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For other uses, see Please Please Me (disambiguation).

Please Please Me
Studio album by the Beatles
Released	22 March 1963 (1963-03-22)
Recorded	11 September 1962-20 February 1963
Studio	EMI, London
Genre	Merseybeat rock and roll pop
Length	31:59
Label	Parlophone
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles chronology
Please Please Me (1963) With the Beatles (1963)
Singles from Please Please Me
"Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You" Released: 5 October 1962 "Please Please Me" / "Ask Me Why" Released: 11 January 1963

Please Please Me is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two singles "Love Me Do", which reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, and "Please Please Me", which reached number one on the NME and Melody Maker charts. The album topped Record Retailer's LP chart for 30 weeks, an unprecedented achievement for a pop album at that time.

Aside from their already released singles, the Beatles recorded the majority of Please Please Me in one long recording session at EMI Studios on 11 February 1963, with Martin adding overdubs to "Misery" and "Baby It's You" nine days later. Of the album's 14 songs, eight were written by Lennon–McCartney (originally credited "McCartney–Lennon"). Rolling Stone magazine later cited these original compositions as early evidence of the Beatles' "[invention of] the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments". Please Please Me was voted 39th on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2012), and number 622 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

Background

On 9 May 1962, the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein met with George Martin, a record producer for Parlophone, which was a small subsidiary of EMI. Epstein played a 71⁄2 inch tape of the band’s Decca audition to Martin. “What I heard wasn’t that impressive”, Martin recalled later, “…but something there sounded quite interesting”. Martin wanted to bring the Beatles to the studio for an audition, but they were performing at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany at the time and would not be back for another 4 weeks, so one was scheduled for 6 June instead.

Produced by Martin and Ron Richards, with Norman Smith as engineer, the Beatles played four songs at the audition: “Bésame Mucho”, “Love Me Do”, “P.S. I Love You”, and “Ask Me Why”. Chris Neal, the tape operator, recalled that “Martin [took] a quick look at them and [went] down to the canteen to have a cup of tea”, only for Martin to be later called back after Norman Smith’s interest was piqued by “Love Me Do”. Smith, Richards, and Martin’s assessment was mixed; while they were lukewarm about the Beatles’ music, Martin liked their sense of humor.

• Signed to EMI.
• Ringo joins.

Recording

Initial work

• 4 September session.
• Dezo Hoffman photographing
• “How Do You Do It” and the Beatles’ resistance.
• Martin’s thoughts on Ringo’s drumming during the session.
• “How Do You Do It” scrapped for “Love Me Do” (possibly with note describing the deeper machinations involved”.
• 11 September session.
• Andy White as drummer.
• Album versions of “Love Me Do” and “P.S I Love You” recorded.
• “Please Please Me” rehearsed, Martin suggests to speed it up.
• First single.
• 26 November session.
• “Please Please Me” and “Ask Me Why” recorded.
• Second single released.

Main session

Nationwide interest in the Beatles had been piqued with the success of their second UK single "Please Please Me". Parlophone, hoping to take advantage of this, decided to follow the single with an album. Consequently, their record producer, George Martin, urgently needed ten more tracks if he was to include the four sides ("Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You" and "Please Please Me" / "Ask Me Why") of the group's first two singles. According to Martin, “I asked them what they had which we could record quickly, and the answer was their stage act," (the norm for British 12" vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side whereas American albums usually had five or six songs per side). Martin considered recording live at The Cavern Club, but on deciding the venue was unsuitable for live recording purposes, a session was booked at EMI Studios in London. Martin said, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire – a broadcast, more or less." Initially, a morning and afternoon session only were booked; the evening session was added later.

At 10:00 am on 11 February 1963, the Beatles began working their way through their live set, and finished at 10:45 pm – less than 13 hours later – capturing an authentic representation of the band's Cavern Club-era sound. The day ended with a cover of "Twist and Shout", which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon's voice for the day. This performance, caught on the first take, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get." Mark Lewisohn later wrote: "There can scarcely have been 585 more productive minutes in the history of recorded music". Paul McCartney double-tracked his vocal on "A Taste of Honey" and Lennon added harmonica onto "There's a Place" during these sessions. On 20 February, Martin overdubbed piano on "Misery" and celesta on "Baby It's You", during which the Beatles were not present.

