Number One

Number One is the debut single by the Rutles and was released in the UK on 5 October 1962. The song was an early Nasty-McQuickly composition from 1958, although it wasn’t recorded by the group for another four years. Although The Rutles started out by performing cover versions, as Nasty and McQuickly grew as songwriters they began introducing their own compositions into their live shows. As well as being their debut single, the band also recorded ‘Number One’ eight times for the BBC.

Recording
The Rutles recorded ‘Number One’ over three sessions. The first was at their second audition on 6 June 1962, featuring Leppo as the dancing guy.

They returned to the song during the 4 September session, where it was considered for release along with ‘P.S I Rut You’. The group tackled it again on 11 September, after which it was deemed good enough for release as a single.

Due to Leppo getting lost, Archie Macaw made Stig play guitar as a replacement.

There is no true way to distinguish either so people have often got confused. Initial copies of the single had Leppo on guitar, though the no Leppo version became the preferred version from the release of the Rutles Hits EP on 6 September 1963. Although it's hard to tell which is either. For example, 1962-1966 had Leppo on guitar but The Rutles had no Leppo on guitar.

The 6 June recording was featured on Sweet Rutle Tracks.

Chart Success
The ‘Number One' single reached number 2 in the UK charts, with sales mainly concentrated in and around Rutland. It was blocked by the Singing Granny's 'You Damn Kids', although that would be her last song. There were persistent rumours that Leggy Mountbatten had bulk-bought around 10,000 copies to increase its chart ranking, but these remain unproven.

When 'Hold My Hand' was released in America, 'Number One' was selected to be the B-side.