor Rigby

R 5570 17/02/67 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Strawberry Fields Forever

R 5620 7/07/67 Beatles 7″ Parlophone All You Need Is Love

R 5655 24/11/67 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Hello Goodbye

R 5675 15/03/68 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Lady Madonna

R 5722 30/08/68 Beatles 7″ Apple Hey Jude

R 5777 11/04/69 Beatles 7″ Apple Get Back

R 5786 30/05/69 Beatles 7″ Apple The Ballad Of John And Yoko

R 5795 04/07/69 Plastic Ono Band 7″ Apple Give Peace A Chance (aka APPLE 13)

R 5814 31/10/69 Beatles 7″ Apple Something

R 5833 6/03/70 Beatles 7″ Apple Let It Be

R 5884 15/01/71 George Harrison 7″ Apple My Sweet Lord

R 5889 19/02/71 Paul McCartney 7″ Apple Another Day

R 5892 12/03/71 John Lennon 7″ Apple Power To The People

R 5898 9/04/71 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple It Don’t Come Easy

R 5912 30/07/71 George Harrison 7″ Apple Bangla Desh

R 5914 13/08/71 Paul McCartney 7″ Apple Back Seat Of My Car

R 5932 1972 Wings 7″ Apple Love Is Strange (unreleased)

R 5936 25/02/72 Wings 7″ Apple Give Ireland Back To The Irish

R 5944 17/03/72 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple Back Off Boogaloo

R 5949 12/05/72 Wings 7″ Apple Mary Had A Little Lamb

R 5953 10/72 John Lennon 7″ Apple Woman Is The Nigger Of The World (unreleased)

R 5970 24/11/72 John Lennon 7″ Apple Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

R 5973 1/12/72 Wings 7″ Apple Hi Hi Hi

R 5985 23/03/73 Paul McCartney & Wings 7″ Apple My Love

R 5988 25/05/73 George Harrison 7″ Apple Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

R 5987 1/06/73 Paul McCartney & Wings 7″ Apple Live And Let Die

R 5992 19/10/73 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple Photograph

R 5993 26/10/73 Paul McCartney & Wings 7″ Apple Helen Wheels

R 5994 16/11/73 John Lennon 7″ Apple Mind Games

R 5995 8/02/74 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple You’re Sixteen

R 5996 15/02/74 Paul McCartney & Wings 7″ Apple Jet

R 5997 28/06/74 Paul McCartney & Wings 7″ Apple Band On The Run

R 5998 4/10/74 John Lennon 7″ Apple Whatever Gets You Thru The Night

R 5999 25/10/74 Paul McCartney & Wings 7″ Apple Junior’s Farm

R 6000 15/11/74 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple Only You

R 6002 6/12/74 George Harrison 7″ Apple Ding Dong

R 6003 31/01/75 John Lennon 7″ Apple No.9 Dream

R 6004 21/02/75 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple Snookeroo

R 6001 28/02/75 George Harrison 7″ Apple Dark Horse

R 6005 18/04/75 John Lennon 7″ Apple Stand By Me

R 6006 16/05/75 Wings 7″ Capitol Listen To What The Man Said

R 6008 5/09/75 Wings 7″ Capitol Letting Go

R 6007 12/09/75 George Harrison 7″ Apple You

R 6009 24/10/75 John Lennon 7″ Apple Imagine

R 6010 28/11/75 Wings 7″ Capitol Venus And Mars/Rock Show

R 6011 9/01/76 Ringo Starr 7″ Apple Oh My My

R 6012 6/02/76 George Harrison 7″ Apple This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)

R 6013 8/03/76 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Yesterday

R 6014 30/04/76 Wings 7″ Capitol Silly Love Songs

R 6016 25/06/76 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Back In The U.S.S.R.

