The Beatles had already recorded a version of Please Please Me at their recording session for Love Me Do, on 11th September, 1962. However, George Martin wasn’t happy with the end result.
Eager for a follow up The Beatles re-arranged the song, upped the tempo and added the famous harmonica intro. This version was recorded by them on 26 November, 1962.
Originally, Lennon was attempting a Roy Orbison slow bluesy song in the style of “Only The Lonely”. The lyric was influenced by a Bing Crosby song called “Please” which included the line “Please lend a little ear to my pleas”. This song was recorded by Bing in 1932! The Beatles musical influences were extraordinarily wide and varied.
Lennon later stated that it was his song completely, with no contribution from Paul McCartney at all. “I wrote it in the bedroom in my house at Menlove Avenue, which was my auntie’s place”. If you go on the National Trust Tour of Paul McCartney’s home at Allerton, you will pass by John’s home at 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton. This is an upmarket part of Liverpool. John was brought up in a middle class home by his stern aunt Mimi, nothing like the working class background of George Harrison or Ringo Starr, or the council house of Paul McCartney.
When they came to record Please Please Me, their single of Love Me Do had attracted a fair bit of attention, but they still were after a big hit. One of the consequences of their rise to fame outside of Liverpool was that the name “The Beatles” came under scrutiny. Prior to adopting the moniker the Beatles members had performed under a variety of names including The Quarrymen (named after a line in John Lennon’s school song), Johnny and the Moondogs, the Silver Beetles and later combining “beat” with “beetles” they became The Beatles. In taking this name they were giving a nod to The Crickets of Buddy Holly and The Crickets fame. The Beatles covered a number of Buddy Holly and later The Crickets songs in their repertoire.
In order to explain the name Brian Epstein drafted some press releases: This is one, which seems to have a strong John Lennon influence:
“Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did that name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said to them “from this day on you are Beatles with an “A”. Thank you mister man they said, thanking him”.
The First Session for Please Please Me – 11 September, 1962
The first recording was undertaken on 11 September, 1962 at EMI Studios in St John’s Wood, City of Westminster, London. George Martin was absent for a fair bit of this session, which was under the control of Ron Richards, who re-recorded Love Me Do with Andy White on this date. This early version of Please Please Me has no trade mark harmonica, the lead and harmony vocals are different as is the drum track. It borders on pedestrian. There is still some confusion as to whether Andy White or Ringo played on this version of Please Please Me. It doesn’t matter in real terms as it was not released until The Beatles Anthology Volume One CD release in 1995. What is clear is that the later remake is a superior record in every way. To me this recording sounds like Andy White rather than Ringo. However, Geoff Emerick, a young tape operator at these sessions, says that Andy White had been dismissed for the day by the time they made it to Please Please Me. The Beatles guru Mark Lewishohn disputes Geoff’s memory and is strongly of the opinion that Andy White is on this version, which White also agrees to. Perhaps Ringo copied this drum pattern for the next recording session.
The Beatles were getting tired at the end of this long recording session. George Martin made some suggestions as to how to improve the song, such as changing the harmonies and upping the tempo. The Beatles agreed with all his suggested changes and were somewhat embarrassed that they had not thought of them first.
And so the evening finished, the first single was in the can and the next was a solid work in progress.
The Second Session for Please Please Me – 26 November, 1962
There was some urgency to this recording. The Beatles were still in the charts, but Brian Epstein had booked them into the Star Club Hamburg for 13 nights, the last date being 29 December, 1962. A recording of this last night’s performance is available, but there are no versions of either Love Me Do or Please Please Me recorded, but there are versions of I Saw Her Standing There, Ask Me Why and Twist and Shout which are riveting.
Brian was a stickler for keeping a contract and refused to cancel the Star Club booking, notwithstanding The Beatles objections. They had a song in the charts and needed to promote it. Nearly a month in Hamburg was a disaster. They were scared of being forgotten. At least this time The Beatles were staying in decent hotel accommodation, and not in the back room of a strip club. Still it was a despondent Fab Four who were preparing for their last gig in Hamburg – with Christmas Day away from their families.
So The Beatles had to come up with a new arrangement for Please Please Me, rehearse it and record it, prior to their departure to Hamburg. At the same time they had to keep up a punishing regime of performances.
