Wednesday 20 February 2013

PLEASE PLEASE ME / ASK ME WHY is released in the USA

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Beatles single in the USA: PLEASE PLEASE ME / ASK ME WHY.

Recent research claims that Vee-Jay Records even released it a bit earlier, on February 7 1963, but as always with this kind of "legends" it is difficult to find out where the truth lies.

Fact is that Capitol Records turned down the right to release this, as did Atlantic. Vee-Jay Records had a tradition of releasing "rejected" singles (they had a big hit with Frank Ifield's I Remember You, and according to Wikipedia Dick Biondi, a Chicago DJ had the honour of being the first one to play a Beatles song on American radio.

The single, catalog number 498, is very much sought after, since the first pressing contains a typographical error: The Beattles (with double "t".

About 7,310 copies were sold, making this a very rare collector's item.

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