Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

Single: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”/”This Boy”
Released: 29 November 1963

By late Autumn 1963, John and Paul’s musical output was in full swing with no sign of slowing down at all. This was the sign of two writers who were lucky enough to work on what they did and loved all day long; they were also smart and attentive enough to understand that to be a strong musician and performer, they couldn’t do it half-assed. Even if the songs missed their mark and the end result wasn’t exactly what they’d wanted or planned on, they knew enough not to release something they’d be ashamed of later on. [John, however, would later be his own harshest critic in this respect and dismissed a lot of his own earlier work, even if the songs were strong.] They were a band made up of obsessed music lovers who had a bead on what sounds they loved and what sounded right to them, and had the dedication to focus on that in their own work.

In addition to this, near the end of their studio work on With the Beatles, they were given an extremely wonderful gift–four-track recording at Abbey Road, which gave them even more of an aural playground to work in than before. Their previous work had all been on two-track recording consoles which gave them an extremely limited amount of aural space to work with. Nearly all of their songs so far had been recorded with the full band playing and singing, with just the occasional overdub [which was recorded straight onto the master, meaning they’d damn well better get it right the first time!] and rarely a double-tracked vocal. This worked just fine for the band, but it left their sound just a tiny bit flat; they were itching to break that barrier like they very nearly did with “She Loves You”, attempting to capture not just the song but the emotion behind it. Expanding to four-track gave them two more tracks to play with–they could overdub, expand the sound, let it breathe like they’d wanted it to.

Of course, back then it didn’t make all that much difference to the listener; at that point in time, the kids in Britain were still listening to the BBC on handheld radios with single speakers or on the radio at home. AM radio was (and still is) monaural, and the prevalence of FM stereo radio was still quite a few years in the future. For the most part, most listeners actually preferred a well-produced mono recording over stereo, because it translated a lot better on their single-speaker radios. [This is also why the band’s discography has separate and unique mono and stereo mixes from their beginning all the way up to early 1969, and why there are slight differences in each. I’ll go into this later in the series.]

So on 17 October, they christened their four-track recording career with a new single that would change the game entirely.

Side A: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Their next single was written in the music study basement of the Asher residence in Wimpole Street, London–Paul was going out with daughter and well known London actress Jane Asher at the time, and they’d also become good friends with her brother Peter (one half of Peter & Gordon, whom John and Paul wrote a few songs for). It was a truly co-written song, “written eyeball to eyeball” as John would later put it, on the Asher’s piano. On the surface, and to many critics who didn’t quite get it, this track was yet another Beatles love song, same as all their others. What made it different, and what pricked the ears of quite a few fans, not to mention other musicians, was the innovative chord changes they were using. Unlike earlier songs influenced by American pop and blues, they were expanding out into complex melodies.

The home chord here is G, giving it a high, happy sound. The path the verse takes is almost literary: G-D-Em-B. The phrase takes us on a miniature journey of home-travel-conflict-return. Laid on top of that are lyrics of wanting–the narrator is attempting to ask out a girl he really enjoys being with. The following chorus is relatively simple and positive: C-D-G-Em, the Em used less as a conflict and more as a way to come back around to the positive A for the repeat, and then to the positive G to end the phrase.

We of course have the band’s trademark of a twice-used bridge, and I really enjoy what goes on here aurally. The simple progression of Dm-G-C-Am once is very similar to any other of their bridges; it’s then followed by Dm-G-C, and a final triple-repeat of C-D–you’re expecting a repeat of that first phrase, only the ending has been changed, and the excitement and anticipation builds up to return to the main verse again. But that’s not all…if you’ve noticed, Ringo has been playing his high-hat cymbals very loosely throughout the track, which fills up a lot of the background with white noise. It’s not until this bridge that he closes that high-hat and the cymbals are short and crisp, and that the song suddenly grows quieter. Added to that, lyrically this is where the narrator temporarily stops his pleas and dwells on just how happy the girl makes him; where the main lyrics are dialogue, the bridge is a reverie.

If your ears and brain aren’t trained or used to listening to things like this, this track is a relatively simple one, another love song made to order. But for the kids scrambling for something new, and for the musicians with the ear for it, this track completely blew them away. There were at least a million advance sales for it in the UK, even before anyone had heard it (mainly due to the popularity of their recent singles and albums), and considering the reaction when it finally dropped, it would only send them even higher into the musical stratosphere. In a way, it would also create a future goal, albeit a sometimes frustrating one for them–the song had gone past their fans’ expectations to the point that they now expected that to happen on a consistent basis. It pushed them ever further creatively, but it could also stifle and frustrate them. Tempering that balance would be a trick, but they felt they were up for it.

Side B: “This Boy”
A fascinating B-side, so much so that one wonders why they squandered such an excellent track. This was another of John’s attempts at writing a song similar to Motown doo-wop, like Smokey Robinson’s “I’ve Been Good to You”–the I-VI-II-V musical phrase that was so prevalent in many of those torch songs from the fifties and early sixties. What sets it apart, just like its A side, is what they do with it. Lyrically, it’s a change-up from the sad love song: this time it’s the narrator saying “he’s no good for you, take me back instead.” Vocally it’s absolutely gorgeous: John, Paul and George, who were naturals at three-part harmony, deliver the verses quietly and breathily, adding an extra level to the lyrics. It might be a wish for the girl to return to him, but he’s not expecting much. At least not until the middle eight, where John lets it all out in a double-tracked vocal, an incredibly strong and loud “I’m on my knees here” plea. The bridge is also fascinating in its own right, with a descending chord phrase filled with sevenths (G-F#7-Bm-D7, G-E7-A-A7) while John’s vocal line ascends. It’s a lovely piece, and one that was later recorded by George Martin with an orchestra for Ringo’s solo scene in their upcoming movie A Hard Day’s Night.

