Please Please Me is the first album recorded by The Beatles. It was rush-released on March 22, 1963, in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of the single of the same name.
Two singles had been released by the band: "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You" ( October 5, 1962); "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" (January 11, 1963). The former reached a respectable number seventeen in the charts, mainly due to heavy sales in the Liverpool area. (Brian Epstein always strenuously denied buying large quantities of unsold discs to help boost sales). There was no official Hit Parade in 1963, but Please Please Me reached number one in most of the pop charts of the time that were published in music-related newspapers. [1](Record Retailer listed it at number two) and a follow-up debut album had to be put together as quickly as possible.
Ten more tracks were needed to add to the four sides of their first two singles. At 10.00 a.m. on Monday, the 11th of February, at Abbey Road Studios The Beatles and George Martin started recording - in a record 585 minutes - what was (mostly) their stage repertoire in 1963. The three (3-hour) sessions that day produced what is now regarded as a unique record of the band's Cavern days [2], as there were very few overdubs and edits. The day ended with a cover of Twist and Shout, which needed to be recorded as a first-take as Lennon had a particularly bad cold and his voice was about to give out.
The band's long residencies in Hamburg served them well and eased their transition into a group that thrived on hard work. The whole day’s session cost only £400. Individually, under a contract with the Musicians Union each Beatle was entitled to collect £7.10.0 session rate, which they duly did. George Martin considered calling the album Off The Beatle Track[3] before Please Please Me was released on Parlophone PCS 3042.
Please Please Me was recorded in mono on a two-track tape recording machine , with all of the instrumentation on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing for a better balance between the two on the final half-inch tape mix-down. (A pseudo stereo mix was made later.)
"Please Please Me" was officially released on CD on February 26th, 1987, along with three other Beatles' albums: With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, and Beatles For Sale.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 39 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The record label
The first editions of the "Please Please Me" LP are the only Beatles LPs to have the gold and black Parlophone label (gold writing on a black background). The mono version is very collectable and the stereo version is even more sought-after. The next "Please Please Me" LP label had a yellow and black Parlophone LP label (black with yellow writing). Later labels are usually black with silver writing. Some of the newest versions (primarily from the 70's and on) have the Apple Records label.
The Cover
George Martin - being a Fellow of London Zoo - thought that it might be good publicity for the Zoo to have The Beatles pose outside the insect house for the cover of the album. However, the Zoological Society of London turned down Martin’s offer and instead Angus McBean was asked to take the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI’s London headquarters.
Track listing
Side one
All Tracks McCartney/Lennon, except where noted,
- "I Saw Her Standing There" – 2:55
- "Misery" – 1:50
- "Anna (Go to Him)" (Alexander) – 2:57
- "Chains" (Goffin/King) – 2:26
- "Boys" (Dixon/Farrell) – 2:27
- "Ask Me Why" – 2:27
- "Please Please Me" – 2:03, SAMPLE (62k)
Side two
- "Love Me Do" – 2:22
- "P.S. I Love You" – 2:05
- "Baby It's You" (David/Williams/Bacharach) – 2:38
- "Do You Want to Know a Secret" – 1:59, SAMPLE (90k)
- "A Taste of Honey" (Scott/Marlow) – 2:05
- "There's a Place" – 1:52
- "Twist and Shout" (Medley/Russel) – 2:33, SAMPLE (123k)
Covers
"Anna (Go to Him)" is a song written and originally performed by Arthur Alexander and was released by him on the Dot label on the 17th September 1962. A personal favourite of John Lennon’s, it became part of The Beatles' early repertoire and was consequently recorded by them when George Martin urgently needed material for their first album. Less soulful than the original, Lennon’s tortured vocal (though effective)possibly lacks sensitivity. McCartney and Harrison provide backing vocals for what is virtually a live performance. Harrison competently picks out the distinctive guitar phrase (played on a piano for the original) and Ringo Starr easily handles the technically complex drum pattern. The Beatles were running late in the studio by this time, because immediately prior to "Anna" they had spent a wasted 13 unsuccessful takes on “Hold Me Tight” which they then aborted (re-recorded on 12th September 1963 for their second album). Recorded for two BBC "Pop Go The Beatles", "Anna" was also issued on the EP "Souvenir of Their Visit: The Beatles" in America.
