My Lady Bug Stay Away From That Beatle Bug b/w Poor Girl (unreleased)

In the British Invasion year of 1964, a 24-year-old Canadian named R. Dean Taylor teams up with the Holland-Dozier-Holland team to come up with this rather topical but entertaining record which was sadly never released.

The A-side is an upbeat Motown dancer about what was a typical reaction to the unique look The Beatles were sporting at that time. In the lyrics, the narrator cautions his lover to keep away from a guy whose looks he clearly does not approve of, despite her apparent fondness of such looks. He even questions why any girl would be attracted to a guy who looks like a Beatle, and goes so far as to say that Beatlemania "could be a national disaster" before concluding that he'd rather break up with her than look like one of them. Underneath all of this is a driving dance beat accentuated by hand-claps along with that impeccable Motown arrangement. Make no mistake about it: this one's an absolute banger.

The B-Side is a somewhat slower paced dancer with a somewhat similar premise to the following years' "Hang On Sloopy." The narrator is in love with the titular poor girl, in spite of others' objections. This song also has a driving beat but this time it's masterfully accentuated by a piano. The backing singers on this side are female while on the A-side they were male.

Both sides of this record are fantastic. This really could have been his first hit, but I guess they didn't want to stir the pot as The Beatles had covered a few Motown songs. Give it a listen, you won't regret it.