* * *

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

Single: “The Beatles’ Christmas Record”
Released to the Beatles’ Official Fan Club: 6 December 1963

“The Beatles’ Christmas Record” was recorded on the same day as the above tracks, a short five minute track of semi-scripted silliness as a personal thanks to the members of their fan club. You can distinctly hear each member’s unique sense of humor here, even when having to read a scripted “thanks to everyone, it’s been a great year, etc.”: John’s deft wordplay (“Merry Christmas” as “Gary Crimble”), Paul’s smarminess (we love you, but please stop sending the jelly babies!), Ringo’s lovable straight man (I was the last to join, but I’ve been in other bands…), and George’s cleverly snide remarks (“Thank you Ringo! We’ll phone you!”). Each even gets to sing their own interpretation of “Good King Wenceslas”.

This recording and the Christmas messages that followed were never released as part of the official discography, only to the fan club members, and thus were relatively hard to find for quite some time. You may be able to find the original 1970 compilations (the UK From Then to You or the US The Beatles Christmas Album) on specialty vinyl stores, or you can find them on oft-bootlegged collections, but they’ve never been rereleased in their original flexidisc form.

* * *

Meanwhile, over in the United States…

Credit: Wikipedia

Single: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”/”I Saw Her Standing There”
Released in the US: 26 December 1963

…Capitol Records finally gets on board. And only after much wrangling from EMI and Brian Epstein, a few renegade DJs who’d gotten a hold of the UK single weeks earlier, and many teenage fans telling their local radio stations to play the band already. To be honest, they’d been half-heartedly planning on releasing this particular single sometime in early January of 1964, to coincide with their scheduled performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, but one gets the feeling they hadn’t really put too much heart into it. Instead of the original single, they created their own by switching “This Boy” with the then non-single “I Saw Her Standing There” from Please Please Me. That itself is interesting, considering that track was at that moment about to be released by Vee-Jay Records on the long-delayed Introducing the Beatles. Nonetheless, the switch paid off, as both songs ended up being powerhouse hits. Given the overwhelmingly positive radio response, Capitol moved up the release to just after Christmas.

The outcome was instantaneous. It sold a quarter million copies within the first few days, and eventually sold up to five million. It hit number one in early February, only to be eventually knocked off the spot by none other than their previous UK number one hit, “She Loves You”, and soon the charts would be filled with multiple Beatle hits. The floodgates were opened, and Beatlemania had begun. But not just Beatlemania…it also triggered a “British Invasion” of UK pop songs entering the US charts and hitting high numbers, from the Hollies to the Kinks to the Dave Clark Five.

In retrospect, the time had been ripe for a musical revolution, one that tends to happen every decade or so. It’s fascinating to watch and predict once you know what to look for, and this had all of it. By late 1963 the country was in a troubling state…they’d just suffered a terrible blow due to the assassination of President Kennedy; racism and segregation in the South had become ever-rising hot button issues; other world events such as the Cuban Missle Crisis and unrest in France were still on the minds of the country. The mood of popular music had changed to mirror life: Elvis had returned from the Army, but his once-rebellious rock now sounded dated, and he’d just started a decade-long run of making lightweight movies with uninspiring soundtracks; other big names had fallen from the limelight either due to not changing their sound (Jerry Lee Lewis) or personal issues (Chuck Berry, who’d spent a year or so in jail) or death (Buddy Holly, a few years earlier); still other popular artists (Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra) were liked by the older generation but left younger fans wanting. At the same time, various subgenres of new music were gaining ground in localized areas: the southern California surf sound of the Beach Boys, the Detroit grooves of Motown, the southern gospel blues of Johnny Cash. New sounds were brewing just underneath the surface, maybe even popping up on local charts, sounds that the younger generation wanted and desperately needed, and it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose.

The rise of Beatlemania and the British Invasion of the sixties was the catalyst for all that–perhaps just as Nirvana was for the Seattle sound, thirty years later.  A new generation of music would rise with the changing times, only this time it was rock music.

Next up: Introducing the Beatles, Meet the Beatles, and many singles: the US catches up (sort of)

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

EP: The Beatles’ Hits
Released: 6 September 1963

Side A:
From Me To You
Thank You Girl

Side B
Please Please Me
Love Me Do

*******

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

EP: The Beatles No 1
Released: 1 November 1963

Side A
I Saw Her Standing There
Misery

Side B
Anna (Go to Him)
Chains

The usual lifespan of a single is about two months, from release to charting to fade from public view. Back then as now, it would take a week or two for it to ascend the charts until it either stalled or hit Number One, and start its descent back down again. There’s the occasional rarity of a single so popular it stays on the charts for an extremely long time, or the even rarer single that rises, drops, then rises again. The Beatles’ releases would experience all of these during their tenure, and part of it was due to the shrewd planning of Brian Epstein. Having been a keen record store manager who could read the pulse of listeners and purchasers, he and George Martin understood that to keep your prized band in the limelight,
one had to have something new and fresh (or at least something in a different package!) in the shops every couple of months or so. This was standard practice back then, but Epstein and Martin followed it so thoroughly that it was considered shocking when the band finally took some time off in 1966 and their fourth quarter release was a greatest hits package instead.