The song "Hold Me Tight" was also recorded during the sessions, but proved "surplus to requirements" and was not included on the album. It was later re-recorded and released on With the Beatles.

The day's session cost approximately £400 (equivalent to £10,600 in 2023). Martin said: "There wasn't a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000." This budget had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster. Individually, under a contract with the Musicians' Union, each Beatle collected a £7 10s (£7.50 or £198 in 2023) session fee for each three-hour session (10:00 am – 1:00 pm / 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm / 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm).

Before deciding on the title Please Please Me, Martin considered calling the album Off the Beatle Track, a title he would later use for his own orchestral album of Beatles songs. The album was recorded on a two-track BTR tape machine with most of the instruments on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing Martin to better balance the two in the final mono mix. A stereo mix was also made with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, as well as an added layer of reverb to better blend the two tracks together. The two tracks generally divided the instrumental track from the vocals, with the exception of "Boys", in which the close proximity of Ringo's drums to his vocal microphone placed the drums (but not the other instruments) on the vocal channel.

Two tracks, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", were only mixed for mono for the single's release and no stereo versions were ever made, so, for the stereo version of the album, during the mixing sessions on 25 February 1963, Martin created "mock stereo" versions by emphasising low frequencies on one side and high frequencies on the other. These versions would continue to be made available via compilation albums (such as 1962–1966), and on Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs' half-speed mastered vinyl releases (catalogue number MFSL-1-101) sourced from EMI's original stereo master tapes, until the Beatles' catalogue was standardised and issued on compact disc in 1987, starting with the first four UK albums being issued in their mono versions. However, when Capitol Records issued the second volume of American Beatles albums on compact disc (The Capitol Albums, Volume 2) in 2006, the same mock stereo versions that appeared on The Early Beatles were included. When the entire catalogue was remastered for release in 2009, the mono mixes were chosen for inclusion on the stereo reissues, and appear on all releases since, including newer compilations and variations.

Songs

Side one

“I Saw Her Standing There”

Originally titled “Seventeen”, "I Saw Her Standing There" was written in late October 1962. For example McCartney originally wrote "She was just seventeen/she’d never been a beauty queen", and Lennon, disliking the rhyme, added inuendo by changing the couplet to "You know what I mean". McCartney admits to lifting his bass line directly from a Chuck Berry number entitled "I’m Talking About You" (1961). The intro count in was left on the final mix as it was felt to be unusually spirited, and captured the moment.

• Considered by Carr & Tyler's The Beatles: An Illustrated Record as only the third all-British rock classic up to that time, the two previous having been Cliff Richard's "Move It" and Johnny Kidd's "Shakin' All Over”

“Misery”

In February 1963, The Beatles were fifth on the bill for the Helen Shapiro tour. Shapiro had first achieved chart success in 1961 at the age of fourteen and Lennon and McCartney saw an opportunity to have her record one of their songs. "Misery" was written especially for her and was started backstage before their performance at the Kings Hall, Stoke-on-Trent on 26 January and later completed at McCartney’s Forthlin Road home . When Shapiro’s A & R manager, Norrie Paramor, heard it however, he turned it down. But Kenny Lynch who was on the same tour, did record it and became the first artist to cover a Lennon and McCartney composition (though he failed to chart with it). The Beatles recorded it themselves as a filler for the Please Please Me album, and gave it a droll-deadpan treatment. With its mournful opening lyric, it is a self-pitying lament.

“Anna (Go To Him”

“Anna (Go to Him)” is a song written and originally performed by Arthur Alexander and was released by him on the Dot label on the 17 September 1962. A personal favourite of John Lennon’s, it became part of The Beatles' early repertoire and was consequently recorded by them when George Martin urgently needed material for their first album. Less soulful than the original, Lennon’s tortured vocal (though effective) possibly lacks sensitivity. McCartney and Harrison provide backing vocals for what is virtually a live performance. Harrison competently picks out the distinctive guitar phrase (played on a piano for the original) and Ringo Starr ably handles the technically complex drum pattern copied from Alexander's version (in fact, he appears to play exactly the same pattern later on "All I've Got To Do" on With The Beatles). The Beatles were running late in the studio by this time, because immediately prior to attempting "Anna" they had spent a frustrating thirteen unsuccessful takes on "Hold Me Tight" which they then aborted (re-recorded on 12 September 1963 for the With The Beatles album). Recorded for two BBC Pop Go The Beatles, "Anna (Go To Him)" was also issued on the EP Souvenir of Their Visit: The Beatles in America.

