Please Please Me (song)

Single infobox
Name = Please Please Me


Caption ="Please Please Me" 45 ( 1983 UK issue)
In Original Type C Sleeve
Artist = The Beatles
Album = Please Please Me
B-side = "Ask Me Why"
"From Me to You" (Vee-Jay 581)
Writer = Lennon/McCartney
Released = 11 January 1963 (UK)
7 February 1963 (US, VJ498)
3 January 1964 (US re-release)
Format = 7"
Recorded = 26 November 1962
Genre = Beat
Length = 2:04
Label = Parlophone R4983 (UK) Vee-Jay VJ498 (US)
Producer = George Martin
Audio sample? = yes
Chart position =
* #2 (UK Singles Chart)
* #3 (US Billboard Hot 100)
* #5 (CAN CHUM Chart)
Last single = "Love Me Do""
(1962)
This single = "Please Please Me"
(1963)
Next single = "From Me to You"
(1963)
Misc = Extra musicsample |filename=Beatles please me.ogg |format=Ogg |title=Please Please Me |Type=singleExtra tracklisting
Album = Please Please Me
Type = studio
Tracks = ;Side one
# "I Saw Her Standing There"
# "Misery"
# "Anna (Go to Him)"
# "Chains"
# "Boys"
# "Ask Me Why"
# "Please Please Me";Side two
# "Love Me Do"
# "P.S. I Love You"
# "Baby It's You"
# "Do You Want to Know a Secret?"
# "A Taste of Honey"
# "There's a Place"
# "Twist and Shout"Extra album cover 2
Upper caption =Vee-Jay 498
Type =studio


Cover size =
Lower caption =Original U.S. 45 with band name misspelled as "The Beattles"

"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.cite book |first=Philip |last=Norman |title=Shout! |year=1993 |pages=169 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-017410-9] It was originally a John Lennon composition,cite book |first=Ian |last=MacDonald |authorlink=Ian MacDonald |title=Revolution in the Head |year=1998 |pages=55 |publisher=Pimlico |location=London |isbn=0-7126-6697-4] cite book |first=Bill |last=Harry |authorlink=Bill Harry |title=The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia
year=1992 |pages=528 |publisher=Virgin Books |location=London |isbn=0-86369-681-3] cite book |first=Barry |last=Miles |authorlink=Barry Miles |title=Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now |year=1997 |pages=91 |publisher=Henry Holt & Company |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-5249-6] although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by George Martin.cite book |author=The Beatles |authorlink=The Beatles |title=The Beatles Anthology |year=2000|pages=90|publisher=Cassell& Co |location=London |isbn=0-304-35605-0]

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.

Composition

The Beatles had secured a minor debut success with "Love Me Do", but outside of Liverpool and Hamburg the Beatles were still virtually unknown. Part of the problem was that the group were committed to begin what was to be their last Hamburg season just as "Love Me Do" entered the British charts, and so were unable to actively promote it on their home soil.cite book |first=Philip |last=Norman |title=Shout! |year=1993 |pages=163] Nonetheless, their producer, George Martin, felt it was a promising start and decided to go ahead with a second single. "Please Please Me" has a diverse history. George Martin has stated that the original version of this song was "rather dreary", was too slow and consequently had little prospect of being the big hit the band were looking for. Martin said: " I was still thinking that we should release their recording of "How Do You Do It" (a Mitch Murray composition that Martin had insisted the Beatles record as a possible alternative single release to "Love Me Do"). The group replied that they were only interested in writing their own material.cite book |author=The Beatles |title=The Beatles Anthology |year=2000 |pages=90] McCartney said, "It was symptomatic of our group that we turned down "How Do You Do It". Ringo Starr commented "I remember us all being ready to stand up for the principle of, "We have written these songs and we want to do them". George Martin was sympathetic to their appeals, but said later, " [I] would still have issued "How Do You Do It" had they not persuaded me to listen to another version of "Please Please Me".cite book |author=The Beatles |title=The Beatles Anthology |year=2000 |pages=77]