These two EPs were nothing more than yet another repackaging of tracks from the Please Please Me album and are not worth going into too much detail here. Both covers were shot by Angus McBean–the second EP is an outtake from the debut album’s cover session–and the band’s erstwhile press officer Tony Barrow wrote some rather amusing fluff for the rear covers, as he would for the first three albums. The first one was packaged as some of the best songs “in the Lennon-McCartney Songbook”, a sort of sampler for those who hadn’t quite caught on yet. The second EP is a little stranger in packaging, as it looks as if Parlophone had come up with and soon aborted the idea of rereleasing the album in EP form of four songs each. This second EP is simply the first four tracks from the album.

Despite these two releases having nothing new at all, they did surprisingly well on the charts and in sales. Unlike the shameless repackaging-as-completely-new VeeJay releases in the States, Parlophone all but stated these were songs you already had, just in a new, collectible form.

In the meantime, the boys had spent their summer working on a second album, all while still touring locally.

*********************

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

Album: With the Beatles
Released: 22 November 1963

The Beatles released their second album exactly nine months after their first album, and though they were recorded just a few months apart, you can hear (and see!) just how much the band had matured in an amazingly short amount of time. The cover was taken by fashion photographer Robert Freeman, shot in a darkened hallway at the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth (the natural light source was a window at the end of the hall), who captured a slightly older, harder, more serious band. Even the artwork is reserved, the title in a small lowercase font.

Unlike the insanity of the first album’s recording in one marathon session, they spent a few weeks here and there in July and September working on the follow-up at Abbey Road, in between their never-ending tour schedule. While Please Please Me emulated the sound of the band’s live shows, this second album showcased their impressive songwriting chops in action. Six of the songs are covers–considering their meteoric rise to fame, it only made sense to continue with well-rehearsed covers from their live shows rather than rushing the songwriting–but once again their covers are of their personal favorites, Motown tracks, obscure American singles, and a song from a musical.

Side A

Track 1: It Won’t Be Long
One would expect an album’s first track to start out with a bit of melody or a countdown, some kind of introduction, yes? Not this one. Right out of the gate, we’ve got John belting out the chorus of this fantastic rocker, the first song written specifically for this album. Right away we hear two things: a deft call/response with the “yeahs” (perhaps a nod to their previous single, which they had just recorded), and John’s love of wordplay: It won’t be long ’til I belong to you. After the chorus we have a simple E-C-E verse, followed up with something quite interesting, a middle-eight filled with chromatically descending chords. You wouldn’t hear that in a rock and roll song. There are also little tricks hiding in the song, such as using only one measure instead of an expected two between the two verse lines. Listening to this alongside “She Loves You”, it’s quite surprising to hear how vastly different they are, even though they were written and recorded just a month apart. Even then they must have understood the sonic and melodic differences between a song destined for a single and a song destined for an album.

Track 2: All I’ve Got to Do
John follows up with a Smokey Robinson-styled original, and there’s something quite original going on here right at the beginning that you might not notice: an open chord, played not by a guitar, but by Paul on his bass, apparently the first rock song to ever to do that. There’s also the fact that, taking the lyrics in a historical sense, boys in the UK actually didn’t call girls on the phone! That was purely an American thing back then; it was still rare for kids in the UK to call lovers and friends (instead they would stop by their houses or meet up a predetermined destination). John stated this track was pretty much written for the American market on those two points alone.

Track 3: All My Loving
This fabulous number by Paul was written just weeks after “She Loves You”, and is quite possibly one of his first big hits. This track was never released as a single in the UK, but despite that it received so much airplay that EMI released it a few months later on an EP. Everyone supplies some fantastic playing here…Paul sings the wonderful melody while playing a descending/ascending bass line throughout. John supplies some impressive rhythm guitar work here, frantically strumming triplets to give it a bouncy, rollicking sound. George’s lead fills are very close to that of his country fingerpicking heroes like Chet Atkins. And Ringo’s drumming here is solid, echoing John’s triplets with his fills.

Track 4: Don’t Bother Me
George makes his official songwriting debut, and he doesn’t pull any punches at all. Written while he was recuperating from an illness while the band were playing in Bournemouth (at the same hotel the cover was taken, some time in late August), this song had started out as an exercise to see if he could, in fact, write a song for the band. Right away you can hear George’s penchant for uncommon chord changes, in this case the main melody of B-A-G-Em. It’s almost got a Link Wray feel, a “dirty blues” sound rather than a pop-infused melody like John and Paul knew so well. It’s also the band’s first song with a less-than-happy feel to it. He wants the girl back, but in the meantime, leave him alone to deal with it himself.

Track 5: Little Child
John readily admitted this was a filler song. It’s not one of their strongest or most creative; it’s a typical I-IV-V blues rock song with blatant throwaway lyrics. They at least did their best by turning it into a decent rocking jam, complete with some spirited harmonica playing by John.

Track 6: Till There Was You
The only Beatles cover of a song from a Broadway musical. Paul was familiar with Peggy Lee’s 1961 version of this song from The Music Man, which the band played frequently during its 1962 Hamburg run. One of four covers recorded during the first With the Beatles session on 18 July and redone and finished on the 30th, it’s a quiet and pretty little number very similar to Lee’s. Everyone plays very quietly, from George’s delicate fingerpicking and John’s muted chord strumming to Ringo’s soft percussion.

Track 7: Please Mister Postman
After the previous track’s quietness, they bounce back with another cover, this time of the debut single by Motown singers The Marvelettes. Similar to “It Won’t Be Long”, there’s no intro here, it just jumps right in with a howling “Wait!” from John, Paul and George. Also recorded on 30 July, this track definitely sounds like they had a hell of a lot of fun recording this one, even if it wasn’t their best work. It sounds like the band recording the song for their own enjoyment rather than the listener.