“Chains”

“Chains” was a much covered song by Liverpool groups during 1962. It was composed by the Brill Building husband and wife song writing team, Gerry Goffin and Carole King and was a minor hit for Little Eva’s backing singers, The Cookies. As George Harrison’s first of two main vocal offerings on the Please Please Me album, it features the early Beatles trademark harmonica intro with tight harmonies provided by Lennon and McCartney. The Beatles were to later play it live on the BBC radio shows “Side By Side”, “Here We Go” and “Pop Go The Beatles”.

“Boys”

“Boys” was composed by Luthor Dixon and Wes Farrell and originally recorded by The Shirelles as the B-side to "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and was released by them in November 1960. This had always been The Beatles “drummer” song during their Cavern days, the drummer then though being Pete Best. Coincidently, Ringo Starr also sang this for his solo spot with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (Cilla Black would sometimes join him on stage, both sharing the same microphone). Recorded in a single take for the Please Please Me album.

“Ask Me Why”

"Ask Me Why" was mainly a John Lennon composition and was written in early 1962. It formed part of their live act and was one of the songs performed at their Parlophone audition in Abbey Road's studio three on Wednesday 6 June. Complex in structure, it strives to emulate the style of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles . Some early Beatles compositions had slightly unorthodox endings (as a live performing band, all their songs needed definite endings. Later, when they began recording their material they then had the option of fading out a song [1]) and "Ask Me Why", written and performed in a major key throughout, switches to a minor key for its last unresolved chord, leaving it seemingly hanging in mid air. Recorded on Monday 26 November 1962, it was destined to become the B-side of the "Please Please Me" single. Also recorded on this day, and also a contender for their second (UK) B-side was another early Lennon and McCartney song entitled "Tip of My Tongue". However, George Martin felt that this still needed some work and it was eventually given to Tommy Quickly to record.

“Please Please Me”

The Beatles had secured a minor debut success with "Love Me Do" but had hardly set the world alight. In fact, outside of Liverpool and Hamburg, The Beatles were still virtually unknown. Nevertheless, they had earned the right to a second single. "Please Please Me" has a chequered history. Written originally by John Lennon, it was conceived as a slow tempo bluesy song in the Roy Orbison vein. Vocally sparse, it did not contain harmonies or responses, nor did it have the scaled intro. George Martin first heard it at the "Love Me Do" re-make session on 11 September and in his opinion it “badly needed pepping up” and was set aside. By the time it was brought back into the studio on Monday, 26 November 1962, it was almost unrecognisable as the same tune. Played much faster, and with much more self belief than any previous recordings they had made, it took eighteen takes including the harmonica superimpositions, to tape what George Martin immediately predicted would be their first number one. Lennon’s distinctive echoed harmonica launches the song before a powerful two part vocal is delivered with McCartney holding a high note while Lennon cascades down through the scale. A short pause allows Harrison a guitar break into the call and response segment that then has three Beatles harmonising as it builds to a climax in the chorus. Ringo Starr asserts himself with fine rock and roll style drumming (exorcising any lingering doubts from the "Love Me Do" sessions regarding his ability) and the whole effect, especially when considering the lyric, is of sexual urgency. Where "Love Me Do" was arguably parochial, relying to a very large extent on their existing home fans for support, "Please Please Me" was groundbreaking. Lennon is quoted as saying that The Beatles took everything one step at a time, first Liverpool, then Britain, then America and the world. This song would break The Beatles in the U.K.

