INSANELY-RARE ORIGINAL 1964 SWAN RECORDS 45 SINGLES MAILER ENVELOPE
FOUND WITH INSERTED
"SIE LIEBT DICH"
b/w
"I'LL GET YOU"
WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL 45 SINGLE
SWAN S-4182
ISSUED MAY 21, 1964

RARER THIN PRINT RCA ROCKAWAY PRESSING

FIRST EVER DISCOVERY OF THE SWAN RECORDS MAILER ENVELOPE
RECENTLY PROCURED WITH ACCOMPANYING PROMOTIONAL 45 SINGLE FROM
THE ESTATE OF MUSICAL LUMINARY AND SWAN RECORDS EXECUTIVE WALTER GATES.
 
CONDITION:
MAILER (NM) UNCIRCULATED
RECORD (M) "FACTORY FRESH" AS NEW, UNCIRCULATED
ITEM#: PS840
PRICE: $5,250

Swan Records was founded in 1957 in Philadelphia, and remained in business for about ten years. In 1967 the label ceased to be active although a few reissues appeared as late as 1968, mostly from old stampers. The label was owned by Bernie Binnick and Tony MamMarella, and featured the production talents of Frank Slay and Bob Crewe (EVENTUALLY WITH THE FOUR SEASONS), along with other luminaries as Richard Barrett AND WALTER GATES.
 

The original address was 1405 Locust Street in Philadelphia, where they were located until the early 1960s. For a while an association with TV deejay Dick Clark helped them along with promotion for many Swan acts, but by the time the payola scandal hit, Clark's involvement had to be terminated and Binnick and Mammarella (a Clark employee) continued the partnership. By 1962 Swan had moved to 1703 Jackson Street, and by 1963 were in their last offices at “The Northwest Corner of 8th and Fitzwater Streets.”

1963 was not a very good year for the label. Most of their singles did not even reach the middle rungs of the charts. On September 16, 1963, Swan released a leased master of “She Loves You” (Swan 4152) by a then little-known British group, the Beatles.

but it was BERNIE Binnick who secured the American rights to "SHE LOVES YOU" during a summer vacation in England WHERE HE FIRST HEARD ABOUT THE BEATLES. Oddly enough, in 1964 Swan also released the German language version "Sie Liebt Dich" in the United States, which failed to make a major impact.

Before this release, the Beatles had had two poor-selling singles on Vee-Jay RECORDS (the latest one, “From Me to You” in summer, 1963, was easily outdistanced in the U.S. by a Del Shannon cover version!). Initial issues of the record were on Swan’s white label, with red print. Shortly after this record was released, Swan changed the colors of their label to black with silver print for both the 45s and the LPs. When "Beatlemania" hit the U.S.  in January, 1964, Swan reissued the single, but on the black and silver label, leaving the white/red label version as QUITE a rarity.
 

THE ABOVE SWAN AD FROM THE MARCH 7, 1964, ISSUE OF CASHBOX MAGAZINE SHOWS THE BEATLES BEING PRESENTED
AN IN-HOUSE GOLD RECORD AWARD FOR SALES OF OVER ONE MILLION UNITS OF "SHE LOVES YOU"
BY COMPANY OWNERS BERNIE BINNICK AND TONY MAMMARELLA (FAR RIGHT).
THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN FEBRUARY 12, 1964 AT CARNEGIE HALL, NEW YORK CITY.

RECORD COMPANIES IN THE SIXTIES USED CUSTOMIZED MAILERS TO SEND PROMOTIONAL COPIES OF ITS SINGLES TO RADIO STATIONS AND RECORD REVIEWERS. SWAN MAILERS WERE PRINTED WHEN THE COMPANY WAS LOCATED AT THEIR FIRST LOCATION IN PHILADELPHIA AT 1703 JACKSON STREET. IN 1963, AFTER THE COMPANY MOVED ITS HEADQUARTERS TO their FINAL LOCATION at “The Northwest Corner of 8th and Fitzwater Streets", THE ADDRESS ON THE  MAILER ENVELOPES WERE RECTIFIED BY HAND BY CROSSING OUT THE OLD ADDRESS IN MARKER, AND USED A RED STAMP WITH "OUR NEW ADDRESS".

SWAN recordS 45 SINGLES mailer ENVELOPES MEASURE 7¾" X 7¾" AND haVE never been discovered OR HAD SURFACED until RECENTLY. AN UNUSED AND UNCIRCULATED STOCK HAVE been stored AWAY for OVER 60 YEARS AND JUST UNEARTHED. THIS SWAN MAILER ARCHIVE WAS procured BY A RECORD COLLECTOR IN PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA (HOME OF SWAN RECORDS) WHO HAD VERY FIRST ACCESS TO THE ESTATE SALE OF SWAN RECORDS MUSICAL LUMINARY AND EXECUTIVE, WALTER GATES. THE COLLECTOR HAD ACCESS NOT ONLY TO THE BEATLES TREASURE TROVE BUT TO ALL THE OTHER  RECORDING ARTISTS ON SWAN RECORDS FROM THE SIXTIES. ALL OF THE HUNDREDS OF RECORDS WERE kept in Walter Gates' possession and most likely went straight from THE pressing plant and right into his home, never to be touched again - UNTIL NOW.

