“PLEASE PLEASE ME”

(Paul McCartney – John Lennon)

By the end of 1962, the Beatles were feeling rather frustrated and disillusioned.  They had worked extremely hard in the previous three years to achieve national stardom, but were not able to penetrate any further than Liverpool and Hamburg.  They began to feel “stale and cramped,” as Lennon had stated, and just wanted to “get out of Liverpool and break new ground.”  Their appearances at the Cavern club in Liverpool had become ‘old hat’ to them; they had a tremendous following there, but it hadn’t grown outside of their home town.  They were given brief appearances in other towns, such as Peterborough opening up for Frank Ifield, but they always bombed when they were away from home. 

Lennon also felt that they had “outlived the Hamburg stage,” which they reluctantly went back to in November and December of 1962, only because of contractual obligation.  They were even able to secure a professional recording contract with Parlophone records, but their first single, “Love Me Do,” reached number 17 on the national charts only because of local sales as well as their manager Brian Epstein personally purchasing 10,000 copies for his NEMS record store.  So, it seemed, the Beatles were not to go any further than Liverpool.  

This is when a series of fortunate events, as well as a brilliantly written song, changed their fate as well as history itself.  Little did they know that the song that they recorded on November 26th, 1962, which was intended for their second single, would be the one that would begin the chain of events to take them beyond their home town and, eventually, to the whole world.  The song they recorded that day was “Please Please Me,” which finally opened the doors that they had been knocking on for over three years.

The first fortunate occurrence happened when Brian Epstein, as encouraged by George Martin, approached music publisher Dick James in order to secure a deal for publishing the new Beatles compositions.  Brian was unpleased by the lack of effort “Beechwood Music” had put forth to promote “Love Me Do.”  In order to get the publishing deal for the Beatles, Dick James played “Please Please Me” over the phone to Philip Jones, the producer of the national TV show “Thank Your Lucky Stars.”  Since Philip Jones agreed to book the Beatles on one of his shows, it clinched the deal for Dick James to be the Beatles new music publisher.  

The new single was released in Britain on January 11th, 1963.  Since Britain was seeing one of the worst winters in their history, most people were snowed-in at home on January 12th to watch the Beatles perform “Please Please Me” on “Thank Your Lucky Stars.”  The national exposure of this exciting song, as well as the unusual appearance and hair style of the group, garnished the band a lot of attention and propelled the record up the national charts.  And, because of the beginnings of success of the record, they were booked by promoter Arthur Howes on consecutive national tours.  All of this gave the Beatles much press coverage and, combining all of these ingredients, propelled their second single to number one on most of the British charts.  And, as they say, the rest is history!

Songwriting History

It has been agreed by both Lennon and McCartney that “Please Please Me” was entirely written by John, which was written at his home on Menlove Avenue.  Lennon remembered vividly “the pink eiderdown over the bed, sitting in one of the bedrooms” when he wrote the song.  The actual date of the writing is not known, although it can be deduced that it was written just shortly before their first recording session on September 4th, 1962 since there is no evidence of the song being performed live prior to this date. 

Lennon was inspired from two sources for the original concept of the song.  The first was a Bing Crosby hit entitled “Please”, which was originally released in 1932.  Lennon was fascinated by the double meaning of the opening line on the song, which was “Oh, please, lend your little ear to my pleas.” 

The second source of inspiration came from the song “Only The Lonely” by Roy Orbison, which Lennon heard on the radio.  He set out to write a ballad in the dramatic drawn-out style of Orbison while incorporating the double use of the word “please.”  This is the rendition of the song that was brought to EMI studios on September 4th,1962 for consideration for their first single.  The song was to change shape, due to the suggestions of George Martin a week later.  

Recording History

Session One:  On September 4th, 1962, the Beatles gathered at EMI studios for their first official recording session after they had secured their recording contract.  Before the sessions began, and before producer George Martin arrived, the Beatles went through a vigorous rehearsal session to determine which songs would be featured on their first single.  Ron Richards, another producer at EMI, oversaw this rehearsal which took place between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m.  The group went through six songs in these three hours, which included the newly written “Please Please Me.” 

