With The Beatles and Please Please Me top the Charts

UK Official Album Charts: 28 December 1963

1. WITH THE BEATLES - BEATLES (1)
2. PLEASE PLEASE ME - BEATLES (2)
3. WEST SIDE STORY - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (4)
4. BORN FREE - FRANK IFIELD (8)
5. HOW DO YOU LIKE IT - GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS (3)
6. FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS - FREDDIE AND THE DREAMERS (14)
7. ON TOUR WITH THE GEORGE MITCHELL MINSTRELS - GEORGE MITCHELL MINSTRELS (12)
8. MEET THE SEARCHERS - SEARCHERS (7)
9. THE SHADOWS' GREATEST HITS - SHADOWS (13)
10.KENNY BALL'S GOLDEN HITS - KENNY BALL (9)

Please Please Me reaches number 1 in the UK Albums Chart

Yes! Exaclty 50 years ago the first Beatles LP reached the coveted top spot in the official Album charts in the UK

UK OFFICIAL ALBUM CHART of 11 May 1963

1. Please Please Me - The Beatles (2)
2.Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1)

3. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly (2)
4. I'll Remember You - Frank Ifield (4)
 5. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (6)
6. Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley (7)
7. All Star Festival - Various Artists (5) 
8. All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee (10)

9. Hats of to Del Shannon - Del Shannon (new)
10. South Pacific  - Original Soundtrack (8)

Please Please Me reaches number 2 in the UK Album Charts

UK OFFICIAL ALBUM CHART of 27 April 1963

1. Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1)
2. Please Please Me - The Beatles (3)
3. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly (2)
4. Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley (5)
5. I'll Remember You - Frank Ifield (7)
6. Sinatra-Basie -Frank Sinatra and Count Basie (2)
7. All Star Festival - Various Artists (8) 
8. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (4)

9. Out of the Shadows - Shadows (7)
10. South Pacific  - Original Soundtrack (11)

Please Please Me stalls at 3 in the UK Album Chart

UK OFFICIAL ALBUM CHART of 20 April 1963

1. Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1)
2. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly (9)
3. Please Please Me - The Beatles (8)
4. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (7)
5. Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley (3)
6. Sinatra-Basie -Frank Sinatra and Count Basie (2)
7. I'll Remember You - Frank Ifield (8)
8. All Star Festival - Various Artists (4)
9. Out of the Shadows - Shadows (7)
10. Richard Chamberlain Sings - Richard Chamberlain (11)

On 13 April 1963, Please Please Me continued its climb on the Official UK Album Charts

 OFFICIAL UK ALBUM CHARTS 13 APRIL 1963


1. Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1)
2. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly (9)
3. Please Please Me - The Beatles (8)
4. All Star Festival - Various Artists (6)
5. Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley (3)
6. Sinatra-Basie -Frank Sinatra and Count Basie (2)
7. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (5)
8. I'll Remember You - Frank Ifield (4)

9. Out of the Shadows - Shadows (7)

10. South Pacific - Original Soundtrack (10)

Please Please Me enters the UK Album Charts

On 6 April 1963, Please Please Me entered the Official UK Album Charts

 OFFICIAL UK ALBUM CHARTS 6 APRIL 1963


1. Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1)
2. Sinatra-Basie -Frank Sinatra and Count Basie (2)
3. Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley (3)
4. I'll Remember You - Frank Ifield (4)
5. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (5)
6. All Star Festival - Various Artists (6)
7. Out of the Shadows - Shadows (7)
8. Please Please Me - The Beatles (new)
9. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly (new)
10. South Pacific - Original Soundtrack (10)

The Beatles in Q

Q magazine is out today in the UK (a bit later in other countries) and it's FAB. Yes, it's chockerblock-full of pictures, stories, interviews and much much more about our favourite four likely lads from Liverpool.

The magazine puts special stress on the fact that Please Please Me was released 50 years ago, and talks to Paul McCartney about those 10 hours of magic during which The Beatles recorded almost every single track of the songs on the LP.

Amazon.com Celebrates 50 years Please Please Me

If you go to Amazon.co.uk today, you will be transported back to 1963.

They updated (or should that be "retrograded" their look and all the music and movies on the front page are reminiscent of the period when The Beatles released their first LP.

And the funny thing is that all the songs that were in the charts on 22 March 1963 are on sale for 10 pence.

Take a look as long as this nostalgic page is online.

Please Please Me is released

50 years ago to this date, The Beatles released their first LP.

BBC Radio 4 critic Mike Diver wrote a brilliant review of the album, which he released under a Creative Commons Licence. Enjoy!


