SONGBOOK
PLEASE PLEASE ME/ASK ME WHY
A-side:
Please Please Me (Lennon-McCartney)
B-side:
Ask Me Why (Lennon-McCartney)
Released: 11 January 1963 (Parlophone)
Highest chart position: 1
Weeks in chart: 18
FAB FACT
‘Please Please Me’ was influenced by Bing Crosby’s ‘Please’, the emotional ballads of Roy Orbison, and the harmonies of The Everly Brothers. When it was first performed to George Martin it was sung at a slower tempo. He suggested they speed things up and add the harmonica that had worked so well in ‘Love Me Do’.
FAB FACT
After the success of ‘Love Me Do’ the nerves had gone. At the recording session on 26 November 1962, The Beatles rearranged the song with Martin’s suggestions, and once it was in the can, he remarked, ‘Congratulations, boys, you’ve just recorded your first number one.’
FAB FACT
Again at Martin’s suggestion, Epstein met up with music publisher Dick James. On hearing ‘Please Please Me’, James immediately got on the phone to the producer of the ITV show Thank Your Lucky Stars, and played the song to him over the phone. The band were booked, and appeared on 19 January, soon after the single’s release. After the success of ‘Please Please Me’ James and Brian Epstein agreed to establish Northern Songs, the company that would oversee The Beatles’ music publishing.