Side Two:

Track 1: Roll Over Beethoven
George gets a second lead performance here, this time with a great cover of the classic Chuck Berry tune. A holdover from the earliest days of the band, they loved playing this track so much they kept it in their live repertoire up until 1964. It was always George’s showcase song, not just with the great opening riff and guitar work, but as a singer. You can hear the conviction in his voice here.

Track 2: Hold Me Tight
Both John and Paul thought very little of this track, though I personally find it one of their more melodic tracks on this album. This was one of their early songs, written sometime around 1961 and attempted during the Please Please Me session, and used as another filler track here. It’s a party song more than anything else, one to get the crowds up on the dance floor, where the audience’s focus is more on having a good time rather than listening closely to the song. There’s also Paul’s incredibly shaky vocal delivery–he’s all over the place on this one, like he never quite figured out how to sing it. Despite all that, it’s got some great bits like the descending chords of the chorus. It’s definitely a throwaway, but it’s a good throwaway, probably better than “Little Child.”

Track 3: You Really Got a Hold on Me
After that diversion, we come back to another excellent cover song, this time of the great Smokey Robinson & the Miracles track. John and George share vocal duties here, and they do a wonderful job delivering the goods. It obviously pales to the soulful original, but for an up and coming British band to cover a hit song released only a year previous, they do far better than one would expect. This was the first track recorded for this album, back on 18 July, so you can still hear the afterglow of their recent live performances here.

Track 4: I Wanna Be Your Man
This goofy little party track was perfect for Ringo to sing–it’s got ridiculously simple lyrics, the music isn’t all that adventurous, and there’s a lot of amusing hooting and hollering from the other guys going on during the break. It’s not a song to take all that seriously! It’s definitely a step up from “Boys” from the previous album, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun. The band handed this track to The Rolling Stones for one of their earliest single releases, even though they made a right hash of it (as only they could and get away with it!).

Track 5: Devil in Her Heart
Talk about obscure covers! George pulled out this single by The Donays, released late in 1962 in the UK which didn’t go anywhere on the charts. He did the pronoun switcheroo from “his” to “her” and the end result is quite excellent, bypassing the original and giving it a new life. His vocals here are strong and much more confident than his previous songs. Ringo executes some excellent drumming here, playing with force and conviction. One would be convinced this was an actual Lennon/McCartney composition, they pull it off so well.

Track 6: Not a Second Time
This quite a fascinating track of John’s, as there’s some really adventurous chord changes going on here–it’s almost a George song in that respect. Lyrically it’s also a song that’s not one of their cookie-cutter love lyrics, but one of heartbreak and not letting it happen again. It’s not a song that makes its presence known like some of the earlier tracks on the album, but it’s one that grows on you.

Track 7: Money (That’s What I Want)
The album winds down with one last cover, this of Barrett Strong’s song that gave Motown its first big hit. Brian Epstein turned them onto this one, having carried it at his record store back in 1960, and it became a staple of their live shows. John delivers a gritty lead, with the three sharing background “…that’s what I want” vocals as if their lives depended on it. It’s a great cover that would wind up on many of their post-breakup compilations.

**

The end result of With the Beatles is that, although it’s not their most cohesive record, it’s one where they’ve at least (and at last) found their voice and their style, and have begun to experiment with it. Unlike the previous album, this one shows a lot more confidence in their playing, if not always their writing. They could be forgiven for not quite hitting their mark this time out, considering it was recorded in fits and starts while they were out on tour. They would thankfully be given some time off in between gigs come 1964, which gave them a bit more time to come down as well as focus more on their songwriting.

If they thought they were on top of the world now, however, things were about to get a hell of a lot more insane.

Next up: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”/”This Boy” single and their first Christmas single

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

The spring of 1963 was a ridiculously busy time for the Beatles. After their marathon session in February to record the remaining ten tracks off Please Please Me, they left it in George Martin’s capable hands to produce the mono and stereo masters for release. Meanwhile, they would be crisscrossing all over Britain on tour. Many of these shows had been arranged by Brian Epstein well before they became famous, so even though they’d suddenly had hit singles and a new album racing up the charts, they were still honoring these tiny shows at hotel ballrooms, local cinemas, and even a few schools! In addition to this, they also honored a few of their scheduled shows at the Cavern Club, played a number of BBC radio programs (thus the wealth of “at the Beeb” recordings available), occasional showcases with other Epstein acts like Billy J Kramer and Gerry and the Pacemakers, and an ongoing tour with Helen Shapiro. And in between all of this, they made time to record more singles and a second album.

It was on 28 February while they were riding on a coach for the Shapiro tour that John and Paul holed themselves up in the rear of the bus and worked on writing a follow-up single. It’s said that Kenny Lynch–the man who’d recorded “Misery” as the first person to ever cover a Beatles tune–had heard them singing the “ooh” in the middle eight, and immediately thought the song was doomed to failure. Five days later they were back in Studio Two at Abbey Road, and banged out “From Me to You”. And despite Lynch’s misgivings, it would end up being their second single to hit number one.

The b-side, “Thank You Girl”, was most likely written around the same time. These two tracks, as well as a long-unreleased version of their song “The One After 909” were recorded on 5 March (a fourth song, a version of “What Goes On”, was practiced but never recorded). The single was released a month later.

Side A: “From Me to You”
Despite Kenny Lynch’s disdain for such a simply-written song, it’s a very catchy tune, and understandably caught the ear of thousands of teenage fans. Playing on the personal “me and you” that worked so well with “Please Please Me”, this love song played on the fact that John and Paul were well aware of their female fans that felt they were singing just to them! The lyrics are light and fun, as if they just want to gush over their sweetheart–if there’s anything she wants, he’ll take care of it, because they love her that much. There’s also a return of the theme of distance, the couple being separated but their love remaining strong and true.

