|
In order for the album to contain fourteen songs (the norm for twelve inch vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side) ten more tracks were needed to add to the four sides of their first
two singles recorded and released previously. Therefore, at 10.00 a.m. on Monday, 11 February, at Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles and George Martin started recording what was essentially their live act in 1963, and finished 585 minutes later (9 hours and 45 minutes)[5]. In three sessions that day (each lasting approximately three hours) they produced an authentic representation of the
band's Cavern Club-era sound, as there were very few overdubs and edits.[6] George Martin initially contemplated recording the "Please Please Me" LP live at the Cavern in front of their own audience[7] and visited the Liverpool club to experience the Beatles phenomenon for himself.[8][9] But when time constraints intervened he decided to book them into Abbey Road Studios instead, and simply record them virtually live. Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire
- a broadcast, more or less."[10] The day ended with a cover of "Twist and Shout", which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon's voice for the day. This performance, generally regarded
as a classic, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the
better they get."[6]
The song "Hold Me Tight" was recorded during the session, but was "surplus to requirements" and was not included on the album.[6] "Hold Me Tight" was recorded again on 12 September 1963 for With the Beatles.[11]
The whole day's session cost around £400 [12]. George Martin said: "There wasn’t a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000."[13]. This, however, had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster.
Individually, under a contract with the Musicians' Union, each Beatle was entitled to collect seven pounds and ten shillings (£7.50) session fee, for each three hour session, which
they duly did [14]. Martin considered calling the album Off the Beatle Track before Please Please Me was released on Parlophone
PCS 3042.[15]
Please Please Me was recorded on a two-track tape recording machine, with most 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 in mono.[16] A stereo mix was made later, with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, and a layer of reverb was added to better
blend the two tracks together. Unfortunately, the stereo versions of the songs on this album do not sound very balanced because
of this.[citation needed]
Please Please Me was officially released on CD on 26 February 1987,
On 11 February 1963, The Beatles entered E.M.I.'s Abbey Road Studios for
an all-day
session which would produce ten songs for their first full length
album, Please Please Me released 22 March 1963.
10:00am-1:00pm
E48875
There's A Place (takes 1-10)
I Saw Her Standing
There (takes 1-9)
2:30pm-6:00pm
[E48876]
A Taste Of Honey (takes 1-5)
Do You Want To Know A Secret (takes 1-6)
E48877
Do You Want To Know A Secret (takes 7-8)
A Taste Of Honey
(takes 6-7)
There's A Place (takes 11-13)
I Saw Her Standing There (takes 10-12)
Misery (takes 1-9)
[E48878]
Misery (takes 10-11)
7:30pm-10:45pm
[E48878](continued)
Hold Me Tight (takes
1-13)
Anna (Go To Him) (takes 1-3)
Boys (take 1)
Chains (take 1)
Baby It's You (takes 1-3)
[E48879]
Twist And Shout (takes 1-2)
Only two of these original reels have survived...
This reel is the first reel of this session. It is straight recordings of the basic performances. No overdubs were done
on this reel. Take 10 of "There's A Place", with further overdubs on reel E48877, would form the basis if the final take.
Take 1 and the count-in from take 9 of "I Saw Her Standing There" ("17"), also with further overdubs on reel E48877, would
form the basis if the final take. Apparently, either takes 1 or 2 were, initially, deemed best because takes 3-5 are edit
pieces obviously intended to be spliced into one of the previous takes. An official mix of "I Saw Her Standing There" (take
9) can be found on Anthology 1."Misery" (take 9) is not available
This reel is the second reel from the afternoon
session (the first reel, E48876 is missing). This reel begins with various overdubs. The first are overdubs
of backing
vocals and percussion onto take 6 of "Do you Want To Know A Secret" producing takes 7-8. Take 8 was chosen as best for the
master.
Paul then adds a second vocal to take 5 of "A Taste Of Honey" producing takes 6-7. Take 7 was chosen as best.
Next, John adds harmonica to
take 10 of "There's A Place" which produces takes 11-13. Take 13 was best.
The recording
sheet below seems to indicate that take 10 of "I Saw Her Standing There" is simultaneous overdubs onto take 9, However, take
10
appears to be a straight copy of take 9. On the other hand, Lewisohn indicates that the final master is an edit of take
9 (the count-in) and take 12
(the rest of the song) but since the count-in is missing from take 10, it would seem as though
the final master was an edit of takes 10 and 12.
