It seems strange to imagine now that the first that anyone heard of John Lennon’s music outside of Liverpool, Hamburg, or Abbey Road Studios was the scratchy harmonica hook at the start of ‘Love Me Do’, The Beatles’ first single released in 1962. Long before word of Bob Dylan had spread beyond Greenwich Village or Mick Jagger introduced bluesy mouth organ fills to British audiences, Lennon made the instrument an integral part of his band’s early sound.

He’d later dismiss his use of the instrument as a “gimmick”, yet it was pivotal to Beatles songs standing out on the radio, particularly in the UK. The group’s first three hits all featured prominent harmonica parts, including the number one ‘From Me to You’. Their breakout single ‘Please Please Me’ kickstarted Beatlemania with a simple five-note riff on the instrument before exploding into its famous “come on, come on” chorus build-up.

Perhaps it’s a little farfetched to suggest that the band wouldn’t have become the phenomenon they were without Lennon picking up the instrument from the electric blues records released by Chicago’s Chess brothers. But it certainly proved to be the catalyst that set them on their way to chart success. By the time ‘She Loves You’ became the biggest-selling single in the history of the UK charts to that point in the summer of 1963, the band had already established themselves as the next big thing.

Between their initial singles and their record-breaking debut album, no fewer than six tracks contain Lennon’s mouth organ. Among them is the stunning ballad ‘There’s a Place’, which takes Leonard Bernstein’s song ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story and runs with it. Not least thanks to its yearning harmonica refrain at the start of each verse, beginning on a seventh two octaves up from the root chord for maximum emotional impact.

Once Beatlemania went stateside, reaching the home of the blues harmonica, the novelty of the instrument wore off, and it began to disappear from the band’s repertoire. Nevertheless, Lennon kept it in his back pocket and continued to bring it out on the rare occasions he felt it was appropriate. For instance, on his devastatingly honest self-reflection ‘I’m a Loser’, which appears on 1964’s Beatles for Sale, and on Paul McCartney’s pastiche country-and-western yarn ‘Rocky Raccoon’.

So, how many Beatles songs feature the instrument?
Overall Lennon’s tenure as The Beatles’ harmonica player spanned 14 songs over seven years. The band’s first four studio albums each include at least one track with a harmonica on it. One of them, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, was chosen for a scene in the band’s jukebox musical film A Hard Day’s Night, where we see Lennon playing his mouth organ while the band hides from their fans in a train’s cargo carriage.

After taking a break from the instrument between 1965 and 1966, the Beatles songwriter played it again on his song ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!’, although it barely features in the final mix. That began another succession of four consecutive albums with Lennon’s harmonica on them, finishing up with the Yellow Submarine soundtrack in January 1969, which he plays on the children’s singalong ‘All Together Now’.

Still, when we think of a harmonica on Beatles records, those early rock and roll tunes always spring to mind. Arguably, Lennon’s best performance on the instrument was on one of the band’s earlier recordings. His thrilling turn on the With the Beatles track ‘Little Child’ is the only time we really hear his love of the blues come to the fore in a harmonica part.

In the final analysis, Lennon’s best instrument was undoubtedly his agile but inimitable singing voice, which remained at the forefront of The Beatles’ sound throughout their career. But chronologically, the harmonica will always be the one that arrived first on a Beatles record.

Every Beatles song with John Lennon playing harmonica:
‘Please Please Me’
‘Love Me Do’
‘Chains’
‘There’s a Place’
‘From Me to You’
‘Thank You Girl’
‘I’ll Get You’
‘Little Child’
‘I Should Have Known Better’
‘I’m a Loser’
‘Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!’
‘The Fool on the Hill’
‘Rocky Raccoon’
‘All Together Now’