Don't Bother Me, Palace Court Hotel

This incredible tape of George Harrison working on Don't Bother Me, his first song for The Beatles, was made by their chauffeur Alf Bicknell (on the reel-to-reel recorder given to him by John Lennon) during the group's six-night summer season at the Gaumont in Bournemouth from 19 to 24 August 1963. 
Struck down with a heavy cold (you can hear him coughing and spluttering) and confined to his room at the Palace Court Hotel, George later said he passed the time writing a song as an exercise just to see if he could. 
Bill Harry, founder-editor of the Merseybeat newspaper in Liverpool, says he had been trying to get George to write a song for ages and this was the young Beatle's response to his encouragement. In fact, George had written before - co-writing In Spite Of All The Danger with Paul McCartney in their days in The Quarrymen. It was recorded as a demo in 1958 with a version of Buddy Holly's That'll Be The Day.
Don't Bother Me was released on The Beatles' second album, With The Beatles, which came out on 22 November 1963, just seven days after they had played the Winter Gardens on their second visit to Bournemouth. The released version is posted below.

An exhibition of photos from the book and memorabilia relating to The Beatles in Bournemouth has now been expanded to include new images and can be seen at Lighthouse, Poole until 10 March. The venue is hosting a special screening of A Hard Day's Night on 28 February and the book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is now on sale at the Lighthouse ticket shop.