Takes 11-12 were overdubs onto take 1.
 fininally, on to a new song, "Misery", which had been written less than two weeks prior (see photos of the band allegedly
rehearsing "Misery" in
late January 1963 at The Cavern - here). Takes 1-9 of the basic performance are recorded on this reel. Take 9 has not surfaced but, apparently,
it's only a false-start
or breakdown that couldn't have lasted much more than a minute. None of these takes were used for the final master. The base
track
for the released version is take 11 which was recorded on E48878 (also missing). On 25 February 1963, George Martin added
piano overdubs
to take 11 which produced takes 12-16 and take 16 was deemed best for the final master.
On this first LP, the composers were identified as McCartney-Lennon, from the next LP onwards,
Lennon-McCartney has been the standard practise. Beatles first real LP was primarily recorded to capitalize on the hit-single
"Please Please Me". The two singles "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You" and "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" were complemented by
ten newly recorded songs, which made for such a great album that it stands well on it's own feet. And it conquered the british
charts, keeping it's number one position until it was abdicated by The Beatles' next LP!
When the LP was released as a CD in 1987, it was available in mono only.
Liner Notes:
Pop picking is a fast 'n' furious business these days whether you are on the recording
studio side listening out, or on the disc-counter side listening in. As a record reviewer I find myself installed halfway
in-between with an ear cocked in either direction. So far as Britain's record collecting public is concerned, The Beatles
broke into earshot in October, 1962. My natural hometown interest in the group prevented me from taking a totally unbiased
view of their early success. Eighteen months before their first visit to the EMI studios in London, The Beatles had been voted
Merseyside's favourite outfit and it was inevitable that their first Parlophone record, LOVE ME DO, would go straight to the
top of Liverpool's local hit parade. The group's chances of national chart entry seemed much more remote. No other team had
joined the best-sellers via a debut disk. But the Beatles were history-makers from the start and LOVE ME DO sold enough copies
during its first 48 hours in the shops to send it soaring into the national charts. In all the busy years since pop singles
first shrank from ten to seven inches I have never seen such a British group leap to the forefront of the scene with such
speed and energy. Within the six months which followed the Top Twenty appearance of LOVE ME DO, almost every leading deejay
and musical journalist in the country began to shout the praises of The Beatles. Readers of the New Musical Express voted
the boys into a surprising high place via the 1962/63 popularity poll ... on the strength of just one record release. Pictures
of the group spread themselves across the front pages of three national music papers. People inside and outside the record
industry expressed tremendous interest in the new vocal and instrumental sounds with The Beatles had introduced. Brian Matthew
(who has since brought The Beatles to many millions of viewers and listeners in his "Thank Your Lucky Starts", "Saturday Club"
and "Easy Beat" programmes) describes the quartet as visually and musically the most exciting and accomplished group to
emerge since The Shadows.
Disc reviewing, like disc producing, teaches one to be wary about making long-term predictions.
The hit parade isn't always dominated by the most worthy performances of the day so it is no good assuming that versatility
counts for everything. It was during the recording of a Radio Luxembourg programme in the EMI Friday Spectacular series
that I was finally convinced that The Beatles were about to enjoy the type of top-flight national fame which I had always
believed that they deserved. The teen-audience didn't know the evening's line-up of artists and groups in advance, and before
Muriel Young brought on The Beatles she began to read out their Christian names. She got as far as John ... Paul ... and the
rest of her introduction was buried in a mighty barrage of very genuine applause. I cannot think of more than one other group
— British or American — which would be so readily identified
and welcomed by the announcement of two Christian names. To me, this was the ultimate proof that The Beatles (and not just
one or two of their hit records) had arrived at the uncommon peak-popularity point reserved for discdom's privileged few.
Shortly afterwards The Beatles proved their pop power when the by-passed the lower segments of the hit parade to scuttle straight
into the nation's Top Ten with their second single, PLEASE PLEASE ME.
This brisk-selling disk went on to overtake all rivals when it bounced into
the coveted Number One slot towards the end of February. Just over four months after the release of their very first record
The Beatles had become triumphant chart-toppers!
Producer George Martin has never had any headaches over choice of songs for The Beatles.
Their own built-in tunesmith team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney has already tucked away enough self-penned numbers to
sustain a steady output of all-original singles from now until 1975! Between them The Beatles adopt a do-it-yourself approach
from the very beginning. They write their own lyrics, design and eventually build their own instrumental backdrops and work
out their own vocal arrangements. Their music is wild, pungent, hard-hitting, uninhibited ... and personal. The do-it-yourself
angle ensures complete originality at all stages of the process. Although so many people suggest (without closer definition)
that The Beatles have a trans-Atlantic style, their only real influence has been from the unique brand of Rhythm and Blues
folk music which abounds on Merseyside and which The Beatles themselves have helped pioneer since their formation in 1960.
The record comprises eight Lennon-McCartney compositions in addition to six other
numbers which have become firm live-performance favourites in The Beatles repertoire.