John Lennon first conceived "Please Please Me" as a bluesy, slow tempo song. Lennon recalled: "I remember the day I wrote it, I heard Roy Orbison doing "Only The Lonely," or something. And I was also always intrigued by the words to a Bing Crosby song that went, "Please lend a little ear to my pleas". The double use of the word "please". So it was a combination of Roy Orbison and Bing Crosby".cite book |author=The Beatles |title=The Beatles Anthology |year=2000 |pages=90] Originally, it was vocally sparse, it did not contain any harmonies or responses, and nor did it have the scaled harmonica intro. George Martin first heard it at the "Love Me Do" re-make session on 11 September and, in his opinion, it "badly needed pepping up"cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |authorlink=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=20 |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |isbn=0-600-55798-7] and asked the Beatles to consider making major changes to it, including increasing its tempo.cite book |author=The Beatles |title=The Beatles Anthology |year=2000 |pages=90] By the time it was brought back into the studio on 26 November 1962, its arrangement had been radically altered, and it took 18 takes to record what George Martin immediately predicted would be their first major hit.cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |title=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=23]

Lennon's harmonica playing features prominently and, similar to other early Beatles compositions such as "Love Me Do" and "From Me to You", opens the song. Paul McCartney and John Lennon initially share the vocals with McCartney holding a high note while Lennon drops down through the scale, a ploy they learnt from the Everly Brothers UK hit song "Cathy's Clown" (April 1960).cite book |first=Ian |last=MacDonald |title=Revolution in the Head |year=1998 |pages=55] McCartney said: "I did the trick of remaining on the high note while the melody cascaded down from it".cite book |first=Barry |last=Miles |title=Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now |year=1997 |pages=92] Ringo Starr asserts himself, exorcising any lingering doubts from the "Love Me Do" sessions regarding his ability.cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |title=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=23] Where "Love Me Do" had been arguably parochial, relying to a large extent on their existing home fans for supportcite book |first=Philip |last=Norman |title=Shout! |year=1993 |pages=159] "Please Please Me" would be groundbreaking, especially as the Beatles were now back in the UK and able to appear on influential national television shows such as "Thank Your Lucky Stars".cite book |first=Bill |last=Harry |title=The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia |year=1992 |pages=648]

*If one were to accept "Record Retailer's" chart positions for "Please, Please Me" and "How Do You Do It?", then Martin's instincts for a number one were absolutely correct, the former reaching number two and the latter number one.

*There are three different mixes of the song, two in mono and one in stereo. The mono mix that appears on the single is not the same as the "Please Please Me" album mix, as extra echo was added to the LP version. A new mix was performed for the stereo version of the album, and on 25 February 1963 Martin made one created from original takes 16, 17 and 18. This stereo version has Lennon fluffing the final verse, causing him to sing 'come on' with a slight chuckle in his voice.

*It was credited to Paul McCartney and John Lennon, as were all other Lennon-McCartney originals on the "Please Please Me" album. The songwriting credit was changed to the more familiar "Lennon-McCartney" for their second album, "With the Beatles".

Original U.S. release

Capitol Records, EMI's United States label, was offered the right to release "Please Please Me" in the U.S., but turned it down.cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America |year=2004 |pages=14 |publisher=498 Productions |location=New Orleans |isbn=0-9662649-9-1] Instead, it was placed with Transglobal, an EMI affiliate that worked to place foreign masters with U.S. record labels. It was told to find an American outlet for the record as quickly as possible, in order to appease Martin and Beatles manager Brian Epstein. "Please Please Me" was then offered to Atlantic, which also rejected it. Finally, Vee-Jay, which had released the top-five hit "I Remember You" by Frank Ifield in 1962, another record Capitol had turned down, was offered the right to issue "Please Please Me" in the States, and chose to do so. The exact date of the U.S. issue was lost for decades, but research published in 2004 showed that the single "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" was released by Vee-Jay on 7 February 1963.>cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America |year=2004 |pages=15] Coincidentally, this was exactly one year before the Beatles' plane landed in New York on their first visit as a band to America.

