"Take Out Some Insurance" is a blues song released in 1959 by Jimmy Reed written by Charles Singleton and Waldenese Hall but originally credited to Jesse Stone. The copyright registration for the song lists its title as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby".. Tony Sheridan recorded it with different lyrics in 1961 with The Beatles as his backing band. Misidentified, it was released in Germany in 1964 as "If You Love Me, Baby (Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby)" but subsequently as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby (If You Love Me, Baby)" , "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby" or erroneously as "If You Love Me, Baby" .

Original recording by Jimmy Reed
Riding a string of popular releases, Jimmy Reed recorded this song in early 1959 and it was released as a single in April with the title "Take Out Some Insurance" (Vee Jay 314). It was Billboard's R & B "Best Buy" for the week of May 11. According to this magazine, the song sold well in Louisiana but never made the national charts.

The Beatles with Tony Sheridan 

The song was covered by Tony Sheridan and The Beatles in Hamburg while they were playing at the Top Ten Club. On June 22, 1961, they recorded a version of the song. Bert Kaempfert produced the session for Polydor, of which a single with the songs "My Bonnie" and "The Saints" was issued in 1961. The other recordings were not immediately released. After the Beatles became popular, Polydor prepared three more singles of unreleased material, one of which contained their recording of this song (German Polydor NH 52-317, released in mid-April 1964). These songs were also compiled in the album The Beatles' First! that same month. Due to the song's relative obscurity and the fact that the lyrics that Sheridan sang are almost entirely different from Reed's version, the song was mistitled at first as "If You Love Me, Baby" (even being credited as traditional without authorship on early German and British pressings). When the singles were sent to Atlantic Records in the United States for release in that country, apparently someone recognized the song (and copyrighted it to Singleton and Hall). Corrected labels of the June album, The Beatles' First! (German Polydor LPHM 46-432), show the proper title; this album was released in England in 1967, in Canada in 1969 and in the US in 1970.

The American release of the single came slightly later due to Atlantic/Atco's decision to overdub drum (possibly by Bernard Purdie) and guitar (possibly by Cornell Dupree). Due to one brief use of language that was inappropriate for radio in 1964, Atco also edited the song.

Release details

Singles
 "Ain't She Sweet" / "If You Love Me, Baby (Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby)" 
 Released 15 April 1964 on Polydor NH 52-317 (Germany).
 Released 29 May 1964 on Polydor NH 52-317 (UK).
 "Sweet Georgia Brown" / "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby"
 Released 1 June 1964 on Atco 45-6302 (US).

Albums
These four Polydor albums have the same tracklist.
 The Beatles' First!, released April 1964 in Germany.
 The Beatles' First, released 4 August 1967 in the UK.
 Very Together, released 12 November 1969 in Canada.
 In the Beginning (Circa 1960), released 4 May 1970 in the US.

1964 US album by Atco Records.
 Ain't She Sweet, released 5 October 1964.

1984 CD reissue by Polydor.
 The Early Tapes of the Beatles — The song reverts to its erroneous title "If You Love Me, Baby".

Personnel
 Tony Sheridan – lead vocals
 George Harrison – lead guitar
 John Lennon – rhythm guitar
 Paul McCartney – bass guitar
 Pete Best – drums
 Karl Hinze – engineer
 Bert Kaempfert – producer

American release:
 Cornell Dupree – guitar overdub
 Bernard Purdie – drum overdub

Notes

References

Sources
Liner notes by Tony Sheridan for "The Beatles' First" (Polydor Records Ltd., UK 236.201)

External links
 The Beatles Bible about the song, with the text
 The Beatles Bible about the recording session
 Analysis of the lp The Beatles' First with line-ups of the Beatles tracks

1964 singles
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Charles Singleton (songwriter)
The Beatles with Tony Sheridan songs
Year of song missing