(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the Please Please Me LP in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
February 11, 1963: Nine takes were recorded in a morning session, which took place from 10 am to 1 pm. During an afternoon session, three more takes were recorded. Handclap overdubs were added to Take 1.
February 25, 1963: Editing, mono and stereo mixing.
Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul: lead vocal, bass
John: harmony vocal, rhythm guitar
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
Paul: "I wrote it with John in the front parlour of my house in 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton. We sagged off school and wrote it on guitars and a little bit on the piano that I had there."
John: "That's Paul doing his usual good job of producing what George Martin used to call a 'potboiler.' I helped with a couple of the lyrics."
Other Information
- Paul's first opening lyrics of the song went, "Well, she was just seventeen/She'd never been a beauty queen." John suggested changing the beauty queen line to "and you know what I mean..."
- Paul had originally intended to give away "I Saw Her Standing There" to Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, but when Brian heard it, he didn't want Paul to give it away.
- The original working title of this song was "Seventeen."
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the Please Please Me LP in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
February 11, 1963
February 20, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: lead vocal, bass
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
George Martin: piano
John: "It was kind of a John song, more than a Paul song. But it was written together."
Other Information
- John and Paul had intended for this to be used by Helen Shapiro, but her manager turned it down (without even letting her hear it first).
- Paul stifles a laugh at about 1.22 in the song.
(Alexander)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the Please Please Me LP in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: February 11, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocal, bass
George: backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
Other Information
- This song was originally written and recorded by Arthur Alexander.
- At one point in the song, John attempted to toughen up Alexander's lyrics by leaving out the word "darling."
(Goffin/King)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the Please Please Me LP in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios
Dates: February 11, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
George: lead vocal, lead guitar
Paul: harmony vocal, bass
John: harmony vocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Ringo: drums
Other Information
- This song was originally recorded by a group called the Cookies in 1962.
(Dixon/Farrell)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the Please Please Me LP in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios
Dates: February 11, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
Ringo: lead vocal, drums
John: backing vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocal, bass
George: backing vocal, lead guitar
Other Information
- This was originally recorded by the Shirelles in 1961.
- You can hear Ringo's bass pedal squeaking throughout the song.
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: January 11, 1963, on the B-side of the "Please Please Me" single in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios
Dates: June 6 and November 26, 1962
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: harmony vocal, bass
George: harmony vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: January 11, 1963, as a single in the UK, backed with "Ask Me Why"
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
September 11, 1962: A slow "Roy Orbison inspired" version was recorded, but no one was that satisfied with it. George Martin said, "We haven't quite got 'Please Please Me' right, but it's too good a song to throw away. We'll leave it for another time."
November 26, 1962: A faster version was recorded. Harmonica was dubbed in later during the session. George Martin really liked this version. He recalled, "The whole session was a joy. At the end of it, I pressed the intercom button in the control room and said, 'Gentlemen, you've just made your first number one record'."
November 30, 1962: Mono mixing.
February 25, 1963: Editing and stereo mixing for the Please Please Me LP.
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Paul: harmony vocal, bass
George: harmony vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
John: "'Please Please Me' is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it?"
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: October 5, 1962, on the "Love Me Do" single in the UK
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios
Dates: June 6, September 4 and 11, 1962
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Paul: lead vocal, bass
George: harmony vocal, acoustic guitar
Ringo: drums
John: "It came to the charts in two days. And everybody thought it was a 'fiddle' because our manager's stores send in these record returns. Everybody down south thought, 'Aha! He's just fiddling the charts.' But he wasn't."
John: "Paul wrote the main structure of this when he was sixteen, or even earlier. I think I had something to do with the middle."
Paul: "In Hamburg we clicked. At the Cavern we clicked. But if you want to know when we knew we'd arrived, it was getting in the charts with 'Love Me Do.' That was the one. It gave us somewhere to go."
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: October 5, 1962, as the B-side of the "Love Me Do" single
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: June 6 and September 11, 1962
Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul: lead vocal, bass
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
George: lead guitar
Ringo: maracas
Andy White: drums
Paul: "A theme song based on a letter. It was pretty much mine. I don't think John had much of a hand in it. It's not based in reality, nor did I write it to my girlfriend from Hamburg, which some people think."
(David/Williams/Bacharach)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the UK LP Please Please Me
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: February 11 and 20, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocal, bass
George: backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
Other Information
- This was originally recorded by the Shirelles in 1962.
- The bass pedal squeaks again at the beginning of the song, just after "Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la."
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the UK LP Please Please Me
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: February 11, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
George: lead vocal, lead guitar
John: backing vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocal, bass
Ringo: drums
John: "I wrote it and gave it to George to sing. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him because it only had three notes, and he wasn't the best singer in the world. He has improved a lot since then, but in those days, his ability was very poor."
George: "'Do You Want to Know a Secret' was my song on the album. I didn't like the vocal on it. I didn't know how to sing."
Other Information
- John said this was based on a song from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, where she sang, "Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell? We are standing by a wishing well." John said his mother used to sing it to him when he was little.
(Scott/Marlow)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the UK LP Please Please Me
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: September 11, 1962
Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul: lead vocal, bass
John: harmony vocal, rhythm guitar
George: harmony vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
Other Information
- Whenever they played this live, John would change the chorus to "A waste of money..."
(Lennon/McCartney)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the UK LP Please Please Me
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: February 11, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Paul: lead vocal, bass
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
John: "'There's a Place' was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing."
(Medley/Russell)
First Released: March 22, 1963, on the UK LP Please Please Me
Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: February 11, 1963
Musicians and Instruments Played
John: lead vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocal, bass
George: backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
John: "The last song nearly killed me. My voice wasn't the same for a long time after. Every time I swallowed, it was like sandpaper. I was always bitterly ashamed of it because I could sing it better than that, but now it doesn't bother me. You can hear I'm just a frantic guy doing his best."
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