Side two

“Love Me Do”

"Love Me Do" was recorded as The Beatles' first single. On Tuesday 4 September 1962 Brian Epstein paid for the group to fly down from Liverpool arriving at Abbey Road Studios early afternoon where they set up their equipment in studio three and began rehearsing "Please Please Me," "Love Me Do," and a song by Mitch Murray and Barry Mason called "How Do You Do It" (originally written for Adam Faith). George Martin had decided to sign The Beatles on the strength of their personalities, as their song writing talent was yet to be recognised. It was felt that unless they could write something as good as "How Do You Do It," then the Tin Pan Alley route, which was the norm then anyway, would be taken. So during the course of an evening session (7.00-10.00 in studio two) they recorded "How Do You Do It" and "Love Me Do". "Please Please Me" was at this stage quite different to its eventual treatment and was dropped by Martin (which was a dissapointment for the group, as they had hoped it to be the B-side to  "Love Me Do"). George Martin then took a momentous decision when he chose "Love Me Do" as the single. "How Do You Do It" was clearly number one material as Gerry and the Pacemakers were to later prove, and was far more commercial sounding at the time than "Love Me Do," but something made Martin go for their own composition. The song definitely had an effect on the Abbey Road staff on first hearing. Norman (Hurricane Smith) Smith was overseeing the 6 June audition when he first heard it, and sent for George Martin who took over the rest of the session.

It was on the 4 September session when Martin suggested using a harmonica, presumably replacing a guitar phrase. John Lennon owned a chromatic harmonica that his Uncle George (late husband of Aunt Mimi) had given to him and had taught himself to play, and so this was used. It was to become an important element of The Beatles early sound, but prior to becoming recording artists (and subsequently for that matter) The Beatles themselves had not particularly featured harmonica in their live act. It seems credit then ought to be given to George Martin for making it such an integral part of their early records being as it was his idea to introduce it into "Love Me Do" which then led to it being used on "Please Please Me" and "From Me To You". Frank Ifield (a popular yodelling UK male vocalist during the early sixties) had recently had his first number one hit with "I Remember You" in July 1962, which featured a distinctive harmonica intro as did America's Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby" which had been a hit in Britain back in March, and this possibly may have influenced Martin.

However, it was decided that as it was going to be their first single it was important to get things absolutely right, and therefore would have to be re-recorded. Martin was not happy with Starr’s drum sound, and in those days it was not unusual to hire session drummers to fix this sort of problem. (Producers then were used to hearing the bass drum “lock in” with the bass guitar as opposed to the much looser R & B feel that was emerging, so professional show band drummers were often used for recordings. George Martin has said that he never intended to slight either Best or Starr in this respect). As a result Ron Richards was in charge for the 11 September re-record and booked Andy White, whom he had used regularly in the past. "P.S. I Love You" was recorded first. This was initially a contender for the A-side, but there was another song with the same title (by Peggy Lee) which ruled it out. On this Ringo Starr was asked to play the maracas. "Love Me Do" was then recorded with Andy White playing drums, and Ringo Starr on tambourine. This difference has become fundamental in telling the two versions apart. First pressings of the single have Starr on drums minus tambourine: subsequent pressings are the Andy White recording with Starr on tambourine.

“P.S I Love You”

There are only two songs that Lennon and McCartney wholly own: "Love Me Do" and "P.S I Love You". This is because until Dick James had set up their own publishing company Northern Songs, EMI had to place The Beatles first two recordings with their own in house publishers Ardmore and Beechwood. Later, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were able to buy back ownership of these two titles which have always remained separate from the group’s main catalogue of material. Written in 1961 while McCartney was in Hamburg, "P.S. I Love You" was a “letter” song presumably dedicated to his then-girlfriend, Dot Rhone. With a fairly pleasant sounding melody, the verse could be considered typical McCartney. Curiously, the song's title does not appear in what one assumes is the chorus. Also, the young Lennon and McCartney would occasionally introduce jazz chords (probably McCartney's influence) into some of their very early compositions that might, in retrospect, be considered surplus to requirements, as could be the case here in using C sharp Diminished (this tendency soon stopped). It was recorded in ten takes on 11 September 1962 at Abbey Road as the B-side to "Love Me Do". Without Starr on drums (session drummer Andy White was used instead, and gives the song a lightweight Cha Cha treatment) it misses the distinctive heavy drum beat that characterised the early Beatles. On its twentieth anniversary, Parlophone re-issued "P.S. I Love You" as a picture disc, and shortly afterwards as a 12-inch disc.