There are quite a few interesting bits to this song, really. Right off, we have John and Paul scatting the opening melody, the “da-da-dah da-dun dah-dah-dah”. That was Martin’s suggestion (which the band thought was rather odd, until they heard the final run through and agreed it actually worked). What’s also interesting is that the main verses of the song also serve as a repeating chorus, with the title right at the end of each verse–“just call on me, and I’ll send it along, with love from me to you.” The bridges are similar, repeated after each verse section. There’s also the solo section, understated yet creatively done: George repeats the verse melody on the guitar, while John echoes it in a higher octave on harmonica and also fills in an echoing of the title [da-da-dum da-da-dum-dum-dah (“from me…”), da-da-daum- da-da-dum-dum-dah (“…to you…”)] before singing the last part of the verse.

Overall, it’s a giant step up from their previous songwriting–by this time, they had a few singles, an album, and a ridiculous amount of touring under their belt, not to mention at least five years’ worth of working on their craft. This was the song that clicked with them, one that wasn’t a throwaway but a well-crafted one they devoted time and work to.

Side B: “Thank You Girl”
“We knew that if we wrote a song called, ‘Thank You Girl’ that a lot of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine thank you. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans.” — Paul, in 1988

That pretty much explains that song in a nutshell–it might be yet another love song they could write in their sleep, but it was one that the fans could take as a personal note just to them. On the surface, it’s another of their head-over-heels love song lyrics, and musically it’s extremely simple. John later said he wasn’t exactly impressed with how it came out, feeling it was close but missed its mark. Simply put, it’s a song about a man eternally grateful about the woman he loves. But as Paul hinted, there was an ulterior motive: taken from a besotted fan’s perspective, this is a heartfelt “thank you” to all the female fans out there who sent them countless fan letters and screamed at their concerts. So soon into their professional career as musicians, they felt themselves truly lucky and grateful that these fans were so dedicated.

This was actually supposed to be the A-side, but after recording the two, it was decided this would be the b-side. Like “Ask Me Why”, it ended up not being one of their stronger songs, but it was no throwaway, and it the fans themselves were of course happy to have such a song written for them by their favorite band.

*

This was another single released on the VeeJay label in the US, as Capitol still hadn’t gotten on board at this time. “Thank You Girl” was added as a replacement track on later reissues of Introducing the Beatles and later on the US release The Beatles’ Second Album, and “From Me to You” would pop up on a version of Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Beatles (one of the many VeeJay reissues of Please Please Me under various titles), but other than that, neither track would get a straightforward release on an album together until the cd release of Past Masters in 1987. It was unfortunately a missed opportunity due to the legal wrangling between VeeJay and Capitol at the time.

The third track recorded during this session, “The One After 909”, would be all but forgotten until January 1969 when it resurfaced during the Get Back album and movie sessions, but by that time its format was drastically different. Instead of a mid-tempo rock and roll tune emulating Chuck Berry, it ended up countrified and sloppily recorded as an afterthought and released on Let It Be. It very nearly surfaced in 1985 on an aborted compilation of unreleased tracks called Sessions, but wouldn’t get an official release until the Anthology 1 album in 1995.

In the UK, however, it was their second number one single hit right after “Please Please Me”, and they weren’t about to rest on their laurels, not by a long shot. They’d continue touring and recording well into the next year. They’d return to the studio again on the first of July to record what would become one of the signature songs of Beatlemania, thanks to the phrase “yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Next up: “She Loves You”/”I’ll Get You” single

image via discogs.com

Album: Please Please Me
Released: 22 March 1963

Let’s start with some interesting facts:

1. Photographer Angus McBean, who had previously worked on comedy record covers, took the famous picture in the stairwell of the old EMI house in Manchester Square on 5 March after an unsatisfactory session with photographer John Dove. Dove’s ideas were very typical of the day: standing on stairs, corny dance poses, arty ground-view shots. McBean’s iconic shot was quite different from the norm, especially for a debut album.

2. Four songs already recorded as singles made their presence known here, the A and B sides mirroring each other (the “Please Please Me” single in reverse order and ending Side A, the “Love Me Do” single in its right order, starting Side B). This running order is quite uncommon for the time, considering most pop albums would have the hit songs starting Side A, so the average listener would hear the hit song right off the bat.

3. The remaining ten tracks (plus an eleventh unused track, “Hold Me Tight”, which would be rerecorded and released on their second album) recorded for this album were all done on 11 February in 585 minutes (roughly ten hours, not including breaks, and not including two extraneous overdubs by George Martin), for the princely sum of four hundred pounds. And John Lennon had a heavy cold at the time.

Mind you, recording an album in a day was typical for the time, but it was quite rare for every single track to be up to snuff–more often than not, a pop singer’s album would contain two or three hit songs and the rest would truly be filler: half-baked songs and throwaways that were recorded to pad the playing time. Added to that, eight out of the fourteen tracks were written by the band themselves, with only six covers used.

Granted, even though their recorded output at this point was exactly three singles, they were by no means amateurs. The band was ridiculously busy at this point, playing shows nearly every single day for about two and a half years straight, sometimes double shows (one afternoon, one evening). This was the price they paid for wanting to be famous pop stars, and they weren’t going to be lazy about it. They wrote and jammed in between shows, on tour buses, on days off, whenever. Thanks to the unflagging loyalty and relentless work of Brian Epstein in managing their tours and recording time, the band could solely focus on what they did best: the music itself.

