The “strange” 1960 song John Lennon called an “all-time favourite”

John Lennon's musical taste ranged far beyond the experimental work The Beatles pioneered, encompassing a genuine appreciation for commercial pop records that others had dismissed. His admiration for "Angel Baby," a 1960 doo-wop track by Rosie and the Originals, exemplified this openness, despite the song's failure to establish the group as lasting recording artists despite its initial chart success. Lennon valued the track so highly that he recorded his own version in 1973, which later appeared on a posthumous compilation where he explicitly declared it one of his personal all-time favourites and expressed affection for its creator.

Lennon's enthusiasm extended equally to the B-side, "Give Me Love," which possessed a noticeably rougher and less polished character than the main track. The rough quality stemmed from its recording circumstances: the group had minimal preparation and studio experience when creating it, resorting to ad-libbed vocal passages due to time constraints. Rather than viewing these imperfections negatively, Lennon celebrated the track in 1969 as "one of the greatest strange records," suggesting that raw spontaneity and authentic emotion held greater artistic merit for him than technical perfection or commercial appeal.