the beatles performed the song in many of their early hamburg shows, and also played it on the bbc show "pop go the beatles". in late 1964, exhausted from non-stop touring and recording and short of original material, they decided to record several of their old rock and rhythm and blues favorites to fill out their lp release "beatles for sale". among these was a version of berry's tune that eventually became as well known as the original. the lead vocal in the beatles' version was performed by john lennon. in contrast to berry's even-toned rendition, lennon sang it as loudly and dynamically as his voice would permit. in the united states, it was released on the lp "beatles '65". the song was part of the set list for the group's final tour in 1966 – the performance from their show of june 30 at the nippon budokan was included in 1996's "anthology 2" – and was also performed during the "get back/let it be" sessions in january 1969. it also served as the title song to the beatles' 1976 compilation album "rock 'n' roll music".