The group's admiration for the work of The Shirelles is demonstrated by the inclusion
of BABY IT'S YOU (John taking the lead vocal with George and Paul supplying the harmony, and BOYS (a fast rocker which allows
drummer Ringo to make his first recorded appearance as a vocalist). ANNA, ASK ME WHY, and TWIST AND SHOUT also feature stand-out
solo performances from John, whilst DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET hands the audio spotlight to George. MISERY may sound as
though it is a self-duet created by the multi-recording of a single voice ... but the effect is produced by the fine matching
of two voices belonging to John and Paul. John and Paul get together on THERE'S A PLACE and I SAW HERE STANDING THERE: George
joins them for CHAINS, LOVE ME DO and PLEASE PLEASE ME.
TONY BARROW
Paul's proposed album title and cover design for the first
album (circa late 1962 - early 1963).
I Saw Her Standing There
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963 Remixed in stereo in 1976 for "Rock'nRoll Music" (USA-version)
The original stereo has
a drop in volume in verse 3 near "we danced through the night" which is corrected in the remix (on "Rock'n'Roll Music" in
the USA, "Rock'n'Roll Music vol.1" in the UK), which also has the two tracks brought slightly to center.
Misery
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963 Re-mixed in stereo in 1980 for the USA "Rarities" album.
The instrumental intro
has been edited and is shorter in mono than in stereo. In the remix (1980) the left instrumental channel is relatively louder,
which isn't bad, but reverb has been added too, especially in the intro vocal.
Anna (Go To Him)
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963
Chains
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963
Boys
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963
Ask Me Why
basic recording- 26 Nov 1962
additional
recording- none
master tape- twintrack
mono mixed: 26 Nov 1962 and 25 Feb
1963. There is no known difference between the two mono mixes.
stereo mixed: 25 Feb 1963
Please Please Me
basic recording- 26 Nov 1962
additional
recording- 26 Nov 1962
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono mixed: 26 Nov 1962. edited.
stereo mixed: 25 Feb 1963. edited.
Love Me Do (version 2)
Andy White: drums, Ringo: Tambourine
basic recording- 11 Sep 1962
additional
recording- 11 Sep 1962
master tape- twintrack 2d generation (no longer exists)
mono mixed: 11 Sep 1962
stereo mixed: mock stereo made from
this version 25 Feb 1963. Digitally remixed in 2000 for "1".
This is a different recording from
the original single, which featured Ringo on drums. The original single is available on the CD "Past masters Vol.1"
P.S. I Love You
basic recording- 11 Sep 1962
additional
recording- none
master tape- twintrack 2d generation (no longer exists)
mono mixed: 4 Sep 1962
stereo mixed: mock stereo made from
this version 25 Feb 1963
Baby It's You
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963
Do You Want To Know A Secret
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963
A Taste Of Honey
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963
There's A Place
basic recording- 11 Feb 1963
additional
recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed: 25 Feb 1963
Twist And Shout
basic recording- 11 Feb
1963
additional recording- 11 Feb 1963
master tape- twintrack 2d generation
mono and stereo mixed:
25 Feb 1963. Remixed in stereo in 1976 for "Rock'nRoll Music" (USA-version) and again in 1986 (single reissue)
In the UK, the first
remix can be found on "Rock and Roll Music vol.1". The remix has the two tracks moved slightly to center. The second
remix , probably made for the film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", or at least for the promotion of the single related to it,
has the left instrumental track relatively louder. The second stereo remix can only be found on the US single Capitol B5624,
1986-pressing.
George Martin, a Fellow of
Prototype cover used for an early advertisement in the
early 1963 tour with Chris Montez/Tommy Roe concert program.London Zoo, thought that it might be good publicity for the zoo to have the Beatles pose outside the insect house for the cover photography
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.[15] Martin was to write later: “We rang up the legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean, and bingo, he came round
and did it there and then. It was done in an almighty rush, like the music. Thereafter, though, the Beatles’ own creativity
came bursting to the fore”.[17] In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot which was used for the Beatles retrospective albums "The Beatles 1962 - 1966" and “The Beatles 1967 - 1970” He was also to take the “zebra crossing” shot used on the cover of Abbey Road.
