The Beatles: The Story of Please, Please Me
The first chapter of the most inspiring and significant band’s story in the history of modern music.
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We can arguably state that the most inspiring and culturally significant saga in the history of modern music is centred around those four boys from Liverpool that in only ten years — excluding the following solo careers — were able to record powerful and ageless songs that still to this day continue to amaze different generations. But before we start retracing the story of the band that we have come to know and love as the Beatles, I feel the need to give some space to the man who got involuntarily famous as the king of the outcasts: Pete Best.
So, the Beatles story is based on a little humiliation, a cowardly action that in hindsight got us the most cheerful and friendly Beatle, and could perfectly be summed up with this fitting The Godfather’s quote: “Nothing personal, is just business”. But let’s see how it all turned up, shall we?
It was the end of 1962 when four young boys were stumbling their way up to success. Coming back to Liverpool after an exhausting number of concerts in Hamburg, the Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison — were starting to feel “tired and stuck” — as Lennon later revealed — and just wanted to “leave the city and find new virgin lands”. Their performances at the Cavern Club were starting to become more and more crowded, but neither those nor the small gigs at Peterborough opening for Frank Ifield were able to give that yesteryear feeling of satisfaction.
After signing for Parlophone Records to professionally record some tracks, following the release of “Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You” and “Please Please Me/Ask Me Why”, the Beatles came back from Hamburg to close the promotional tour. On their return, there was nothing left but recording sessions to delve into. Their intentions for the debut album were to reproduce the sound of a live concert and introduce themselves not only as performers, but also as songwriters, as requested by Paul, John and their manager Brian Epstein.
It was the beginning of a revolution: the very idea of record was about to change. On February 11th 1963, none of the bystanders in Abbey Road Studio 2, much less the forward-looking producer of Parlophone, George Martin, could even imagine that day would eventually make history. In less than 24 hours, the Beatles recorded all the tracks included in “Please Please Me”, except for the four singles already released, and even succeeded in not spending more than the provided budget of 400 pounds. Without even waiting for John Lennon to recover from a violent cold, Martin quickly took advantage of the eponymous single’s success, urging John to dose up on candy sore throat and hot milk, and overcome the fatigue to record with Paul, George, and Ringo the album that would set forth the beginning of their career.
Eight of the fourteen tracks on Please Please Me were registered under “McCartney/Lennon” name: among these, the most impactful were “Please Please Me”, written by Lennon and arranged by Martin — who speeded up the rhythm and added the harmonica — McCartney’s “Love Me Do” and the energetic “I Saw Her Standing There”.
While the Beatlemania continued to rise up and after just a few months since the release of “Please Please Me”, on November 22nd 1963 “With The Beatles” came out.
But this is another story. For now, let’s play Please, Please Me back.