Side A
Track 1: I Saw Her Standing There
…and what a great way to start an album! George Martin had understood they were primarily still a live band at this time, so he’d decided to keep the excited count-in (very rare in studio tracks back then) nicked from Take 9 (which you can hear on 1995’s “Free As a Bird” single) and edited onto Take 1. The song itself, a great party rocker written by Paul and aided by John, is one hell of a great opening track for an album, especially when it’s not the big single of the moment. It’s a love song, but it’s also a love song for the excitable British youth of the era–Paul’s not meeting a girl on the street or in a quiet parlor…he’s catching a girl’s eye on a crowded dance floor and falling in love instantly. This is exactly why, when the song was released in the US as a single at the end of 1963, it would be the main catalyst for Beatlemania in America. It provided the kids exactly what they wanted to hear.

Track 2: Misery
This one’s interesting, in that they’d specifically written it for Helen Shapiro, who they’d been touring with for the last few weeks on a package deal, and was about to record a country album in Nashville. However, Shapiro’s manager nixed the idea, and the song ended up in Kenny Lynch’s hands–Lynch was a well-known actor/singer in Britain who was part of the Helen Shapiro tour (and interestingly enough, he later ended up on Paul’s Band on the Run album cover…he’s the guy right behind Paul, grabbing the shirt of the guy behind him). Lynch’s version ended up being the first Beatles song to be covered by someone else. John and Paul both admit this is a space-filler song for the album, considering it was for someone else, but they don’t waste it. The vocals have strong delivery, and the playing is tight. It’s also one of the first Beatles songs where George Martin features as a session musician, offering the piano opening.

Track 3: Anna (Go to Him)
The second song recorded during the third session of the day, and you can hear John’s voice starting to crack ever so slightly here from strain. This is pretty much a straight cover of Arthur Alexander’s original, right down to Ringo’s drumming; the single had come out in late 1962 on Dot Records, so it’s most likely that this was another in the Beatles’ recent live repertoire of obscure American singles. Despite all that, it’s a strong cover that captures the desperation of Alexander’s, right down to the the pleading middle eight.

Track 4: Chains
The first of two George-sung songs on the album. This Goffin/King composition was a hit for Little Eva’s backup singers, The Cookies. Though this is another spot-on cover and a filler, the Beatles loved it for the three-part harmony. It was covers like this that inspired harmony in future songs of their own such as “She Loves You” and “Nowhere Man”. This song seems just a touch above George’s range, as he tends to reach a bit on the higher notes and thus sounds ever so slightly flat, but for a vocal debut, it works well.

Track 5: Boys
Even Ringo was given a lead vocal now and again, often simple songs to fit his minimal range. This cover of a Shirelles b-side is definitely a live staple and a crowd pleaser (and one to let the other three rest their voices a bit). Unlike most gender-switching covers, however, the band only changed the pronouns in a few verses (from “my” to “her”) and the rest of the track is another nearly spot-on cover, with George soloing where the original’s sax solo resides.

Track 6: Ask Me Why
It’s interesting to hear this and the next few tracks within the context of the rest of this album, for a few reasons. First of all, John’s voice is obviously cold-free here and a lot stronger. And while I felt it was kind of a weak song and understandably relegated to the b-side of “Please Please Me”, it fits really well in the middle of this album. Stylistically it’s very similar to the other mid-tempo songs here like “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, and is a good segue between the raucous “Boys” and the poppy “Please Please Me”.

Track 7: Please Please Me
Again, I find it quite fascinating that the current single on the charts at the time was planted right here in the middle, and at the end of the first side. This was part of George Martin’s plan, to sequence the album as if it were a live show: don’t put the big hits at the beginning, because everyone will walk away after you play them–put the hits in the middle so they have to wait, but not for too long.

Side B
Track 1: Love Me Do
This is the re-recorded version with Ringo on tambourine and session player Andy White on drums. Again, context plays here: its sparse, countryish style is quite different from the rest of the songs on the album, but not enough for it to stand out like a sore thumb. It’s contained here mainly to say “you remember this from six months ago? Well, here they are, and they sound even better!”

Track 2: P.S. I Love You
Again, one of my favorite tracks of their early career, and one of Paul’s best early songs. Compare this track to “A Taste of Honey” and “Baby It’s You”, and you can see how deftly Paul can pick up on a musical style. And as with “Ask Me Why”, this track works okay as a single, but works even better as an album track.

Track 3: Baby It’s You
The next-to-last song recorded that day, and John’s voice is really starting to waver here. Another Shirelles cover, it’s another live staple and filler. Paul and George (with a bit of John) provides backup vocals, but it’s mainly John here, delivering a very Motown-esque vocal. Listening to these tracks in chronologically-recorded order, you can hear the band are a bit tired here (this was most likely somewhere around Hour Nine in the session), but despite that, they deliver the goods.

Track 4: Do You Want to Know a Secret
This was written primarily by John and inspired by “I’m Wishing” from Disney’s Snow White, a track John knew from his childhood. He turned it into a simple “I’m falling in love with you” track, specifically for George to sing. At the time, George was not much of a songwriter, but he was often given equal stage time for his vocal abilities. In these early days, his singing voice had a gruff tone–you can hear more of that Liverpudlian accent than with the other two. It’s not as strong as John’s or as dead-on as Paul’s, but it’s unique and it works well here.