The first editions of the LP are the only Beatles LPs that have the gold and black Parlophone label (gold writing on a black background). The mono version is highly sought after by collectors and the stereo version
is even more so. 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 1970s and on) have the
Apple Records label.When the matter came up of the album cover for the first album of the Beatles, their producer George Martin proposed
to call the album Off The Beatle Track. A picture could be taken at the nearby London Zoo, he reckoned, in front of the home
of the insects. Paul doodled a few sketches for a design with that title. George Martin advised the use of the theatrical
photographer Angus McBean, a man he worked with in the past.However the direction of the zoo made objections. George
Martin clearly liked the title, and when it wasn't used for the album, he used it for his own LP with Beatlescovers in 1964.Around
the third week of January 1963 a first session took place, at the studio of Angus McBean, in his London house. The Beatles
wore their new, mole-colored velveteen performing suits. One of these pictures was used in September 1963 for the cover of
the EP The Beatles’ Hits and later, in America, for the Vee Jay album Introducing The Beatles. For this album, however,
Vee Jay mirrored the image.
This first photo session was not satisfactory and a second was arranged. McBean agreed to meet them at the EMI house in
Manchester Square, London around mid-February 1963. The photographer recalled later: "As I went into the door I was in the
staircase well. Someone looked over the banister - I asked if the boys were in the building, and the answer was yes. "Well",
I said, "get them to look over, and I will take them from here."
I only had my ordinary portrait lens, so to get the picture, I had to lie flat on my back in the entrance. I took some
shots and I said, "That’ll do."
A number of pictures were taken with the four boys looking down over the railing of the first floor to the entrance of
the building.
But not everybody was convinced. On March 5th, EMI staff photographer John Dove took publicity pictures of the Beatles
in and round the EMI-house. On some of these also Dick James, George Martin and Brian Epstein can be spotted. Afterward he
tried to make a suitable picture for the album-cover, with the Beatles fooling around with a parking meter at the nearby Montague
Place and jumping of the steps of the EMI studio (later renamed Abbey Road Studios).
At last it was decided that the Angus McBean picture in the staircase was the best option. The cover made the staircase
so famous that when, at the end of the ‘90s EMI vacated the premises at Manchester Square and moved to alternative office
accommodation, the staircase was dissembled and painstakingly rebuild on the new premises.
Besides for the cover of the first album, different variations of the session are used for these covers:
- the EP The Beatles (N°1)
- the two compilations The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970
- the bootleg Come Together (The Beatles In The ‘90s)
The sleeve notes on the back of the album sleeve are written by Tony Barrow.
-
The cover of the first pressings was a laminated sleeve with a polythene lined inner sleeve on which an advert for "Emitex"
cleaning cloths was printed.
- John Lennon – rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals
- Paul McCartney – bass guitar, vocals
- George Harrison – lead guitar, vocals
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, lead vocals on "Boys"
- George Martin – producer, piano
- Andy White – drums on "Love Me Do"
Highest chart position
| Chart |
Rank |
| Disc Weekly |
1 |
| Melody Maker |
1 |
| NME |
1 |
| Record Retailer |
1 | 
It stayed on 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)
- "I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and is the opening track on the The Beatles' debut album Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963.
- In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side on the label's first single by The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The single topped the U.S. charts for seven weeks starting 18 January 1964. "I Saw Her Standing There" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 February 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at number 14.
- The song was co-written but based on McCartney's initial idea.[1] Originally titled "Seventeen", the song was conceived by McCartney driving home from a concert in Southport, Merseyside[2] and later completed at his Forthlin Road home in September 1962[1] McCartney said: "I had: 'She was just seventeen,' and then: 'Beauty queen'. When I showed it to John, he screamed with
laughter, and said 'You're joking about that line, aren't you?'"[2] "It was one of the first times he ever went 'What? Must change that...'"[3] The lyrics were written on a Liverpool Institute exercise book. Remember, a book by McCartney's brother Mike McCartney, includes a photograph of Lennon and McCartney writing the song while strumming guitars and reading the exercise book. McCartney admits to lifting his bass
line directly from a Chuck Berry song called "I'm Talking About You"
- The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 11 February 1963, as part of the marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me. The Beatles were
not present for the mixing session on 25 February 1963,[4] which was not unusual at that time.
- On the album, the song starts with a rousing "one-two-three-FOUR!" count-in by McCartney (pronounced "one-two-three-FAH!").
Usually, these count-ins are edited off the final audio mix. However, this was left on by record producer George Martin, as it was considered especially spirited,[3] and began the album in an upbeat vein. Music journalist, Richard Williams suggests that this dramatic introduction
to their debut album was just as stirring as Elvis Presley's "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show…" on his opening track, Blue Suede Shoes, for his debut album seven years earlier[5] and makes the statement that the Beatles were a performing band as they also opened their live set in this way. However,
by listening to outtakes of the song, one can hear that the count-in is actually from take 9, while the master take is actually take 12. (Take 12
was not preceded by a loud count-in)[citation needed]. George Martin initially contemplated recording the Please Please Me LP live at the Cavern in front of their own audience[6] and visited the Liverpool club to experience the Beatles phenomenon for himself.[7] But when time constraints intervened it was decided to book them into the Abbey Road studios instead.