As this was the slow and bluesy Roy Orbison version of the song, Ron Richards was suggesting ways to make the song more palatable for George Martin’s ears, being that he was making the final call. At this stage, George Harrison was playing the opening guitar riff repeatedly throughout the song, which prompted Richards to irritatingly suggest him to “just play it in the gaps.”  This is as far as the song went on this day, as “How Do You Do It” and “Love Me Do” were the two songs chosen to be recorded in the evening session and therefore intended for their first single.  No tapes were rolling for this afternoon rehearsal, so there is no evidence of this version in existence.  

Session Two:  One week later, on September 11th, 1962, the Beatles reconvened at EMI studio two to continue the sessions for their first single.  As it turned out, both sides of their single was complete on this day, but the verdict was still out at the time as to what the A or B-side would be.  This has been attested to by Lennon at the time, saying regarding “Please Please Me” that they “almost abandoned” the song “as the B-side of ‘Love Me Do’.”  This being the case, the Beatles launched into their first attempt at actually recording “Please Please Me.”

Ron Richards was the producer on the sessions this day until the takes for “Please Please Me” started.  George Martin then came in and heard the song for the first time.  At least one take was attempted in the slow, bluesy Roy Orbison style, which prompted Martin to suggest that it “badly needed pepping up.”  Martin directed them to make many of the needed changes right there and then, but, as Lennon said, they “were getting tired,” being that it was the end of the day’s session.  One of these later ‘tired’ attempts is included on Anthology 1.  

One fact that is not widely known is that Andy White, the session drummer hired to play on this day, actually played the drums on “Please Please Me” during the sessions on this day, and therefore, on the version heard on Anthology 1.  Much work on the arrangement was done on this day by suggestions from George Martin, and White dutifully had the drum arrangements, with their detailed drum fills and breaks, down very well.  This was used as a pattern for Ringo to mimic when the song was resumed in the studio in November.  Ringo, of course, was present this day, so he could easily remember these intricate changes himself.

Although much work was done on this song during this session, Martin had stated at the time that they still hadn’t got it right.  Listening to the Anthology 1 version, you can see how close they really were to the finished version.  The few missing ingredients could easily have been added in overdubs, which was a luxury that they did utilize anyway the next week.  Apparently Martin had decided that the single was indeed finished, feeling quite confident in the other tracks recorded that day, which were “P.S. I Love You” and “Love Me Do.”  Martin did have strong feelings about the song, though, as he then stated it was “too good a song to just throw away.”

Song Structure and Style

The study of “Please Please Me” demonstrates the proper way to write a hit pop song in the sixties.  It has all the ingredients that demand attention from its’ listeners, which include an interesting eye-catching title, an introductory riff that effortlessly sticks in your head, a fair amount of breaks which make the listener take notice of the songs’ key focal points, and a dramatic ending that leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction.  Lennon was quoted as saying regarding the songs’ arrangement that the band “aimed this one straight at the hit parade.”

The song was written in the standard style that encompasses most of the early Beatles catalog, which is the verse/verse/bridge/verse style (or aaba).  They opted not to include a solo of any kind or a repetition of the bridge and final verse, as they were prone to do.  Either of these ingredients would have created a prolonged and ineffective mood, as well as extended the two-and-a-half minute rule for a pop song in the early sixties.  

They start the song with a four bar introduction, which premieres the memorable riff played simultaneously by John on harmonica and George on guitar.  We know that, even though George Martin had much to do with arranging the introductions on their original songs, the Beatles wrote this riff themselves, because Harrison was playing this riff repeatedly during the song’s rehearsal on September 4th, before George Martin had heard the song.

We then enter into the first verse, which is 16 bars long.  The melody line starts with the opening riff being harmonized by John and Paul, John taking the true melody line with Paul sustaining one higher harmony note throughout the phrase.  McCartney has called this a “cadence” which, after the fact, a Liverpool music teacher told them that she taught it to her pupils, citing “Please Please Me” as its’ source.  McCartney got the idea from “Cathy’s Clown” by The Everly Brothers, which uses this cadence to good effect in its’ chorus.