R 6015 23/07/76 Wings 7″ Capitol Let ’em In

R 6017 4/02/77 Wings 7″ Capitol Maybe I’m Amazed

R 6018 11/11/77 Wings 7″ Capitol Mull Of Kintyre

R 6019 23/03/78 Wings 7″ Parlophone With A Little Luck

R 6020 16/06/78 Wings 7″ Parlophone I’ve Had Enough

R 6021 26/08/78 Wings 7″ Parlophone London Town

R 6022 30/09/78 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Sgt.Peppers/With A Little Help

R 6023 23/03/79 Wings 7″ Parlophone Goodnight Tonight

R 6026 1/06/79 Wings 7″ Parlophone Old Siam Sir

R 6027 16/08/79 Wings 7″ Parlophone Getting Closer

R 6029 16/11/79 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Wonderful Christmastime

R 6035 11/04/80 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Coming Up

R 6037 13/06/80 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Waterfalls

12 R 6039 19/09/80 Paul McCartney 12″ Parlophone Temporary Secretary (not released on 7″)

R 6054 29/03/82 Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder 7″ Parlophone Ebony And Ivory

R 6055 24/05/82 Beatles 7″ Parlophone Movie Medley

R 6056 21/06/82 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Take It Away

R 6057 20/09/82 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Tug Of War

R 6059 15/11/82 John Lennon 7″ Parlophone Love

R 6062 3/10/83 Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson 7″ Parlophone Say Say Say

R 6064 5/12/83 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Pipes Of Peace

R 6066 1984 Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson 7″ Parlophone The Man (unreleased)

R 6080 24/09/84 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone No More Lonely Nights (Ballad)

R 6086 12/11/84 Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus 7″ Parlophone We All Stand Together

R 6089 1985 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Ballroom Dancing (unreleased)

R 6117 18/11/85 John Lennon 7″ Parlophone Jealous Guy

R 6118 18/11/85 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Spies Like Us

R 6133 14/07/86 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Press

R 6145 27/10/86 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Pretty Little Head

R 6148 1/12/86 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Only Love Remains

R 6170 16/11/87 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Once Upon A Long Ago

CDR 6199 ??/??/88 John Lennon CD Apple Imagine + 3

R 6213 8/05/89 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone My Brave Face

R 6223 17/07/89 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone This One

R 6235 13/11/89 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Figure Of Eight

R 6238 23/11/89 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Party Party

R 6246 5/02/90 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Put It There

R 6271 8/10/90 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Birthday

R 6278 26/11/90 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone All My Trials

R 6330 28/12/92 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Hope Of Deliverance

R 6338 28/02/93 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone C’mon People

R 6406 6/03/95 Beatles 7″ Apple Baby It’s You (looks like an EP – but numbered as a single!)

R 6422 4/12/95 Beatles 7″ Apple Free As A Bird

R 6425 4/03/96 Beatles 7″ Apple Real Love

RP 6462 28/04/97 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Young Boy (also RLH 6462)

RP 6472 7/07/97 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone The World Tonight

RP 6489 15/12/97 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Beautiful Night

RP 6510 09/11/98 Linda McCartney 7″ Wide Prairie

RP 6513 ??/??/99 Linda McCartney Picture discs The light comes from within

R 6527 24/10/99 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone No Other Baby

R 6534 ??/??/00 John Lennon 7″ Imagine

R 6567 29/10/01 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone From A Lover To A Friend

RS 6567 5/11/01 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Freedom / From A Lover To A Friend

CDR 6571 14/01/02 George Harrison CD Parlophone My Sweet Lord

R 6601 12/05/03 George Harrison 7″ Parlophone Any Road

R 6627 8/12/03 John Lennon 7″ Apple Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

R 6649 20/09/04 Paul McCartney 7″ E.M.I. Tropic Island Hum

R 6673 29/08/05 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Fine Line

R 6678 21/11/05 Paul McCartney 7″ Parlophone Jenny Wren

And that may be the end of the run of Beatles and related Parlophone R series singles. Paul has signed with other companies and doesn’t seem to release real and physical singles anymore, just downloadable single songs.

Or so we thought, but then Record Store Day 2010 came along, and with it, this release:

R 6813 17/04/10 The Beatles 7″ Parlophone Paperback Writer (originally R 5452)