- Live performances of this tune demonstrate how Ringo crashed his high hat as opposed to his quieter and smoother treatment
of the high hat on the actual recording. Outtakes of this recording reveal that Paul on occasion, altered his famous bass
line during the chorus as he regularly did on live versions.
- In the UK, "I Saw Her Standing There" is the opening track on Please Please Me. In the U.S., Vee Jay Records released it as the opening track on both versions of Introducing... The Beatles, editing out the "One, two, and three" portion of the count in - thus the song starts with, "FOUR!". In addition to the
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" B-side offer, Capitol released it as the second track on Meet the Beatles!, released in late January 1964. Vee-Jay had a limited portfolio of Beatle songs to offer, and re-issued their material
using various names including Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles and other packages.
- Capitol reissued the song twice in the 70's, once on the Rock 'n' Roll Music compilation released on 11 June 1976, and as the opening track in the 14-disc Limited-limited edition boxed set, The Beatles Collection released in December 1978.
Misery" is a song performed by the The Beatles on their album Please Please Me. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. According to Lennon, "it was kind of a John song more than a Paul song, but it was written together."[1] McCartney was to say: "I don't think either one of us dominated on that one, it was just a hacking job".[2]
USA - Introducing The Beatles album
In February 1963, Helen Shapiro was Britain's most successful female singer,[3] and the Beatles were fifth on the bill for her nationwide tour of the UK. Shapiro's artist and repertoire manager, Norrie Paramor was looking for new material for a country and western album she planned to record in Nashville, Tennessee, and suggested the Beatles compose a song for her.[4] Shapiro had first achieved chart success in 1961 at the age of 14, and Lennon and McCartney took the opportunity to have her record one of their songs. "Misery" was written especially for her, and was started backstage
before their performance at the King's Hall, Stoke-on-Trent on 26 January, and later completed at McCartney's Forthlin Road home.[2] At the time, McCartney commented: " We've called it "Misery", but it isn't as slow as it sounds, it moves along at
quite a pace, and we think Helen will make a pretty good job of it".[5] Ultimately, Paramor considered it unsuitable, but British singer and entertainer Kenny Lynch, who was on the same tour, did record it (HMV Pop 1136), and became the first artist to cover a Lennon/McCartney composition [2] although he failed to chart with it.[6] (Kenny Lynch was later to appear on the cover of Paul McCartney's Band On The Run album). When the Beatles needed
original material for their Please Please Me LP they recorded it themselves, giving its treatment, according to writer Ian MacDonald, "a droll portrait of adolescent
self-pity".[
-
A personal favorite of John Lennon's,[3] it became part of the The Beatles' early repertoire and was consequently recorded by them for their 1963 debut album, Please Please Me.[4] In the U.S., Vee Jay Records released it on Introducing... The Beatles (July 22, 1963) and Capitol Records re-released it on The Early Beatles (March 22, 1965).[5] Vee Jay also released "Anna (Go to Him)" on the EP Souvenir of Their Visit: The Beatles in the U.S.[6]
The Beatles recorded the song on February 11, 1963 in three takes; the master take was number 3. It was remixed on February 25.[7] George Harrison played the distinctive phrase on guitar; Floyd Cramer played it on piano for the original.[8]
Unterberger praised the Beatles' version in his review, saying:
| “ |
"Ringo
Starr faithfully [replicates] the unusual drum rhythm and high-hat crunches. Lennon's vocal, however, added a tortured pain
not present in Alexander's model, particularly when he wailed in his upper register at the conclusion of the bridges. The
Beatles' backup harmony vocals, in addition, were superb, and more effective [than on Alexander's version]."[1] |
” |
Music critic Ian MacDonald had a different view of Lennon's vocal, saying it sounded like "a passionate youth grappling
with a man's song."[8]
The Beatles recorded "Anna (Go to Him)" on June 17, 1963 for the BBC radio show Pop Go the Beatles. The show was broadcast on 25 June. They recorded it once again on August 1, 1963 for the show broadcast on August 25.[9]
As noted in many references including Mark Lewisohn's 'Beatles Recording Sessions', Lennon had a bad cold which accounts
for his very rough, almost strange tone he demonstrates on all his vocals during this historic session, including the last
song, Twist and Shout.
-
"Chains" was a much-covered song by Liverpool groups during 1962,[1] and was included in the Beatles' live sets. They recorded it on 11 February 1963 and it appeared on their first album
in the UK, Please Please Me.[2] It was the first of two songs on the album with lead vocals by George Harrison, and it features the early Beatles trademark harmonica introduction with backing vocal harmonies provided by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The Beatles played the song live on a number of BBC radio shows, including Side By Side, Here We Go and Pop Go the Beatles.