Track 5: A Taste of Honey
The first track for the band’s afternoon session that day. The song was written originally as an instrumental for the Broadway version of the Shelagh Delaney play of the same name. It was given lyrics soon after and recorded by Lenny Welch, who released it as a single in late 1962. It was most likely this version that the Beatles knew and copied, as theirs is close to the original. There’s some lovely guitar work here from George, who calmly plucks the strings during the verses and strums the chorus. John, Paul and George get some nice harmonies in there on the title phrase (and the “doo-doo-dn-doo”). Even Ringo’s quite restrained brush playing is perfect. One of my favorite bits in any Beatles song is in the “I will return” refrains here…Martin gave Paul some heavy echo to emulate the poor soul walking away, hands stuffed in pockets and sad to be leaving, and it works brilliantly. Added to that, we’re given a tiny speck of hope at the end, when the B minor-to-F# minor riff repeats only to finally land on F# major instead. Maybe he really will return…

Track 6: There’s a Place
Though this is the next-to-last track on the album, it was the first track they’d attempted to record that day, with ten takes. John uses the harmonica sparingly here, but it’s an interesting use, with the first note of the melody being a dissonant E-flat, echoing the song’s personal sadness. It’s a John and Paul song from start to finish, sharing harmonized vocals throughout. George makes a minor vocal appearance with harmony on the chorus.

Track 7: Twist and Shout
…and how else could they end the album, but with their showstopper? Originally a throwaway dance track by Philly band The Top Notes in 1961, it was soon covered with great success by the Isley Brothers in late 1962, and the Isleys’ party-shaking performance is obviously the one that the Beatles decided to emulate. This was their live set closing number, the one to go out with a bang, and after a brief bit of debate and argument down in the Abbey Road canteen, it was decided as the last song to record. John’s voice is quite audibly in shreds at this time, so they had to get it right the first time (a second complete take was attempted but quickly aborted when it was obvious he just didn’t have any voice left). Despite the obviously painful vocal delivery, they nailed it flawlessly, and it remains one of the bands’ best known and loved songs of the early era.

*

This obviously was not your typical debut album of the early sixties. This was a band purely dedicated to their craft and a love of music. You can hear signs of their trademark sound right from the beginning–the harmonies, the boundless energy, the unique songwriting ability, even the clever way John and Paul played off each other. It was an instant hit in the UK, and stayed in the charts for weeks, where it finally got chased off by…their second album, With the Beatles.

And yet in the US…Capitol Records didn’t care for it at first. Obviously their parent distributor, EMI, thought quite well of the band, but the US were slow to catch up. For most of 1963 in America, Capitol passed on their early output, leaving Epstein to broker a deal with low-budget label Vee Jay for the album. Even then, a legal delay caused it not to be released until January 1964, one full week behind Meet the Beatles, when Capitol finally jumped on the bandwagon. And to add insult to injury, Vee Jay capitalized on their license by releasing the same album (or songs from it) under at least four different titles. Even the band’s singles before “I Saw Her Standing There” languished on small labels like Swan and Tollie. Capitol would finally buy out the license in 1965, “officially” releasing the songs under the title The Early Beatles. It wasn’t until the CD releases in 1987 that the US finally saw Please Please Me as it ought to be.

Mind you, the album wasn’t even out yet and they were already working on their next single.

Next up: “From Me to You”/”Thank You Girl” single

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

So–how to follow up with your big (or in this case, somewhat modest) debut single? For George Martin, he was still adamant to have the band release “How Do You Do It”, but the Beatles stood on their principle of releasing their own songs as singles. There was a good couple of months’ worth of time between their previous session and this next one, however, and they didn’t rest on their laurels. They had an extremely busy tour schedule, not only in Liverpool but elsewhere in the country, as well as a two-week stint in Hamburg at the Star Club with Little Richard. The Beatles were no longer a bar band…they were a professional band now, playing venues and going on radio shows and keeping their name out there–thanks to manager Brian Epstein who had become their official manager just that January. They might have had only one single (technically two) out there, but they weren’t about to let these moments pass them by. They finally reconvened at Abbey Road on 26 November to record two more songs for a follow-up single.

Interestingly enough, this next single catapulted them to the number one spot on a lot of British charts, including NME’s, but–it’s not considered a true number one, because Record Retailer at that time was considered the “official” UK chart (sort of like Billboard for the US in a way), and it only hit #2 there. This would also explain why the song is not on the 1 compilation.

Side A: Please Please Me

A much more uptempo song for them, and a good thing. Sources state that the original version written by Lennon was a slow ballad not unlike Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” (which he has stated was an inspiration), but after Martin’s suggestions, the pace was quickened and the mood made livelier. It’s a fun song, really–it showcases a lot of their best moves at the time. Starting off with another of John’s harmonica lines, this one is less countrified than on “Love Me Do”, and is used more as background. John and Paul deliver the main verses as a duet not unlike the Everly Brothers, John singing the main melody and Paul harmonizing up top. Then there’s a little something unexpected–a guitar and drum fill played to ‘rev’ up to the next line. Even better is that quick stop and reverse-melody guitar fill taking us into the climbing chorus. And that’s just in the first thirty seconds! And there we are, about halfway through the song: the middle eight. The Beatles were masters at the middle eight, that bridge where the melody is counterpoint to the rest of the song, where the plot of the song hangs in the balance before coming back to the familiar verse and chorus again. There’s also the different repetitions within the song–the singsong harmonica line, the wordplay of the title itself, and the the triple repeat of the final line of the chorus at the end of the song. And to top it all off–none of this is overtly noticeable. It retains its simple catchiness.

All this was of course old hat to them by then, as they’d written countless songs over the last few years, inspired by the countless bands they’d toured with and seen Hamburg and elsewhere, as well as all the American records they’d gotten their hands on. But to British ears, this was new and fresh–something so much different than the crooners and the poster boys. There were a lot of new bands out there doing this at the time (the Rolling Stones, for one), but the Beatles were one of the first to break through to major success, and this song was the first one to do it in the UK.

