The group which eventually became the Beatles, the Quarrymen, occasionally performed "Thinking of Linking",; . though no recording of them playing it is known to exist. In the 1970s, rumours began circulating that there existed a 1962 tape of the Beatles rehearsing several early songs, including "Thinking of Linking", but these claims are unsupported. In a 2005 interview with Lewisohn, Cliff Roberts, a singer and contemporary of the Beatles, recalled a van ride in the summer of 1962 where McCartney began singing "Thinking of Linking" and offered him exclusive use of the song. He further recalled that McCartney wrote the lyrics and chords on a piece of paper, but that he lost it and never performed the song.