THIS EXAMPLE BEING OFFERED HERE IS ABSOLUTELY Stunning. The flap is fully open, operational and totally functionally. There are NO seam splits anywhere, NO rips OR tears, NO postage, NO stickers, NO writing and NO names addressed. THE ONLY SIGN OF AGE ARE THE DRIED GLUE LINES.

AMAZINGLY, FOUND INSERTED INSIDE THIS VERY SWAN MAILER ENVELOPE WAS AN IMMACULATE AND PRISTINE SWAN MAY 1964 'SIE LIEBT DICH' B/W "I'LL GET YOU" WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL 45 SINGLE. THIS UNCIRCULATED FACTORY FRESH GEM MINT SINGLE IS A STUNNING TREASURE AND HAS NEVER HAD A NEEDLE ON  IT OR HAS EVER BEEN ON A TURNTABLE. THE GERMAN VERSION OF 'SHE LOVES YOU' IS MUCH MORE RARE AND IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND IN THIS UNPRECEDENTED CONDITION. THE LABELS ARE ABSOLUTELY IMPECCABLE, WITH NO WRITING, NO FADING, NO STICKERS, NO RIPS OR TEARS AND NO MARKS OF ANY KIND. THIS RECORD WAS KEPT IN WALTER GATES' POSSESSION FOR 59 YEARS AND MOST LIKELY CAME STRAIGHT FROM THE PRESSING PLANT RIGHT INTO HIS HOME,

THE GERMAN-LYRIC RECORDING OF "SIE LIEBT DICH" WAS RECORDED BY THE BEATLES ON JANUARY 29, 1964 AND WAS ISSUED IN GERMANY ON THE ODEON LABEL IN MID MARCH 1964. ON OR ABOUT MAY 21, 1964, SWAN RELEASED A SINGLE PAIRING "SIE LIEBT DICH" (SHE LOVES YOU) WITH THE SAME MASTER RECORDING OF I'LL GET YOU THAT SERVED AS THE B-SIDE TO SHE LOVES YOU. THE RECORD LISTS THE GROUP AS "DIE BEATLES" ON ITS A-SIDE LABEL.

SWAN WAS HOPING THAT THE NOVELTY OF HEARING THE BEATLES SING IN GERMAN WOULD BE ENOUGH TO OBTAIN RADIO AIR PLAY AND SALES. IT WASN'T, FOR IT DIPPED TO NUMBER 97 BEFORE DISAPPEARING FROM THE BILLBOARD CHARTS. FURTHERMORE, SWAN HAD THE RIGHTS TO THE SPECIFIC MASTER RECORDINGS, BUT NOT THE SONGS THEMSELVES AND WERE SUED BY CAPITOL RECORDS. SWAN SETTLED THE LAWSUIT, AND THE SETTLEMENT KILLED ANY CHANCE OF "SIE LIEBT DICH" BECOMING A HIT IN THE U.S. THIS EXPLAINS THE RECORD'S RELATIVE SCARCITY. BECAUSE THIS SINGLE SOLD POORLY AND HAD LIMITED DISTRIBUTION, ALL STOCK COPY VARIATIONS ARE RELATIVELY RARE. YET MORE IMPORTANT, THE PROMOTIONAL SINGLES ARE EVEN SCARCER.

RELEASED MAY 21 1964, THIS VARIATION IS INDEED THE RARER RCA PRESSING, PRESSED BY RCA IN ROCKAWAY, NEW JERSEY, THE LABELS CAN BE IDENTIFIED BY THE TALL THIN LETTERS USED FOR THE SONG TITLES AND THE GROUP'S NAME. THIS THIN TITLE VARIATION IS PRESSED WITHOUT QUOTATION MARKS. THE TRAIL OFF AREAS OF THESE SINGLES CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING MACHINE STAMPED MATRIX MARKINGS: SIDE 1: VIRTUE STUDIO S-4152-S (MACHINE STAMPED)  -1  R.  SIDE 2: VIRTUE STUDIO S-4152-I  (MACHINE STAMPED)  -1  R.

THE RCA PRESSINGS WERE ONE OF THE FIRST OF THE SWAN BEATLES SINGLES TO HAVE "DON'T DROP OUT" PRINTED ON THE UPPER LEFT SIDE OF THE LABEL. THE PUBLISHER'S NAME WAS PRINTED AT THE LEFT SIDE, THE WORDS "PROMOTION COPY" AND RUNNING TIME WERE PRINTED AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LABEL. THE WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL SINGLE HAS BLACK PRINT WITH "PROMOTION COPY" TO THE RIGHT OF THE CENTER HOLE ON BOTH SIDES AND A LARGE "X" (PRINTED TO SIMULATE HAND WRITING) IN THE LOWER LEFT CORNER OF THE A SIDE. THE "X" WAS PRINTED SO THE DEE-JAY COULD IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFY THE A-SIDE.