American Releases

The first appearance of “You Can’t Do That” in the states was on March 16th, 1964 (four days before it was released in Britain) as the flip side to “Can’t Buy Me Love.” The picture sleeve Capitol used for the single contained the same Dezo Hoffmann picture that was used for their first Capitol single “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” As the A-side of the single raced to number one on the Billboard charts (only taking two weeks to do so), the flip side peaked at the respectable position of #48.

Interestingly, the Savoy printing plant was asked by Capitol to help with the pressing of this fast selling single. They printed a small amount of these singles on yellow / black vinyl, as well as straight yellow vinyl, as souvenirs, which are highly collectable today.

The next appearance was less than a month later (April 10th, 1964) on the Capitol album “The Beatles’ Second Album.” Capitol was then enjoying the chart success of The Beatles’ latest single “Can’t Buy Me Love” but could not include the song on this album because it was earmarked for the upcoming movie soundtrack for “A Hard Day’s Night,” which was licensed to United Artists Records for album release. Since it had been determined at this point that the single’s B-side, “You Can’t Do That,” would not be on that soundtrack album, they could include it here.

Capitol was so anxious to release this album that they decided not to wait for a stereo mix of the song. All they had was the mono mix that was used for the single. In order to get the ball rolling, they released the album with the track in mono only, creating a duophonic stereo mix for use on the stereo copies of the album. Therefore, all treble frequencies are heard on one channel while all bass frequencies are heard on the other. Even though George Martin did create a stereo mix on June 22nd, Capitol never bothered to replace the duophonic version all the time that “The Beatles’ Second Album” was in print. On January 21st, 2014, this album was released as an individual compact disc for the first time, the mono and stereo mixes being contained on a single CD.

“You Can’t Do That” was then included on a limited edition single entitled “Music City / KFWBeatles,” which was released about June 5th, 1964. This single was manufactured for Wallichs Music City in Canogo Park, California in conjunction with radio station KFWB. Released on “Capitol Custom Services” record label, it was used for promotion of the grand opening of the Wallichs store, being distributed to all those who attended on that day.

Side one of this single featured a 1:40 interview segment by The Beatles entitled “The Beatles Talking,” while side two featured the B-side of their recent single. Copies of this disc are highly collectable, especially if preserved in their original tan mailers.

August 10th, 1964, saw the next release of the song on a compilation album released by Capitol entitled “The Big Hits From England & USA.” Prepared to capitalize on the recent British boom in the US, the album contained both sides of The Beatles’ March single, as well as other British Capitol artists Cilla Black and Peter & Gordon.

"You Can't Do That" did get a partial American release on the Capitol documentary album, "The Beatles' Story," on the track "Who's A Millionaire?" The double album was released on November 23rd, 1964. Surprisingly, "The Beatles' Story" was also released on compact disc on January 21st., 2014, but only as contained in the 13 album box set "The US Albums."



Sometime in 1967, Capitol released Beatles music on a brand new but short-lived format called "Playtapes." These tape cartidges did not have the capability to include entire albums, so two truncated four-song versions of " The Beatles Second Album " were released in this portable format, "You Can't Do That" being on one of these releases. These "Playtapes" are highly collectable today.



Interestingly, when Capitol released their 8-track version of the album "Beatles '65" in 1969, they included "You Can't Do That" as a bonus track in order to flesh out its eleven songs to twelve, these being more easily divided between the four tracks on the tape.

The next release of the song takes us all the way to June 7th, 1976 with the release of the Capitol double album “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.” This album marks the first time a stereo version of the song was available in the US. The stereo mix of the song made by George Martin on June 22nd, 1964 graced this album but, since this disc is long out of print, a stereo version of “You Can’t Do That” was quite rare to hear and own in the states for many years.

In October of 1980, the album “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music” was divided into two separate albums, “You Can’t Do That” appearing on “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music, Volume 1.” Once again, the true stereo mix can be heard on this album.

February 26th, 1987 was the date that the original British "A Hard Day's Night" album was released on compact disc for the first time. This CD was only in mono for many years, but the September 9th, 2009 remastered version restores the stereo mix to its rightful place. The stereo version of "You Can't Do That" is now readily available in the US.

In February of 1994, Capitol reissued the "Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That" single for use in jukeboxes. This 45, which was printed on green vinyl under the Cema series with the words "For Jukeboxes Only" printed on the label, is becoming highly collectable.

November 21st, 1995 saw the next release of the song, on the highly successful “Anthology 1” album. Take six from the original recording sessions on February 25th, 1964, can be heard in its entirety, which is notable for its lack of background vocals and different lead guitar solo.

November 15th, 2006 saw the release of the box set “The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1,” which contains the song in mono and duophonic stereo as originally heard on "The Beatles' Second Album."

The original mono mix was also remastered and then released on September 9th, 2009 in the box set "The Beatles In Mono."



On November 11th, 2013, the album "On Air - Live At The BBC Volume 2" was released, which included yet another version of "You Can't Do That." This version was recorded on July 14th, 1964 for the radio program "Top Gear."



On July 24th, 2012, the iTunes Store, in partnership with EMI Records, released a Beatles compilation album entitled "Tomorrow Never Knows," the purpose of which was to highlight the group's influence on the history of rock music. The album had the approval of Paul and Ringo, as well as the board of directors for the estates of John and George, and was successful enough to peak at #24 on the Billboard album chart. "You Can't Do That" was a unique but fitting choice for this release.



On September 9th, 2016, the long-awaited remastered release of "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" became available, Giles Martin taking those original tapes and bringing them to life as never heard before. Their Hollywood Bowl performance of "You Can't Do That" from August 23rd, 1964 was included on this release as a bonus track.