“Baby It’s You”

Written by Mack David, Burt Bacharach and Barney Williams, “Baby It’s You” was another Shirelles number, proving The Beatles did not allow gender to be an obstacle when they believed a song to be good, and Lennon’s vocal interpretation gives it weight that the original perhaps lacks. Part of their stage act until late 1963, "Baby It’s You" was also performed live on BBC’s "Pop Go The Beatles” and “Side By Side”.

“Do You Want To Know A Secret”

"Do You Want To Know A Secret" was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and was based on an original idea of Lennon’s around “Wishing Well”, a tune from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which his mother, Julia, would sing to him as a child. Vocally unchallenging, it was given to George Harrison to sing as his second solo spot on the Please Please Me album (it would be a little while before Harrison would begin to confidently submit his own material). "Do You Want To Know A Secret" was also recorded by NEMS Enterprises fellow stablemate's Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas who took it to the number two slot in May 1963.

“A Taste Of Honey”

A composition by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow from the play “A Taste Of Honey” (1960) it was a favourite of Paul McCartney and included in The Beatles repertoire in 1962. Shelagh Dalaney’s script was filmed in 1961 by Tony Richardson and starred Liverpool actress Rita Tushingham. As part of the pioneering wave of “gritty” northern Britain working class cinema of the period, the genre seemed to fit the Beatles image of forthrightness as well as reflecting the social changes that were taking place. The Beatles were to feature "A Taste Of Honey" on many BBC radio broadcasts, including “Here We Go”, “Side By Side”, and “Easy Beat”.

“There’s a Place”

"There's a Place" was probably inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s "Somewhere" from West Side Story. McCartney admits to owning the album of the soundtrack at the time and concedes that it would have been an influence. The “place” in question was "the mind" making its subject matter slightly more cerebral than the kissing and cuddling songs of the period. Another Forthlin Road composition, it was part of the group's stage repertoire in 1963. With its major seventh harmonica intro (later reprised) and searing two part vocal harmonies in fifths (Lennon low, McCartney high) it stands out as an early Beatles milestone track.

“Twist And Shout”

Recorded at around ten in the evening, "Twist And Shout" was the final song attempted on what had already been a gruelling marathon recording session. George Martin gambled on John Lennon having just enough left in his voice to be able to manage it. Composed by Bert Berns (using his pseudonym Bert Russell and Phil Medley) it had been a 1962 American hit for the Isley Brothers. The Beatles version was caught in a single first take (although a second take was made) and is generally regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance. The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the official start of “Beatlemania”. Also played on their Ed Sullivan Show appearance in February 1964.

Artwork and packaging

George Martin was an honorary fellow of the Zoological Society of London, which owns London Zoo. Martin thought that it might be good publicity for the zoo to have the Beatles pose outside the insect house for the album cover. However, the society turned down Martin's request, and instead, Angus McBean was asked to take the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI's London headquarters in Manchester Square. Martin was to write later: "We rang up the legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean, and bingo, he came round and did it there and then. It was done in an almighty rush, like the music. Thereafter, though, the Beatles' own creativity came bursting to the fore." In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although the 1969 photograph was originally intended for the then-planned Get Back album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as Let It Be. Instead, the 1969 photograph, along with an unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot, was used in 1973 for the Beatles' retrospective albums 1962–1966 and 1967–1970. Another unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot was used for The Beatles (No. 1) (EP released 1 November 1963).

The Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow wrote extensive sleeve notes, which included a brief mention of their early 1960s rivals the Shadows.

Release

EMI's Parlophone label released Please Please Me in the UK on 22 March 1963. As was typical for the time, the LP was initially released only in mono, with a stereo release following on 26 April. Singles remained the dominant format for pop music, made up mostly of teenage-buyers, while more expensive LPs were typically reserved for genres like classical music and jazz, whose listeners could more easily afford the format. In retrospect, author Barry Miles suggests the album's cover design, promising "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do" and "12 Other Songs", indicated EMI's desire to promote the album towards "die-hard supporters" excited by the two earlier singles.

