Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Recorded on February 17th, 1965
Stereo Classics
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The Beatles - The Night Before (Take 2 - Basic Take)
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![The Beatles - Soldier of Love [Live At The BBC] (2023 Stereo Mix) [CHECK DESCRIPTION]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aLDxplpSj8w/mqdefault.jpg "The Beatles - Soldier of Love [Live At The BBC] (2023 Stereo Mix) [CHECK DESCRIPTION]
FLAC DOWNLOAD: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SzRiCsLf2PwnWIrFniYzcQeYVqlENJ88/view?usp=sharing
New DES (Digitally-Extracted Stereo) mix, remastered.
Soldier of Love (Lay Down Your Arms), also known as Soldiers of Love, is a 1962 song written by Buzz Cason and Tony Moon. It was originally recorded by soul artist Arthur Alexander and released as a B-side of the single Where Have You Been (All My Life), which reached #58 in the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1962. The song was later covered by The Beatles during a 1963 session at the BBC, released on the 1994 album Live at the BBC
As early as 1962, The Beatles had been playing live versions of the songs on both sides of Alexanders single, with Where Have You Been (All My Life) being unofficially recorded at the Star-Club in December that year. They recorded a cover of Soldier of Love on July 2, 1963, the day after recording the She Loves You/Ill Get You single. Unterberger rates the Beatles performance of the song as fabulous, calling it probably the greatest gem on Live at the BBC. Unterberger enumerates a number of ways in which the Beatles recording differs from the original, such as the Beatles playing the main riff on guitar, while on Alexanders recording the riff was played on piano. The Beatles also add vocal harmonies, which Unterberger describes as excellent, and eliminate Alexanders somber violins.
Unterberger states that the cumulative effect of the differences is to make the Beatles version exuberant, compared to Alexanders sad version, claiming that it sounds as if the Beatles expected to win over the woman as a matter of course, whereas there was a sense of desperate last-hope begging in Alexanders vocal. Critic Robert Christgau calls it one of the Beatles greatest covers. Rolling Stone critic Anthony DeCurtis uses John Lennons crooning on the song as an example of why Lennon was a great rock n roll singer. Author Ian MacDonald describes it as an ideal vehicle for Lennon, who sings the lead vocal. MacDonald also suggests that three songs from the Beatles 1963 album With the Beatles—Not a Second Time, It Wont Be Long and All Ive Got to Do—were influenced by Soldier of Love (Lay Down Your Arms).")