The same melodic phrase is repeated (with different lyrics) before a dramatic break occurs, introducing a new guitar riff which segues into the anticipatory “Come On” question-and-answer section of the verse.  The ‘questions’ are sung solo by John, while the ‘answers’ are harmonized by Paul and George.  This climaxes into the title of the song near the end of the verse, which acts as the true hook line of the song.  And then, again, we hear the harmonica/guitar riff to set the stage for the second verse. 

After the second verse repeats the identical musical structure, there is an unexpected break, filled with a drum fill by Ringo, which acts as a segue to the 10 bar bridge.  The drum fill played by Andy White in the fourth bar on the version recorded on September 11th, is replaced by “in my heart,” which is harmonized by Paul and George.  Instead, a drum fill is played by Ringo in the third bar.  We see a partial reprise of the verse structure at the end of the bridge, starting with the words “you, oh yeah, why do you make me blue” mimicking the melody line of “please me, oh yeah, like I please you.”  Each of these phrases could be sung interchangeably.           

The bridge does not go to any uncharted territory with its’ chord structure, as three chords heard in the verses are repeated throughout.  The interest lies in the rapid fire eighth notes used predominantly throughout the bridge, in comparison with the quarter notes used in the verses.  This suggests an urgency which creates a counterpoint to the verses’ simple-but-catchy melody line.  

The final verse is a repeat of the first verse, with the exception of the conclusion, which repeats the “please please me” hook line three times for emphasis.  Cleverly, the last line of the verse combines the word ‘please’ with the first word of the repeated last line, which becomes “like I please please me.”  This clever subtlety is sung twice until the third repeated hook line ends with an exuberant and tight five chord progression which ends the song.  This brings the final verse to a whopping total of 21 bars.

The lyrics of the song are written as if the singer is relating a personal experience between his ‘girl’ and himself.  Actually, the only indication of this is in its’ opening line, which is repeated twice in the song, “Last night I said these words to my love.”  Other than this line, the rest of the lyrics sound as if he is speaking to his ‘girl,’ addressing her throughout the song as “you.”  Therefore, it would probably be appropriate for most of the lyrics of this song to be in parenthesis, being that all of this is being related to a third party.  

Another interesting observation concerning the lyrics is the suggestion, by author Tim Riley, that “Please Please Me” is the “first real oral sex pop song.”  While, with this thought in mind, you can interpret the song to be written about this subject, it seems unlikely that this early on Lennon would have tackled this subject.  In later years, he liked to touch on matters such as this, but in slyer ways, such as in “Happiness Is A Warm Gun,”  “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Dig A Pony.”  But since the Beatles, as of this date, deny ‘oral sex’ as the subject of “Please Please Me,” we have to conclude that the song should be interpreted with a more innocent slant.  Of course, McCartney has been known to elaborate on all-things-Beatles as the years progress, so maybe this will be confirmed one day.  And, of course, we can’t put it passed Lennon to pull one over on us.

The excellent musicianship displayed on this track show the Beatles as an impressively tight unit, trained from years of experience in Hamburg as well as the Cavern.  All the intricate breaks and unforeseen changes come across effortlessly, showing the public what they were really capably of even at this early stage.  

Ringo shows himself very adept at holding his own, even while mimicking Andy White’s work from the previous recording session.  McCartney is in top form performing excellent bass work while harmonizing without losing a bit of pitch.  Lennon’s last minute adaptation to harmonica was an outstanding fit for the song, continuing the identifiable, although short-lived, trend of hit singles featuring the instrument. 

Harrison also showed himself adept at performing the guitar riffs that became one of the trademarks of the song.  He was a little shaky with this task when they attempted to record the song on September 11th, but during the 2 ½ months that transpired between sessions, he was quite well-rehearsed to be up for the task. 

 A curious note is the change in the guitar riff at the end of the bridge.  On the stereo version of the song, it is noticeable that the notes he is playing on the riff is different than the harmonica which he always plays in unison with.  It is the same way on the mono version, although it’s hard to pick out of that mix.  And, when listening to the many versions of the song done either for the BBC or on the September 11th version (available on Anthology 1), he always plays it with these different notes at the end of the bridge.  You may either conclude that it was planned, or, more likely, that it was a mistake that became so engrained that it always came out that way.  One would think that if it was planned, Lennons’ harmonica part would have been played the same way at that point.  It also would not fit the established pattern of the songs’ structure to change the guitar riff in just that one spot.  Well, no one ever claimed that the Beatles were perfect, and I’d be foolish to say they were.  