-
The Beatles covered "Boys" on their first album released in the UK, Please Please Me. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on February 11, 1963 in a single take, and is Ringo Starr's first recorded lead vocal with the Beatles.[1] February 11 was a marathon day for the Beatles; they recorded 10 of the 14 tracks they needed for Please Please
Me.[2] The Beatles included two songs by the Shirelles on their first album, "Boys" and "Baby It's You."[3][4]
In the early 1960s, the Beatles didn't concern themselves about the possible homosexual connotations in singing a song
about boys, although the Beatles altered the gender pronouns employed on the Shirelles' version (i.e. "My girl says
when I kiss her lips..."). In an October 2005 Rolling Stone interview, Paul McCartney stated: "Any one of us could hold the audience. Ringo would do 'Boys', which was a fan favourite with the crowd. And it was
great - though if you think about it, here's us doing a song and it was really a girls' song. 'I talk about boys now!' Or
it was a gay song. But we never even listened. It's just a great song. I think that's one of the things about youth - you
just don't give a shit. I love the innocence of those days."[5] (The lyrics talk specifically about boys kissing girls, not "each other".)
"Boys" had always been the Beatles' 'drummer' song during their Cavern days, the drummer then being Pete Best.[6] Coincidentally, Starr also sang this for his solo spot with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes; Cilla Black would sometimes join him on stage, both sharing the same microphone.[7]
-
Ask Me Why" is a song by The Beatles originally released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of their hit single "Please Please Me" . It was also included on their first UK album, Please Please Me.
The song was mainly a John Lennon composition,[1] written in early 1962, but it was credited to Paul McCartney and John Lennon, as were all other Lennon/McCartney originals on the first pressings of Please Please Me album. It was part of their live act prior to their recording
contract, and was one of the songs performed at their Parlophone audition in Abbey Road's studio three on 6 June 1962.[1][2] Complex in arrangement, it emulates the style of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, whom Lennon was influenced by, and the guitar phrase is drawn from the Miracles’ "What’s So Good About Goodbye" (1961). [3]
"Ask Me Why" was recorded on 26 November 1962, the same day they attempted another Lennon and McCartney song called "Tip
of My Tongue" which, along with "Ask Me Why" was also being considered for the B-side of the "Please Please Me" single.[3] However, George Martin felt that "Tip of My Tongue" still needed some work, and it was eventually given to Tommy Quickly to record. [4]
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"Please Please Me" is the second single released by the The Beatles in the UK, and the first to be issued in the US. It was also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise
on the success of the single.[1] It was originally a John Lennon composition,[2][3][4] although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by George Martin.[5]
It has long been a point of contention as to whether the song should be regarded as the Beatles' first #1. At the time
there were several record charts published in the UK, and the song reached #1 on all of them except Record Retailer - whose charts are those now used historically by The Official UK Charts Company.
The single, as initially released with "Ask Me Why" on the B-side, failed to make much impact in the U.S., but when re-released there on 3 January 1964 (this time with "From Me to You" on the B-side) it reached #3 in the US Hot 100.
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"Love Me Do" is an early Lennon/McCartney song, principally written by Paul McCartney in 1958–59 while playing truant from school. John Lennon wrote the middle eight.[1][2][3] The song was The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962. When the single was originally released in the UK, it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four. In the U.S. the single was a number one hit in 1964.
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"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney[1] credited to McCartney-Lennon, which was first recorded by the The Beatles and released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their "Love Me Do" single. It is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me.
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The Beatles performed "Baby It’s You" as part of their stage act from 1961 until 1963. It was the only Burt Bacharach
song the group covered. They recorded it on 11 February 1963 for their album Please Please Me along with "Boys", another Shirelles song.[1] American label Vee Jay Records included it on Introducing... The Beatles and Songs, Pictures And Stories Of the Fabulous Beatles. Capitol included it on The Early Beatles.
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Do You Want to Know a Secret" is a song by The Beatles from the 1963 album Please Please Me, sung by George Harrison. It was later released as a single in the United States on 23 March 1964, reaching the number two spot behind another Beatles song, "Can't Buy Me Love" in Billboard, but reaching #1 for two weeks in the chart published by the Teletheatre Research Institute. However, the Beatles'
version was never released as a single in the United Kingdom, where a cover version by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (released as Parlophone R5023, 26 April 1963)[1] reached number two in the Record Retailer chart, and hit number one in the NME chart (used by Radio Luxembourg) and the BBC's Pick of the Pops chart, which were more widely recognised at the time.
