Money quote...

... from the book that I vaguely cited in my previous post. The title is The Beatles Come to America (by Martin Goldsmith), and it's a learned, enthusiastic, and efficient (if not terribly revealing) read about the Fabs' career up through their triumphant invasion of the U.S. in February of 1964.

Quote:
The Beatles took another stand during those sessions- a stand crucial to establishing their signature sound and, more important, their integrity as an ensemble. It was established convention that songwriters, music publishers, and record producers, all working together, would simply instruct the musicians, usually dismissively referred to as "the talent," to play whatever was put in front of them. That was the context in which George Martin had asked the Beatles to record "How Do You Do It?" But they insisted that the song just wasn't them. George Harrison called it "corny," and Paul declared that they couldn't go back up to Liverpool and face their fans and fellow musicians with that song attached to their names. George Martin deeply believed that "How Do You Do It?" was a potential number-one song. But in the face of a firm opinion expressed by a seasoned producer speaking in the venerable home of EMI, the four young men, the oldest of them barely twenty-two, stood their ground. It would be their songs that would introduce them to the world.