The Beatles Please Please Me

SINGLES

The Beatles released their debut single "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You" on October 10, 1962 in the UK. The single reached #17 on the UK charts. On January 11, 1963 they released their followup single "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" and it reached #2 on the UK Charts. Wanting to take advantage of the success of these singles, they went into the studio to record 10 more songs to complete a 14 song album (14 songs for a pop album was the norm in the UK at the time.)

RECORDING

Amazingly the final 10 songs to make the album's total of 14 songs were recorded in a single day. That day was February 11, 1963.

RELEASE

Please Please Me was The Beatles debut album. It was released on March 22, 1963 in the UK. 8 of the album's 14 songs were Lennon/McCartney originals which was quite groundbreaking at the time because it was rare then for bands to write their own songs.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the album #39 on their list of the greatest 500 albums of all time in 2003. Rolling Stone also ranked two of the album's songs in their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. #139 was the album's opener "I Saw Her Standing There" and #184 was the previously mentioned hit single "Please Please Me."

DOWNLOAD THE BEATLES PLEASE PLEASE ME MP3s

1. I SAW HER STANDING THERE - Along with the album closing cover "Twist & Shout," & the hit single "Please Please Me," I think this is the song that has stood the test of time best from this album. The song has a real energy to it. It sounds like a band rocking out live on stage and as the album was basically The Beatles's live set at the time, that makes sense. The song is a Lennon/McCartney original and features Paul on lead vocals.

2. MISERY - This was also an original. It's not an awful song and you can hear some hints of the genius we'd hear on later Beatle ballads. That being said, it's definitely not one of the better songs in the Beatles discography. John sings lead and my favorite part of the song are the "ooh" & "la la la" bits on the outro.
3. ANNA - This is a cover. For some reason I've always really liked this song even though it's very cloying and a bit too cute. I think I mostly like it because of Lennon's lead vocal. I think this is one of his best early vocals.
4. CHAINS - This is another cover. It's sung with a sort of strange group lead vocal but George takes the lead by himself on a couple of occasions. Not one of my favorites.

5. BOYS - This cover gives a good indication of how little the Beatles cared about lyrics at the time. "I talk about boys, don't you know I mean boys. What a bottle of joy." Huh? That's Ringo on lead. Maybe they did think the lyrics were funny actually and that's why they had Ringo sing it? The song does rock pretty good though. I'll give it that. It's got a nice little groove to it. The bass in particular is really grooving on this one. And I don't notice the bass on most of their earlier songs.

6. ASK ME WHY - Not a great song really but again I can hear some of signs of the greatness they would show later on. It's a smart little pop song with some neat little twists & turns on the way.

7. PLEASE PLEASE ME - This was their first real hit song. It was the song that made them huge in Britain. And even 45 years later it's pretty easy to hear why. The main guitar riffs are great. The melody is catchy. The harmonies are cool. Just a great early pop song.

8. LOVE ME DO - If there's any Beatles hit I'm tired of it's probably this one. It wasn't a big hit when it was first released in the UK and I think it only hit #1 in the US because of the insanity of Beatlemania at the time. Sure it's not that bad, but it's a bit of a drag really.

9. PS I LOVE YOU - This is a pretty cute song with some nice vocal performances. Again it's not that great but it's an indicator of what would come. I can hear some of Paul's later masterpieces hidden within this song somewhere.
10. BABY IT'S YOU - A lot like track 3 "Anna," I've always loved this cover. But the difference is I actually think this is a good song. I don't really like listening to a lot of the Beatles covers but this one works for me.

11. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? - George on sings lead on this ridiculously cute Lennon/McCartney original. It's actually a pretty killer little pop song but it's sort of embarrassing too. I do think the "I'm in love with you... oooh oooh" part is really cool musically though. I also like how the background vocals have a wicked reverb on them.
12. A TASTE OF HONEY - This is a truly ridiculous song. It's hard for me to understand some of their choices for early cover material. And this one is definitely one of the most head scratching to me. Perhaps if I could understand there reasoning behind choosing songs like this to cover I could better understand the context of their musical choices that followed. What I mean is, this song is very "music hall," it's not "rock n roll" at all but it has some really interesting musical moves that I've never really noticed before like the "I will return..." part. That part is pretty darn cool. I may have underestimated this song somewhat.

13. THERE'S A PLACE - The lyrics are actually pretty deep for 1963. "There's a place where I go... and it's my mind, and there's no time, when I'm alone." The songwriter is never alone because he's always with his mind? Huh? Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Lennon & McCartney admitted to not paying much attention to their lyrics at this early stage.

14. TWIST & SHOUT - The most rock n roll performance on the album. Lennon's vocal is amazing. You can hear his vocal cords shredding. Brilliant! So much better than the original it's ridiculous. I think actually comparing the original version of this to The Beatles version is the best way to understand how radical their sound was in 1963. That context has become somewhat lost with time.