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO "PLEASE PLEASE ME"

American Releases

No better song could have been given the privilege of becoming their first single A-side to be released in the US.  This occurred on February 7th, 1963, released on Vee Jay records.  There was nearly a month gap since its’ release in Britain (on January 11th) due to Vee Jay’s reluctance to release it, being that they were unknowns in America.  Their delay was understandable since British acts were prone not to do well in the US up to that time.  But when the song got to number two on the charts overseas, they thought to take the chance and release it here.

Although WLS in Chicago did give the song airplay (February 8th being the date of the first time the Beatles were heard on American radio), as well as placing for a couple weeks in their local charts, the single failed to take hold nationally.  The song did not make any dent on the Billboard charts.  This was just as well, since the artist listed on the label, as well as on promotional ads, was misspelled as “The Beattles.”  The lucky 7,310 people who have obtained a copy through the years now have a highly prized collectors’ item, worth in the thousands.

The second US release of the song came on January 3rd, 1964, when the single was re-released by Vee Jay records as Beatlemania hit.  Instead of having “Ask Me Why” as its’ B-side (as it was back in February 1963), they paired it with their second failed US single “From Me To You.”  It made a huge impact on the Billboard charts this time around, peaking at number three, not being able to pass “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You” in the top two positions.  And Vee Jay actually spelled the Beatles name correctly this time.

The third release was on the second version of the Vee Jay album “Introducing…The Beatles.”  The first version of the album, released on January 10th, 1964, didn’t feature the song since, when it was first conceived back on July 22nd, 1963, they didn’t want to include a single that was previously a failure.  Since the mother plates where already made back in July, they rush released the album as it was.  But because of litigation with Capitol records concerning the inclusion of “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You” (which were on the first version of the album), Vee Jay records deleted these two songs from the album and re-released it on January 27th, 1964, with “Ask Me Why” and “Please Please Me” in their place.  This album went on to become a million seller and peak at number two on the Billboard album chart, not being able to by-pass “Meet The Beatles” at number one.   

Vee Jay records was quick to follow this with an album entitled “Jolly What! England’s Greatest Recording Stars:  The Beatles and Frank Ifield On Stage” on February 26th, 1964.  Both sides of the first two failed Vee Jay singles from 1963, including “Please Please Me,” were the only Beatles songs on this album.  The rest of the record was taken up with Frank Ifield songs, including his US top 5 hit from 1962, “I Remember You.”  This wasn’t enough of a draw for this supposedly ‘live’ album to sell well, as only 50,000 copies were sold.  And most of these were returned shortly thereafter.  This was the fourth US release of “Please Please Me.”

In August of 1964, we see the fifth appearance of the song on a Vee Jay reissue single on their “Oldies 45” label.  This made the song available as a single for another 14 months, still featuring “From Me To You” as its’ B-side.  

Three more album attempts were made by Vee Jay records to cash in on the Beatles catalog before they were ordered to ‘cease and desist.’   The first was “The Beatles vs. The Four Seasons,” released on October 1st, 1964, which coupled the “Introducing…The Beatles” album along with “'The Golden Hits of the Four Seasons” as a double album.  This compilation album only peaked at number 142 on the Billboard charts, selling only 20,000 copies.  This marks the sixth appearance of “Please Please Me.”  The seventh was a desperate act in repackaging the “Jolly What” album as “The Beatles And Frank Ifield On Stage,” which was released on October 10th, 1964 but only reached number 104 on the Billboard album charts.  The eighth appearance of the song was on a repackage of the “Introducing…The Beatles” album as “Songs, Pictures And Stories Of The Fabulous Beatles” on October 12th, 1964.  It was the actual original “Introducing” album placed in a new sleeve.  It peaked at number 63 on the US charts, selling 400,000 copies.

The ninth appearance of “Please Please Me” was on the Capitol album “The Early Beatles” which appeared on the scene on March 22nd, 1965.  This became the only album to contain the song throughout the sixties.      