In the 30 March 1963 issue of Record Mirror, Norman Jopling reviewed the album in depth, providing track-by-track reviews for the ten songs that had not been previously released. He concludes that, for a debut, the LP is "surprisingly good and up to standard", and contained many tracks that could have be released as singles, such as "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Misery". Jopling further highlighted the LP's packaging, writing that its cover image and sleeve notes provided extra value. Author Jonathan Gould suggests in retrospect that the album's packaging majorly contributed to its success, promising fans "glossy cover art" and a greater companion to the music than the plain paper packaging then offered by singles.

In the United States, most of the songs on Please Please Me were first issued on Vee-Jay Records' Introducing... The Beatles in 1964, and subsequently on Capitol Records' The Early Beatles in 1965. Please Please Me was not released in the US until the Beatles' catalogue was standardised for the 1987 CD.

In Canada, the majority of the album's songs were included upon the Canadian-exclusive release Twist and Shout, which featured "From Me to You" and "She Loves You" in place of "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Misery".

In New Zealand, the album first appeared only in mono on the black Parlophone label. The following year (1964) EMI (NZ) changed from black to a blue Parlophone label and the album was again available only in mono. Due to constant demand, it was finally made available in stereo, first through the World Record Club on their Young World label in both mono and stereo, and finally on the blue Parlophone label.

The album was released on CD on 26 February 1987, in mono, as were their three subsequent albums, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale. It was not released on vinyl or tape in the US until five months later when it was issued for the first time in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987.

Please Please Me was remastered and re-released on CD in stereo, along with all the other original UK studio albums, on 9 September 2009. The 2009 remasters replaced the 1987 remasters. A remastered mono CD was also available as part of The Beatles in Mono box set.

Retrospective assessment and legacy

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A
Consequence of Sound	A–
The Daily Telegraph
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound
Paste	92/100
Pitchfork	9.5/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Sputnikmusic	4/5

Please Please Me hit the top of the UK album charts in May 1963 and remained there for 30 weeks before being replaced by With the Beatles. This was surprising because the UK album charts at the time tended to be dominated by film soundtracks and easy listening vocalists. Please Please Me was the first non-soundtrack album to spend more than one year consecutively inside the top ten of what became the Official UK Albums Chart (with 62 weeks). This record run of consecutive weeks in the top ten for a debut album stood until April 2013, when Emeli Sandé's Our Version of Events achieved a 63rd consecutive week.

In a 1987 review coinciding with the album's CD reissue, Rolling Stone magazine's Steve Pond recommended Please Please Me "for the Beatles' unfettered joy at making music". In 2012, Please Please Me was voted 39th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It was ranked first among the Beatles' early albums, and sixth of all of the Beatles' albums, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, Rubber Soul, The Beatles (also known as "The White Album") and Abbey Road ranked higher. English writer Colin Larkin listed Please Please Me at number 622 in the third edition of his book All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

Rolling Stone also placed two songs from the album on its 2004 edition of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time": "I Saw Her Standing There" at number 140, and "Please Please Me" at number 186. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh", the covers are "impressive" and the originals "astonishing".

Several publications, including NME, have named Please Please Me one of the best debut albums of all time, with Rolling Stone and Uncut both ranking it number 17. In 2015, Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it the Beatles' eighth best album and included it in their list of the top 100 rock albums from the 1960s. Based on Please Please Me's appearances in professional rankings and listings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists it as the 5th most acclaimed album of 1963, the 80th most acclaimed album of the 1960s and the 472nd most acclaimed album in history.

50th anniversary

In 2013, the album's 50th anniversary was celebrated by modern artists re-recording the album in just one day, as the Beatles recorded it 50 years earlier. Stereophonics recorded a cover of the album's opening track, "I Saw Her Standing There". It and the other recordings were broadcast on BBC Radio 2, and a documentary about the re-recording of the Beatles' debut album was broadcast on BBC Television.

Track listing

All songs written by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted. Track lengths per Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin and lead vocals per Ian MacDonald.