Dick Biondi, a disc jockey on WLS in Chicago and a friend of Vee-Jay executive Ewart Abner, played the song on the radio, perhaps as early as 8 February, 1963, thus becoming the first DJ to play a Beatles record in the United States.>cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America |year=2004 |pages=17] Art Roberts, legendary DJ and Music Director at the time tells how the record came to be played first at the station: "Let me tell you the story of "Please Please Me". The record was released on the Vee-Jay label. It was a local Chicago recording company. The owner, Ewart Abner, brought a copy of the record to W. L. S. I was the music director at the time and listened to his story about a group, and looked at pictures in teen magazines he brought back from England. I figured, what if this group would get as popular in the United States as they were in England and Europe. So I added the record to the list." "Please Please Me" peaked at #35 on 15 March after four weeks on its "Silver Dollar Survey" chart. [ cite web |title=WLS Silver Dollar Survey, March 15, 1963 |url=http://www.users.qwest.net/~oldiesloon/wls031563.htm |accessdate=2007-05-24] But the song did not chart on any of the major national American surveys.

The first pressings of the Vee-Jay single, which was assigned the catalog number 498, featured a typographical error: The band's name was spelled "The Beattles" with two T's..>cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay |year=1998 |pages=4 |publisher=498 Productions |location=New Orleans |isbn=0-9662649-0-8] >cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America |year=2004 |pages=16] Later copies of the single corrected the typo.>cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay |year=1998 |pages=7] Also, unlike on the UK Parlophone edition, the composers on the Vee-Jay edition were credited as "J. Lennon-P. McCartney" on both sides. Except in Chicago, the record was a flop, as it sold approximately 7,310 copies. Today, copies of Vee-Jay 498, whether with the incorrect or correct spelling of the Beatles on the label, are valuable collector's items.

econd U.S. release

In the wake of the rush-release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in the United States, Vee-Jay reissued "Please Please Me" on or about 3 January, 1964, after footage of the Beatles had appeared on a television program hosted by Jack Paar.cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America |year=2004 |pages=90] Playing it safe, the label chose to put "From Me to You" on the B-side, as Del Shannon's version had been a minor hit in 1963. The new single was issued with the catalog number 581.

This time, "Please Please Me" was a massive hit, eventually peaking at #3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for the week ending 14 March, 1964, trailing only "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You". It was one of the songs that comprised the top five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 of 4 April, when the Beatles held the top five spots.

Because Vee-Jay wanted to get as many copies of the record pressed as quickly as possible, it did not insist on uniformity from one pressing plant to another. As a result, a dizzying number of label variations exist.cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay |year=1998 |pages=20-28] Some of these added a comma to the song title, rendering it as "Please, Please Me". Additionally, some copies of the record were issued with a picture sleeve. Early promotional copies had a special sleeve proclaiming "Please Please Me" as "The Record That Started Beatlemania". The text on the sleeve noted that the Beatles had just appeared on Paar's program and were scheduled to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in February. This sleeve is considered to be extremely rare. [cite book |first=Bruce |last=Spizer |title=Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay |year=1998 |pages=22]

At least 1.1 million copies of "Please Please Me" were sold the second time. If Vee-Jay had been a member of the RIAA, the single would have been eligible to be certified gold.

Critical reception

Rolling Stone ranked the song at #184 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"Please Please Me" was chosen for the Beatles' first national TV appearance, on "Thank Your Lucky Stars" on January 19 1963. ["Tell Me Why" by Tim Riley, 1989, Vintage books]

"Please Please Me" is cited as the "first real oral sex pop song" in Tim Riley's 1999 book about the Beatles' discography. He credits two Beatles-era writers for the first such observation, Robert Christgau, and John Piccarella. Riley also notes the lyric's (call and responses) "c'mon, c'mon," and points out the song "closes the side [of the album] ignoring the conventional practice of putting the hit up front, and fleshing out the album with weaker material."Fact|date=February 2007

Credits

*John Lennon – rhythm guitar, harmonica, lead vocal
*Paul McCartney – bass, backing vocal
*George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocal
*Ringo Starr – drums

Notes