The tenth release was as a single, still paired with “From Me To You,” on the Capitol “Star Line” budget label.  This was released on October 11th, 1965 and remained in print throughout the sixties to allow “Please Please Me” to continually be available as a single.      

The eleventh release of the song takes us into the ‘70’s.  It was contained on the first official ‘Greatest Hits’ package entitled “The Beatles 1962-1966,” better known as “The Red Album”.  The album was released on April 2nd, 1963 and was certified gold by the RIAA two days before it was released (on March 31st).  The album, featuring “Please Please Me” as its’ second song, peaked at number three on the Billboard album charts, not being able to pass “The Blue Album” (“The Beatles 1967-1970”) and Led Zeppelin’s “Houses Of The Holy” from the top of the charts.  The RIAA shows sales at over 15 million units sold of this album.  Actually, the RIAA tabulates the number of actual records sold and, as this is a double album, over 7 ½ million copies were sold.  Still an amazing feat for a group which had broken up in late 1969.  Incidentally, the album is still available on CD and is still selling quite steadily.

The twelth release was on February 26th, 1987 with the first official Beatles compact disc "Please Please Me."  While this CD came out in mono only, the re-mastered stereo version was released on September 9th, 2009.

The September 11th, 1962 version of the song that was thought to be lost (which features Andy White on drums, although not credited) was discovered and appears on the November 21st, 1995 release “Anthology 1.”  This double CD (and cassette) sold an outstanding one million units in its’ first week, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts.  The RIAA certified sales of eight million units, which translates to four million copies of the double album.  This marks the thirteenth release of the song “Please Please Me.”      

The fourteenth release was the box set “The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2”, which was released on April 11th, 2006 (in stereo and mono). 

There is much debate and/or disappointment about “Please Please Me” not being included on the mega-million selling album “1.”  The qualification for a song being included on this album was its’ appearance at the number one spot in either the UK or the US.  Being that the song only reached number three in America settles that issue, but its’ chart record in Britain is another story.  Since there was no one accepted pop chart in Britain back in 1963, it depends on which music newspaper chart you look at.  New Musical Express (said by some to be the main chart at the time), Disc and Melody Maker all chart the song at number one, while the Record Retailer show it only peaking at number two.  Since Record Retailer is now most widely considered as being the correct chart, it was decided that “Please Please Me” didn’t quite deserve to be included on the “1” album.

Live Performances

As stated earlier, there is no direct evidence to show that “Please Please Me” was performed live before its’ being recorded in the studio.  It can be assumed that the song was performed thereafter at their December 1962 Cavern dates in Liverpool as well as their fifth Hamburg visit which lasted until the new year.  Being that the song was released in Britain on January 11th, 1963, they surely performed it at any gigs they had that month.

The day after the song was released, the Beatles performed (or mimed) the song on the British Saturday night TV show “Thank Your Lucky Stars,” which opened many doors for the Beatles, helping propel the song to the top of most of the nations charts.  The band then began a series of national tours in 1963, first with Helen Shapiro in February, Tommy Roe and Chris Montez in March, Roy Orbison in May, and throughout the rest of the year as the headlining act.  Each tour featured the Beatles performing their number one hit, even catapulting them to top of the bill on the Tommy Roe and Roy Orbison tours, which found them quite uncomfortable in doing so.        

Great exposure was given to the song on BBC radio, starting on January 16th, 1963, for the show “Here We Go,” which aired on January 25th.  Then on January 22nd, they performed it for the ever-popular “Saturday Club” show, which aired it on January 26th.  “The Talent Spot” was the next performance, which occurred on January 22nd and aired on January 29th.  A break from touring brought them to the “Parade Of The Pops” radio show, performing the song live on February 20th.  March 6th had them perform the song for the show “Here We Go,” which didn’t air until April 12th.  March 16th saw a live performance of the song on “Saturday Club.”  The “On The Scene” show was next, performing the song on March 21st and airing on March 28th.  April 1st saw the performance on the show “Side By Side,” which aired on April 22nd.  “Easy Beat” was the next show, performing it on April 3rd to be aired on April 7th.  May 21st was the date for its’ performance on “Steppin’ Out,” which aired on June 3rd.  It was next performed on July 16th for the “Pop Go The Beatles” show, which aired on August 13th.  The last BBC performance was on October 13th on the show “Easy Beat,” which aired on October 20th. 