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"I Saw Her Standing There"	McCartney	2:52
2.	"Misery"	Lennon and McCartney	1:47
3.	"Anna (Go to Him)" (Arthur Alexander)	Lennon	2:54
4.	"Chains" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)	Harrison	2:23
5.	"Boys" (Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell)	Starr	2:24
6.	"Ask Me Why"	Lennon	2:24
7.	"Please Please Me"	Lennon and McCartney	2:00
Total length:			16:44

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Love Me Do"	McCartney and Lennon	2:19
2.	"P.S. I Love You"	McCartney	2:02
3.	"Baby It's You" (Mack David, Barney Williams, Burt Bacharach)	Lennon	2:35
4.	"Do You Want to Know a Secret"	Harrison	1:56
5.	"A Taste of Honey" (Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow)	McCartney	2:01
6.	"There's a Place"	Lennon and McCartney	1:49
7.	"Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell)	Lennon	2:33
Total length:			15:15

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn:

The Beatles

• John Lennon – lead, harmony and background vocals; rhythm and acoustic guitars; harmonica ("Chains", "Please Please Me", "Love Me Do", "There's a Place"), handclaps
• Paul McCartney – lead, harmony and background vocals; bass guitar, handclaps
• George Harrison – harmony and background vocals; lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars; handclaps; lead vocals ("Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret")
• Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine ("Love Me Do"), maracas ("P.S. I Love You"), handclaps; lead vocals ("Boys")

Additional musicians and production

• Stuart Eltham – balance engineer (20 February 1963)
• George Martin – producer, mixer; piano ("Misery"), celesta ("Baby It's You")
• Norman Smith – balance engineer, mixer
• Andy White – drums ("Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You")

Charts

Weekly charts

Original release

Chart (1963–64)	Peak position
UK (Melody Maker)	1
UK (New Musical Express)	1
UK (Record Mirror)	1
UK (Record Retailer)	1
West Germany (Musikmarkt)	4

1987 reissue

Chart	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	24
UK Albums (OCC)	32
US Billboard Top Compact Disks	2

2009 reissue

Chart	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	75
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	76
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	78
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	89
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)	25
Italian Albums (FIMI)	64
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	32
Portuguese Albums (AFP)	29
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	53
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)	27
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	74

2010 iTunes release

Chart	Peak position
US Billboard 200	155

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Please Please Me

Chart (1963)	Ranking
UK Record Retailer	2
Chart (1964)	Ranking
UK Record Retailer	6

Certifications and sales

Sales certifications for Please Please Me

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF)	Platinum	60,000^
Australia (ARIA)	Gold	35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)	Gold	50,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)	Platinum	20,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ) Reissue	Gold	7,500^
United Kingdom Original release	—	500,000
United Kingdom (BPI) sales since 2009	Platinum	300,000‡
United States (RIAA)	Platinum	1,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

^† BPI certification awarded only for sales since 1994.

References

Sources

• Castleman, Harry; Podrazik, Walter J. (1976). All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography, 1961–1975. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-25680-8.
• Gould, Jonathan (2007). Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-307-35338-2.
• Calkin, Graham. "Please Please Me". Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
• Guesdon, Jean-Michel; Margotin, Philippe (2013). All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57912-952-1.
• Harry, Bill (1992). The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 0-86369-681-3.
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-600-63561-1.
• Lewisohn, Mark (2000) [1992]. The Complete Beatles Chronicle: The Only Definitive Guide to the Beatles' Entire Career. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-60033-5.
• Lewisohn, Mark (2013). The Beatles: All These Years Volume 1: Tune In. New York: Crown Archetype. ISBN 978-1-4000-8305-3.
• MacDonald, Ian (2007). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Third ed.). Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-55652-733-3.
• Martin, George; Pearson, William (1994). With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-54783-2.
• Miles, Barry (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-8308-3.
• Norman, Philip (1993). Shout!. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-017410-9.
• Penman, Ross (2009). The Beatles in New Zealand ... a discography. ISBN 978-0-473-15155-3.
• Russell, Jeff P. (2006). The Beatles Complete Discography. Universe. ISBN 978-0-789-31373-7.
• Salewicz, Chris (1986). McCartney – The Biography. London: Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0-356-12454-1.
• Womack, Kenneth, ed. (2009). "Beatles Discography, 1962–1970". The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles. Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–293. ISBN 978-0-521-68976-2.

External links

• Quotations related to Blueskiesdry/sandbox at Wikiquote
• Please Please Me, at the Beatles official website
• Please Please Me at Discogs (list of releases)
• Beatles Interview Database
• Recording data and notes on mono/stereo mixes and remixes