"Chains" was a much covered song by Liverpool groups during 1962. It was composed by the Brill Building husband and wife song writing team, Gerry Goffin and Carole King and was a minor hit for Little Eva’s backing singers, The Cookies. As George Harrison’s second main vocal offering on the Please Please Me album it features the early Beatles trademark harmonica intro with tight harmonies provided by Lennon and McCartney. The Beatles were to later play it live on the BBC radio shows “Side By Side”, “Here We Go” and “Pop Go The Beatles”.
"Boys" was composed by Luthor Dixon and Wes Farrell and originally recorded by The Shirelles as the B side to “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” and was released by them in November 1960. This was The Beatles “drummer” song, only the drummer then was Pete Best. Coincidently Ringo Starr also sang this for his solo spot with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (Cilla Black would sometimes join him on stage, both having to share the same microphone). Recorded in a single take for the Please Please Me album.
- Ringo Starr - lead vocal
- John Lennon / Paul McCartney / George Harrison - backing vocals
Written by Mack David, Burt Bacharach and Barney Williams, "Baby It’s You" was another Shirelles number (The Beatles didn’t allow gender to be an obstacle when they believed a song to be good) and Lennon’s vocal interpretation gives it weight that the original perhaps lacks. Part of their stage act until late 1963, "Baby It’s You" was also performed live on BBC’s "Pop Go The Beatles” and “Side By Side”.
- John Lennon - lead vocals
- Paul McCartney and George Harrison - backup vocals
A composition by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow from the play A Taste Of Honey (1960) it was a favourite of Paul McCartney and included in The Beatles repertoire in 1962. Shelagh Dalaney’s script was filmed in 1961 by Tony Richardson and starred Liverpool actress Rita Tushingham. As part of the revolutionary wave of “gritty” northern Britain working class cinema of the period, it seemed to fit the Beatles image of being politically aware and reflecting the social changes that were taking place. The Beatles were to feature A Taste Of Honey on many BBC radio broadcasts, including “Here We Go”, “Side By Side”, and “Easy Beat”.
- Paul McCartney - lead vocal
- John Lennon and George Harrison - backing vocals
Recorded at around ten in the evening, "Twist And Shout" was the final song attempted on what had already been a gruelling marathon recording session. George Martin gambled on John Lennon having just enough left in his voice to be able to manage it. Composed by Bert Berns (using his pseudonym Bert Russell and Phil Medley) it had been a 1962 American hit for the Isley Brothers. The Beatles version was caught in a single first take (although a second take was made) and is generally regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for it’s vocal performance. The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the official start of “Beatlemania” Also played on their "Ed Sullivan Show" appearance in February 1964.
Originals
Written in Paul McCartney’s Forthlin Road home in September 1962, the song was co-composed by Lennon and McCartney based on Paul McCartney’s original idea . It is a good example of how they would work together. For example McCartney wrote "She was just seventeen, she’d never been a beauty queen". Lennon however, disliking the rhyme, added inuendo by changing it to "You know what I mean", especially when considering the age of sexual consent to be sixteen (there were many "sixteen" songs, so seventeen was a little more risqué). McCartney apparently lifted the bass line directly from a Chuck Berry number entitled "I’m Talking About You" (1961). The intro count in was left on the final mix as it was felt to be unusually spirited, and captured the moment.
- Considered by Carr & Tyler's The Beatles: An Illustrated Record as only the third all-British rock classic up to that time, the two previous having been Cliff Richard's "Move It" and Johnny Kidd's "Shakin' All Over"
- released as a B-side to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (December 26, 1963; Capitol Records), a seven-week American #1 hit on January 18, 1964
- In February 1963, The Beatles were fifth on the bill for the Helen Shapiro tour. Shapiro had first achieved chart success in 1961 at the age of fourteen and Lennon and McCartney were keen to have her record one of their songs. “Misery” was written especially for her and was started backstage before their performance at the Kings Hall, Stoke-on-Trent on the 26th January and later completed at McCartney’s Forthlin Road home [4]. When Shapiro’s A & R manager, Norrie Paramor, heard it, he turned it down, but Kenny Lynch who was on the same tour, recorded it and became the first person to record a Lennon & McCartney composition (though he failed to chart with it). The Beatles recorded it themselves giving it a droll deadpan treatment. With its semi spoken beginning, it’s a self pitying lament and it was used as a filler for the album.