In addition to “Thank Your Lucky Stars” in 1963, much TV exposure was to be had for the song in 1964.  America was treated to an Ed Sullivan Show performance of the song on February 23rd, which was their third appearance on the show, although this performance was taped earlier on the day of their first performance on the show on February 9th.  This coincided nicely with the song’s appearance in the top five at that time, although the song was recorded well over a year earlier by then.  In Britain, they appeared on their own television special “Around The Beatles,” which was broadcast there on May 6th and June 8th.  The show included their miming to a previously recorded medley which contained a portion of “Please Please Me.”  

The song also continued to be performed live in the beginnings of their first US tour, being heard at their first American concert at the Washington Coliseum on February 11th, as well as at Carnegie Hall on February 12th.  The song does not appear to be included in their set list for any tours or concert appearances after this date, since they had three huge selling singles released in Britain since then to focus on, as well as multiple placements on the US singles and album charts.  Their June 8th broadcast of the song in the UK on their “Around The Beatles” TV special appears to be the last time the song was heard performed by the Beatles.

Surprisingly, McCartney chose to include “Please Please Me” as one of the final encore selections on his 2005 tour.  This is especially surprising because, as previously stated, the song was written entirely by Lennon who also sang lead on the song.  Prior to this, McCartney had always chosen Beatles material to perform live that he had sung lead to in the Beatles as well as primarily written himself.  The inclusion of this song on this tour, as well as the song “I’ll Get You,” has indeed broken that pattern.   One can now only guess what Beatles material he may choose for his next tour.  The possibilities are now virtually endless.

Conclusion

America can indeed be grateful for the turn of events that led to the success of “Please Please Me” in Britain since, if this hadn’t happened, things wouldn’t have snowballed into international success for the Beatles.  They would have remained a local Liverpool act and surely died a quiet death like most of the other local “beat” groups of their day.

One can speculate that since they were in Germany during the formative months that “Love Me Do” was released, they couldn’t promote the song with national tours or television exposure like they were able to do with “Please Please Me.”  One can speculate that if they hadn’t stumbled upon people with connections that got behind them, such as Brian Epstein, Dick James and George Martin, they would have remained obscure local celebrities.  One can even speculate that since Britain had the worst winter on record at the time the song was released, a huge British audience was snowed-in and had nothing better to do than see them perform the song on “Thank Your Lucky Stars” which created great exposure and newspaper reviews.

All speculation aside, it can assuredly be said that none of this would have happened without a great song.  “Love Me Do,” as innovative as it may have been, wouldn’t have had this impact.  The creative songwriting ability of John Lennon came through to deliver a blockbuster song that had clever lyrics and an appealing structure which just hit home with the national audience. 

The success of the song also became a ‘feather in the cap’ for George Martin, whose arrangement suggestions proved to be just what the song needed after all.  Their respect for Martin increased greatly after this, depending on him, to a greater or lesser degree, for musical direction throughout their career.  

However you slice it, the United States, as well as the rest of the world, can be immensely grateful for what the Beatles brought forward with this song.  America would not have been impacted the way it was, nor would you be reading this today, if John Lennon hadn’t written a song entitled “Please Please Me.”

Song Summary

"Please Please Me”

Written by:  Paul McCartney / John Lennon

• Song Written:                       September 1962
• Song Recorded:                   November 26, 1962 
• First US Release Date:       February 7, 1963
• US Single Release:             Vee Jay #498
• First US Album Release:   Vee Jay #VJLP 1062 “Introducing…The Beatles” 
• Highest Chart Position:   #3 
• British Album Release:     Parlophone #PCS3042 “Please Please Me” 
• Length:                                2:04 
• Key:                                      E major
• Producer:                            George Martin
• Engineer:                            Norman Smith 

Instrumentation: 

• John Lennon -               Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar (1958 Rickenbacker 325)
• Paul McCartney -        Bass Guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1), Background Vocals
• George Harrison –      Rhythm Guitar (Gretsch Duo Jet), Background Vocals
• Ringo Starr –               Drums (Premier)  

Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski

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