Side B: Ask Me Why
This one’s obviously a filler, a typical “I love you” song (they even use the phrase as the first line) inspired by the soul of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. A relatively newer track written earlier in the year and played primarily on stage, they used this as part of their June EMI audition and used up the remaining recording time to bash out a few takes of this song. They gave it a jazzy spin, hitting all kinds of minor chords and sevenths. John and George pretty much play the same thing, yet with different styles: John plays straightforward for the backbone, while George embellishes his strumming in a cabaret sort of style. The vocals are impeccable here, John taking up the lead and Paul and George providing backup. There is a bit more experimentation in the stop-start melody trick here, something they’d use a few more times in these early releases, but again, nothing that really stands out. It’s not their most exciting song to date, but as with their work ethic at the time, they put enough dedication into it to be released as a flipside.

Next up: Please Please Me, the debut album

Credit: jpgr.co.uk – The Beatles Complete UK Discography site

Single: “Love Me Do”/”P.S. I Love You”
Released: 5 October 1962

Hard to believe this song is fifty years old as of last Friday. The official debut of the Beatles–official meaning this was their first release on a major label (Parlophone) and the start of a long and interesting relationship with EMI. Recorded a month previous (September 4th, fifteen takes), this song has some interesting background: the most obvious reason for recording was for the boys to get their first single out after being signed. They’d had a tryout at Abbey Road Studios with producer George Martin a few months previous (6 June), but this September session was the real thing. This was also the first recording session with their new drummer, Ringo Starr, after booting Pete Best in mid-August. And lastly, this was also the session where Martin insisted that they record a cover. Well…the Beatles had learned their chops doing covers, but they’d written numerous songs themselves by then, and weren’t about to budge.

Cover songs were actually more profitable, and more successful, back in the fifties and early sixties, it was a surefire way to get a hit, especially if you’re a band that isn’t too well known outside your hometown. And the track, “How Do You Do It”, isn’t that bad of a song, to be honest. But you can definitely tell that the boys really weren’t that into it…John’s vocal delivery is strong but uninspired, and the rest of the band don’t seem to want to put much energy into it. The track was quickly shelved, lesson learned. They focused the rest of their time and energy on the other two songs slated for that day.

Side A: Love Me Do
This track is definitely indicative of the songs John and Paul wrote from around the Quarrymen days of the late 50s to their Hamburg days (this one apparently dates back to about 1958 or 1959). It’s a playful riff on the “moon in June” rhyme scheme they knew so well–so much, they had it down to an artform. There’s nothing more obvious than the “I love you/always be true” couplet. It could be a song you’d hear anywhere on the radio at the time. But less noted is how regional the song is. It’s almost a country song, a working-class sound in a way, with its steady but unassuming beat and John’s harmonica–it’s a riff you’d hear someone play while walking the docks in Liverpool. Their hometown was considered the boonies back in the day, well north of metropolitan London, and this “Mersey Sound” (as the locals termed it) gave them a unique edge. Also different from most songs at the time is the shared vocal–after all, this wasn’t John and the Beatles or Paul and the Beatles, but The Beatles…a group, not a lead singer and his backing band. Only when the “someone to love” middle eight comes in does it waver between Paul alone and Paul and John together, as well as Paul’s solo “love me do…” when John jumps in on the harmonica again.

This first single version is nowhere near as polished as it really should have been, really. Musically, it’s as tight as they could get at the time, but considering this was their first real session for an actual release, nerves are definitely to blame for its shakiness. Martin was apparently not too impressed with Ringo’s drumming on the track and hired session musician Andy White to fill in, demoting Ringo down to tambourine. There’s also the fact that Paul’s voice is clearly not as strong in the first version–he warbles during the middle eight and his “love me do…” sounds far from perfect. The second version is much tighter both in the music and vocals, and Paul gives a much braver delivery. After the first edition of the single, this second version took its place and also made its way onto the debut album.

Side B: P.S. I Love You

Honestly, you’d think this was a track from The Music Man or one of those musicals of the time that they were so fond of covering (such as “A Taste of Honey”, which they would soon record for their first album), given the complex melody of this song, but no…it’s one of Paul’s, and one he wrote during one of their stints in Hamburg. It’s an interestingly simple melody that utilizes some pretty complex chord changes. It’s also an epistolary song, another easy and winning songwriting trick at the time. Sort of inspired by the “letter” songs about a woman waiting at home, hoping her man would return, Paul writes this as himself being the man on the road, promising he’ll be home when he can. But it’s the amazing melody he wrote that elevates it from a simple love song to a gorgeous one. There’s no slow intro here…it starts off with the letter, pen already in hand, already writing. It’s a fast love song, played uptempo with a cha-cha beat, which makes the track feel romantic and hopeful, rather than wistful. Lastly, Paul does something unconventional by singing both the call and response parts of the last round of the main verse: “As I write this letter (Oh!)/Send my love to you (You know I want you to)/Remember that I’ll always (Yeah!)/Be in love with you…” There’s so much going on in this little song that in retrospect, it’s amazing that this was the b-side to their first single. It’s a lovely track and one of my favorites of their early recordings.

All in all, it’s not a bad debut. It’s not a phenomenal single at any stretch, and perhaps it’s a bit reminiscent of every other poppy love song out there at the time, but it was unique enough for people to take notice. It only hit #17 on the British charts, but for the boys, just getting on the charts at all was enough to excite them and aim even higher.

[More on these songs when I review the Please Please Me album.]

Next up: “Please Please Me”/”Ask Me Why” single