- "Ask Me Why" was mainly a John Lennon composition and was written in early 1962[5]. It formed part of their live act and was one of the songs performed at their Parlophone audition in Abbey Road's studio three on Wednesday June 6th. Complex in structure, it strives to emulate the style of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles [6]. Some early Beatles compositions had unorthodox endings (as a live performing band, all their songs needed definite endings. Later, when they began recording their material they then had the option of [[1]]fading out a song) and "Ask Me Why", written and performed in a major key throughout, switches surprisingly to a minor key for it’s last unresolved chord, leaving it hanging in mid air. Recorded on Monday 26th November 1962 it was destined to become the B side of the Please Please Me single. Also recorded on this day, and also a contender for their second (UK) B side was another early Lennon and McCartney song entitled Tip of My Tongue. However, George Martin felt that this still needed some work and it was eventually given to Tommy Quickly to record.
- B-side to first American single, "Please Please Me", released February 25, 1963 on Vee-Jay Records
- "Love Me Do" was recorded as The Beatles first single. On Tuesday 4th September 1962 Brian Epstein paid for the group to fly down from Liverpool arriving at Abbey Road Studios early afternoon where they set up their equipment in studio three and began rehearsing "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do" and a song by Mitch Murray and Barry Mason called "How Do You Do It". George Martin had decided to sign The Beatles on the strength of their personalities, so their song writing talent was yet to really surface. It was felt that unless they could write something as good as "How Do You Do It", then the Tin Pan Alley route, which was the norm then anyway, would be taken. So during the course of an evening session (7.00-10.00 in studio two[7]) they recorded "How Do You Do It" and "Love Me Do". "Please Please Me" was at this stage quite different to its eventual treatment and was dropped. George Martin then took a momentous decision when he chose “Love Me Do” as the single. “How Do You Do It” was clearly number one material as Gerry and the Pacemakers were to later prove, and was far more commercial sounding than “Love Me Do”, but something made Martin go for their own composition. The song definitely had an effect on the Abbey Road staff on first hearing. Norman (Hurricane Smith) Smith was overseeing the 6th June audition when he first heard it. He sent for George Martin who took over the rest of the session. It was on the September 4th session (proper) that Martin suggested using a harmonica (presumably replacing a guitar phrase). John Lennon owned a chromatic harmonica that his Uncle George (late husband of Aunt Mimi) had given to him and had taught himself to play (he would suddenly produce it and play Camptown Races as a joke with friends) and so this was used. However, it was decided that as it was going to be their first single, it was important to get things absolutely right and it would have to be re-recorded. Martin wasn’t happy with Starr’s drum sound and in those days it wasn’t unusual to hire session drummers to fix this sort of problem. As a result Ron Richards was in charge for the September 11th re-record and booked Andy White, whom he had used regularly in the past. “P.S. I Love You” was recorded first. This was initially a contender for the A side, but there was another song with the same title which ruled it out. On this Ringo Starr was asked to play the maracas. “Love Me Do” was then recorded with Andy White playing drums, and Ringo Starr on tambourine. This difference has become intrumental in telling the two versions apart. First pressings of the single have Starr on drums minus tambourine, subsequent pressings are the Andy White recording with Starr on tambourine.
- Peaked at #17 on the British charts
- #1 on American charts (May 30, 1964), Top 100 for 14 weeks
- John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison - harmony
There are only two songs that Lennon & McCartney wholly own. Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. This is because until Dick James had set up their own publishing company Northern Songs, EMI had to place The Beatles first two recordings with their own in house publishers Ardmore and Beechwood. Later, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were able to buy back total ownership of these two titles which have always remained separate from the group’s main catalogue of material. Written in 1961 while McCartney was in Hamburg, P.S. I Love You was a “letter” song possibly dedicated to his then girlfriend, Dot Rhone. Fairly unremarkable in structure (although the surprisingly unpredictable B flat played underneath the “you” in the sung title ((song written in D major)) redeems it somewhat) it did however become a Cavern favourite with female fans because of its lyric, and was taped in ten takes on September 11th 1962 at Abbey Road as the B side to Love Me Do. Without Ringo, however, on drums (session drummer Andy White was used instead, and gives the song a lightweight Cha Cha treatment) it lacks the distinctive bass drum beat that characterised the early Beatles. On Its twentieth anniversary, Parlophone re-issued it as a picture disc, and shortly afterwards as a 12 inch disc.
- George Harrison - lead vocals
- John Lennon and Paul McCartney - backup vocals
Do You Want To Know A Secret was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and was based on an original idea of Lennon’s around “Wishing Well”, a tune from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which his mother, Julia, would sing to him as a child. Vocally unchallenging, it was given to George Harrison to sing as his solo spot on the Please Please Me album (it would be a little while before Harrison would begin submitting his own material). Do You Want To Know A Secret was also recorded by NEMS Enterprises fellow stablemate's Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas who took it to the number two slot in May 1963.