On the day of recording George Martin was in attendance as producer and Norman (Normal) Smith as engineer. Ringo was back behind the drum kit, Paul was playing his Hofner bass, John Lennon was on his Rickenbacker 325 Capri (not yet repainted black) and George on his 1957 Gretsch Duo Jet. Ringo was on his Premier Mahogany Duroplastic drums, which he had purchased in July 1962, before joining the Beatles. The Hofner bass was Paul’s preferred instrument as, being a left hander, it was easier to use, being a symmetrical violin shaped instrument. He purchased this instrument at Steinway’s in Hamburg for US$45.
The Beatles arrived at the session at 6.00pm and rehearsed until the commencement of the session at 7.00pm. Unlike Love Me Do, George Martin elected for The Beatles to play the song without the distinctive harmonica, which was to be overdubbed later.
The need for the overdub was because at the recording of Love Me Do problems had arisen because John could not play the harmonica and sing the line “Love Me Do” when it broke, which he had otherwise rehearsed. For the first time Paul McCartney had to sing the line, which he was unprepared for. You can hear the nervousness in his voice in the early takes. Please Please Me needed John’s punchy rhythm guitar to move it along. He couldn’t play guitar and harmonica at the same time!
Please Please Me took 18 takes to perfect – including the edit pieces for the harmonica intro and other fills. The song was mixed in mono for single release from the Delta-mono / stereo recordings.
However, when it later came to release the song in stereo for the album release, once again, the original stereo twin track tapes of the single version were lost. Seriously, how could you lose the tapes for The Beatles first No.1. This meant going back to the other takes and creating a new stereo version. They used the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth takes to complete the new stereo mix. This is why there is a vocal mistake in the stereo version and not the mono single version. Listen at 1.27 where John makes a mistake in the lyric – “why do we never even try girl”, rather than “why do you never even try girl”.
(A complete stereo version of the mono single release is now available after application of DES. Check out YouTube to have a listen. This really is amazing technology converting old recordings into new stereo master pieces)
After the recording finished George Martin hit the talkback mic in the control room and said “You’ve just made your first number one”. How right he was.
Beatles Fact: The single was released in the UK on 11 January 1963 and reached No. 1 on the New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts. However, it only reached No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart, which subsequently evolved into the UK Singles Chart. Because of this, it was not included on the Beatles’ number ones compilation, 1. A tad uncharitable in my view.
After a cup of tea (The Beatles were avid tea and toast men) they came back to the studio to record the B side – Ask Me Why, another Lennon-McCartney composition. This is one of John Lennon’s first introspective tracks and a favourite of mine. It was played for consideration by George Martin at the artist test session on 6 June, 1962. When they came to record the song it only took 6 takes, as they had been playing it in performance since June.
This is a remarkably well balance recording, considering it was only The Beatles fourth recording. It has a distinct jazz feel which is not present on any other Beatles recording. The harmonies are superb and the two guitars, a J-160e played by John and a Gibson Duo Jet played by George, blend perfectly.
This song, and Please Please Me, were the only two songs published by Dick James Music. The remainder of the Lennon-McCartney catalogue was published by Northern Songs Ltd – with shareholders John and Paul, Brian Epstein and Dick James and his partner Charles Silver.
After recording Ask Me Why, The Beatles attempted a song called “Tip of My Tongue”, another Lennon-McCartney composition. George Martin was less than happy with the arrangement and suggested it be held over for another time. They never went back to it, instead giving it to Tommy Quickly another Brian Epstein managed artist. This was a Paul McCartney composition which John Lennon largely disowned later.
Beatles Fact: After recording Love Me Do, but before recording Please Please Me, the Beatles gave a radio interview for Radio Clatterbridge on 27 October, 1962. This is the group’s earliest surviving interview and is a wonderful historical artefact. The Beatles wit is there, but also a little nervousness. The radio station choice is an odd one. It was the in house radio for two local hospitals, Cleaver and Clatterbridge. The Beatles were interviewed by Monty Lister who presented two shows with discs played as well.
The Beatles had only just released ‘Love Me Do’ – so there wasn’t much history to the band. Monty spends a bit of time eliciting the basics about the group and establishing that Ringo is a recent member. But John Lennon mentions that they are to record ‘Please Please Me’ and he hopes that it would become their second single. Of particular interest is Paul McCartney describing John Lennon as the leader of the group – which he always was.