"Do You Want to Know a Secret" was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (see Lennon/McCartney), inspired by "I'm Wishing",[2] a tune from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, would sing to him as a child.[3][4] McCartney said it was a "50-50 collaboration written to order," i.e., for Harrison to sing.[5]
In 1980, Lennon said that he gave "Do You Want to Know a Secret" to Harrison to sing because "it only had three notes and
he wasn't the best singer in the world," but added "he has improved a lot since then."[4] Harrison sang two songs on Please Please Me, this song by Lennon and McCartney and "Chains" by Goffin/King. The Beatles did not record a song composed solely by Harrison until "Don't Bother Me" on With the Beatles.[6]
The song was recorded during a 10-hour session on 11 February 1963 along with 9 other songs for Please Please Me.[7]
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Tad\ste of honey was covered by The Beatles on their debut album Please Please Me. It was a favourite of Paul McCartney's, and was included in the Beatles' repertoire in 1962. John Lennon sometimes played around with the title, calling it "A Waste of Money".[citation needed] (Satirist Allan Sherman actually recorded a parody song called "A Waste of Money") The Beatles performed "A Taste of Honey" on many BBC radio shows, including Here We Go, Side by Side and Easy Beat.
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"There's a Place" is a song composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and was first released as a track on The Beatles UK debut LP, Please Please Me. Lennon and McCartney share the main vocal with George Harrison singing back up vocal.
The song was inspired by Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere" from West Side Story which contained the line: "somewhere there's a place for us". Paul McCartney owned the album of the soundtrack at the time of writing "There's a Place" and acknowledges its influence.[1] The "place" in question was "the mind", making its subject matter slightly more cerebral than Britain's kissing and cuddling songs and America's surf music from that period.[2] Lennon is quoted as saying: ""There's a Place" was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing."[2] It says the usual Lennon things: 'In my mind there's no sorrow...' It's all in your mind." Composed at McCartney's
Forthlin Road home, it was part of the group's stage repertoire in 1963.[3] With its major seventh harmonica intro (later reprised) and searing two-part vocal harmonies in fifths (Lennon low, McCartney high), it stands out as an early
Beatles milestone track.
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The Beatles released the song on their first UK album, Please Please Me. The recording session for that album was their first album session, and is notable for eleven songs having been recorded
in a mere 10 hours. Twist and Shout was the last song recorded, Producer George Martin knew John Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining
for the album.
Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. Even so, he produced
a memorable vocal performance, a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward,
and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper."[2]
Two takes were recorded, and the first take is heard on the album. George Martin said, "I did try a second take ... but
John's voice had gone."[3]
This is one of the Beatles first songs featuring the group singing "wooo" in harmony, which would become a cliché of the
early Beatles and "Beatlemania".
The Beatles' cover was released on March 2, 1964[4] in the U.S. as a single by Vee-Jay Records on the Tollie label. It reached #2 on April 4th 1964, the week when the first five places on the chart were all Beatles
singles. (In the Cashbox singles chart for the same week, "Twist and Shout" was #1.) In the United States, "Twist and Shout" was the only million-selling
Beatles single that was a cover record, and the only Beatles cover single to reach the Top 10 on any national record chart.
In the UK, "Twist and Shout" was released on an EP with three other tracks from the Please Please Me album, both the EP and Album reached #1 (see Twist and Shout (EP). In Canada, it became the title track to the second album of Beatles material to be issued by Capitol Records of Canada on
February 3, 1964.
It is regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance.[5] The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and at
The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania." They also performed it on their Ed Sullivan Show appearance in February 1964.
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The Beatles' version of the song enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in 1986 after Matthew Broderick lip synced it in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Coincidentally, the Rodney Dangerfield film Back to School (released two days after Ferris) also featured the song, this one sung by Dangerfield himself and patterned after
the Beatles' arrangement. The use in the two films help propel the single up the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #23 that summer.
ON SONGWRITING (DURING THE 'PLEASE PLEASE ME' PERIOD)
JOHN 1963: "All the better songs that we have written-- the ones that anybody wants to hear-- those were co-written.
Sometimes half the words are written by me and he'll finish them off. We go along a word each, practically."
ON RECORDING THE 'PLEASE PLEASE ME' ALBUM
JOHN 1963: "We sang for twelve hours nonstop. Waiting to hear the LP played back was one of our most worrying experiences.
We're perfectionists. If it had come out any old way we'd have wanted to do it all over again. As it happens we're very happy
with the result."
JOHN 1976: "That record tried to capture us live, and was the nearest thing to what we might have sounded like
to the audiences in Hamburg and Liverpool. You don't get that live atmosphere of the crowd stomping on the beat with you,
but it's the nearest you can get to knowing what we sounded like before we became the 'clever' Beatles."