There’s A Place was probably inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s There’s A Place For Us from West Side Story. McCartney admits to owning the album of the soundtrack at the time and concedes that it would have been an influence. The “place” in question was cerebral making its subject matter slightly more intellectual than the “kissing and cuddling” songs of the period. Another Forthlin Road composition, it was part of the group's stage repertoire in 1963. With its major seventh harmonica intro (later reprised) and searing two part harmonies in fifths (Lennon low, McCartney high) it stands out as an important milestone Beatles track.
- John Lennon - harmonica
- John Lennon & Paul McCartney - main vocals
- A cover version was released by The Flamin' Groovies.
"Please Please Me"
The Beatles had scored a minor debut success with “Love Me Do” but had hardly set the world alight. In fact, outside of Liverpool and Hamburg, The Beatles were still virtually unknown. Nevertheless, they had earned the right to a second single.
‘Please Please Me’ has a chequered history. Written originally by John Lennon, it was conceived as a very slow tempo bluesy song, in the Roy Orbison mould. Vocally sparse, it didn’t contain harmonies or responses, nor did it have the scaled intro. George Martin first heard it at the “Love Me Do” re-make session on 11th September and in his opinion it “badly needed pepping up” and was set aside. By the time it was brought back into the studio on Monday, 26th November 1962, it was almost unrecognisable as the same tune. Much faster now, it took 18 takes including the harmonica superimpositions, to record what George Martin immediately predicted would be their first number one. The song instantly bombards the listener with Lennon’s echoed harmonica before a powerful two part vocal is delivered with McCartney holding a high note while Lennon cascades down through the scale. A short pause allows Harrison a guitar break into the response section that then has three Beatles harmonising until it builds to a climax in the chorus. Ringo Starr asserts himself with fine rock and roll style drumming (exorcising any lingering doubts from the "Love Me Do" sessions regarding his ability) and the whole effect, especially when considering the lyric, is of sexual urgency.
Where “Love Me Do” was perhaps arguably parochial, relying to a very large extent on their existing home fans for support, “Please Please Me” was groundbreaking. Lennon is quoted as saying that The Beatles took everything one step at a time, first Liverpool, then Britain, then America and the world. This song would break The Beatles in the U.K.
Summary
The nucleus of The Beatles were John Lennon and Paul McCartney who had become inseparable since first meeting in 1957. Their friendship was based on many things but their love of music was the driving force. Along with the resilient George Harrison, the journey the three of them were to make over the next five tumultuous years was chaotic, but by the end of it, all of the necessary strands would have come together. It was to even include the heartbreaking sacking of their drummer on the threshold of stardom. With the final Beatles line up in place they entered EMI's Abbey Road studios on Tuesday 4th September 1962, to begin a historic recording career that would last until 1969 (August 20th that year being the last session that all four would attend). The Please Please Me LP was recorded in a frantic rush, capturing the incredibly hard working Beatles in a unique moment before everything was about to take off. It perhaps also drew a line under what until then had always seemed to be at the mercy of providence.
Personnel
- John Lennon - Harmonica, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
- Paul McCartney - Bass Guitar, Vocals
- George Harrison - Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Ringo Starr - Drums,Vocals
- George Martin - Producer, Piano (overdubs)
- Tony Barrow - Liner Notes
- Angus McBean - Photography
- Andy White - Drums
Charting singles
Billboard Music Charts (North America)
| 1964 |
Do You Want To Know A Secret |
Pop Singles |
No. 2 |
| 1964 |
Love Me Do |
Pop Singles |
No. 1 |
| 1964 |
P.S. I Love You |
Pop Singles |
No. 10 |
| 1964 |
Please Please Me |
Pop Singles |
No. 3 |
| 1964 |
There's A Place |
Pop Singles |
No. 74 |
| 1986 |
Twist And Shout |
The Billboard Hot 100 |
No. 23 |
Album Charting
Highest chart position: Disc Weekly) #1; Melody Maker) #1; NME) #1; Record Retailer) #1 It stayed top for 30 weeks (from 11th May 1963) Weeks in chart: 74 (seventy weeks from 6th April 1963, and four weeks from 7th March 1987)
Notes
- ^ Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions P.24
- ^ George Martin, Summer Of Love, P.77
- ^ Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions P.32
- ^ Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now P.94
- ^ Paul McCartney,Many Years From NowP.92
- ^ Ian Macdonald, Revolution In The Head, P.57
- ^ Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, P.18
External links