PAUL 1988: "The whole album only took a day... so it was amazingly cheap, no-messing, just a massive effort
from us. But we were game. We'd been to Hamburg for Christ's sake, we'd stayed up all night, it was no big deal. We started
at ten in the morning and finished at ten at night... it sounded like a working day to us! And at the end of the day you had
your album. There's many a person now who would love to be able to say that. Me included."
I SAW HER STANDING THERE
(Lennon/McCartney)
JOHN 1980: "That's Paul doing his usual job of producing what George Martin used to call a 'potboiler.' I helped
with a couple of the lyrics."
PAUL 1988: "I wrote it with John. We sagged off school and wrote it on guitars. I remember I had the lyrics,
'Just seventeen/Never been a beauty queen,' which John... it was one of the first times he ever went, 'What? Must change that!'
And it became, 'you know what I mean.'"
PAUL circa-1994: "Sometimes we would just start a song from scratch, but one of us would nearly always have
a germ of an idea, a title, or a rough little thing they were thinking about and we'd do it. 'I Saw Her Standing There' was
my original. I'd started it and I had the first verse, which therefore gave me the tune, the tempo, and the key. It gave you
the subject matter, alot of information, and then you had to fill in. So it was co-written... and we finished it that day.
MISERY
(Lennon/McCartney)
JOHN 1980: "It was kind of a John song, more than a Paul song... but it was written together."
PAUL 1988: "John and I were a songwriting team, and what songwriting teams did in those days was wrote for everyone.
'Misery' was for Helen Shapiro, and she turned it down. It may not have been that successful for her because it's rather a
downbeat song... 'the world is treating me bad, misery.' It was quite pessimistic. And in the end Kenny Lynch did it. Kenny
used to come out on tour with us, and he used to sing it. That was one of his minor hits."
P.S. I LOVE YOU
(Lennon/McCartney)
JOHN 1980: "That's Paul's song. He was trying to write a 'Soldier Boy' like the Shirelles. He wrote that in Germany,
or when we were going to and from Hamburg. I might have contributed something. I can't remember anything in particular. It
was mainly his song."
PAUL circa-1994: "A theme song based on a letter... It was pretty much mine. I don't think John had much of
a hand in it. There are certain themes that are easier than others to hang a song on, and a letter is one of them... It's
not based in reality, nor did I write it to my girlfriend from Hamburg, which some people think."
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET
(Lennon/McCartney)
JOHN 1980: "Well, I can't say I wrote it 'for' George. My mother was always... she was a good comedienne and a singer.
Not professional, but she used to get up in pubs and things like that. She had a good voice. She could do Kay Starr. She used
to do this little tune when I was one or two years old... she was still living with me then. The tune was from a Disney movie:
(sings) 'Do you want to know a secret? Promise not to tell? You are standing by a wishing well.' So, I had this sort of thing
in my head, and I wrote it and just gave it to George to sing. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him, because it had
only three notes and he wasn't the best singer in the world. He has improved a lot since then; but in those days, his ability
was very poor."
PAUL 1984: "A song we really wrote for George to sing. Before he wrote his own stuff, John and I wrote things
for him and Ringo to do."
GEORGE 1994: "'Do You Want To Know A Secret' was my song on the album. I didn't like the vocal on it. I didn't
know how to sing."
THERE'S A PLACE
(Lennon/McCartney)
JOHN 1980: "'There's a Place' was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing. It says the usual Lennon things:
'In my mind there's no sorrow...' It's all in your mind."
TWIST AND SHOUT
(Medley/Russell)
JOHN 1963: "I always hate singing the song, 'Twist And Shout' when there's a colored artist on the bill with us.
It doesn't seem right, you know. I feel sort of embarrassed... It makes me curl up. I always feel they could do the song much
better than me."
JOHN 1971: "The more interesting songs to me were the black ones because they were more simple. They sort of
said shake-your-arse, or your prick, which was an innovation really. The blacks were singing directly and immediately about
their pain, and also about sex, which is why I like it."
JOHN 1976: "The last song nearly killed me. My voice wasn't the same for a long time after-- everytime I swallowed
it was like sandpaper. I was always bitterly ashamed of it because I could sing it better than that, but now it doesn't bother
me. You can hear I'm just a frantic guy doing his best."
PAUL 1988: "There's a power in John's voice there that certainly hasn't been equaled since. And I know exactly
why-- It's because he worked his bollocks off that day. We left 'Twist And Shout' until the very last thing because we knew
there was one take."
RINGO 1994: "We started (recording the album) about noon and finished it at midnight, with John being really
hoarse by 'Twist And Shout.'"
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