While neither their best-selling nor most critically celebrated long-player (take your pick from Revolver, Abbey Road, the white album...), Please Please Me marks a vital moment in the career of The Beatles. Their debut album set in motion the wheels that would carry them to the very peak of public recognition, and subsequently into realms of sonic experimentation that would create a template for so much rock and pop music since.

Producer George Martin was, in Paul McCartney’s words, unsure of the band’s musical abilities when he invited them to Abbey Road to record songs they’d spent months perfecting live. In that environment they regularly shined, but studio experiences were still comparatively alien. What Martin recognised was a focus, a desire for more than their present lot. He listened beyond the music of the moment, hearing a future that these four young men would shape for themselves. The self-contained pop group was born, and quicker than either band or producer envisioned.

The recording of Please Please Me was fast, the band committing ten of these tracks to tape in just a single day – “a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire,” was how Martin summarised the sessions. Previously released single tracks and b sides completed the set. Featuring more originals than not, Please Please Me saw the McCartney-Lennon songwriting partnership blossom – from the title track to Love Me Do, There’s a Place to I Saw Her Standing There, the collaboration was incredibly productive, and would continue to bear fruit until the group’s Let It Be swan song of 1970.

The immediacy that these songs carry remains irresistible, and Please Please Me’s lengthy reign at the top of the UK albums chart proved the perfect response to Decca’s rebuttal that guitar groups were “on the way out” when the label turned down the opportunity to sign the band. Lennon’s vocal on the climactic Twist and Shout is perhaps the most wonderfully loose, ragged-edged element of the entire record, and the essentially ‘as live’ recording showcases a group with their feet still very much in the clubs and theatres, performance just preceding actual arrangement. Their way with composition is relatively simple; effective, but black and white nonetheless, playing exclusively to recognised strengths.

What followed made The Beatles the inspirational band they’re regarded as today. But the grandest oak begins as the tiniest acorn, and Please Please Me is just that: perfectly formed for what it is, and ready to split when promise is realised.

Written by Mike Diver: The full original review can be found on the BBC website.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you choose to use this review on your site please link back to this page.

John Lennon overdubs Thank You Girl

During the later Beatles years (especially when working on The White Album, Let it Be and Abbey Road, it was not rare for John Lennon to work on his own in the studio.

But in 1963 it was something of an exception. On 13 March 1963 John went to the Abbey Road Studios to conduct some harmonica overdubs on Thank You Girl, which would be the B-side of From Me To You.

John was suffering from a cold, and had therefore not appeared on stage in Bedford the previous night, but he felt better on Wednesday and met up with George Martin and Norman Smith to play his harmonica part. It took him 15 takes and George and Norman finished editing and mixing the song that day.

The other Beatles used the day to travel from Bedford to York for an evening session at the Rialto.

Remixing Please Please Me

On 11 February the Beatles recorded 10 of the 14 songs that would appear on their first LP Please Please Me, but work was far from over.

On Monday 25 February 1963 George Martin and Norman Smith spent the whole day remixing the songs:

-  Editing take 9 & 12 of "I Saw Her Standing There"
- Mono mixes of Anna (Go To Him), Boys, Chains, Misery, Do You Want To Know A Secret, There's A Place, I Saw Her Standing There, Twist and Shout, A Taste of Honey.
- Stero mixes of the same songs
- Editing take 16, 17 and 18 of "Please Please Me"
- Mono mixes of Ask Me Why, Misery, Baby It's You
- Stereo mixes of Ask Me Why, Please Please Me, Love Me Do, PS I Love You and Misery

Please Please me reaches nr. 1

50 years ago, the Beatles second single, Please Please Me, reached number one in the New Musical Express charts, the most recognized charts at that time. <p>
Even though some experts only recognize the Record Retailer chart as true benchmark to decide whether a song has reached number one, it was still a great feat by the band from Liverpool.

The Beatles in Doncaster, Yorkshire

The Beatles appeared on a live radio sesssion on Wednesday 20 February 1963, before driving on to Doncaster for an evening concert. The name of the BBC programme was Parade of the Pops and The Beatles performed Love Me Do and Please Please me.

At the same time George Martin was busy recording overdubs for two songs: piano parts for Misery and Baby it's You.

In the evening they performed at St James Swimming Baths (some kind of Victorian Turkish baths) in Doncaster

Baby It's You

The 10th song on Please Please Me was called Baby It's You and written by Mack David, Barney Williams and Burt Bacharach. Always a good question during a Beatles Quiz: what Burt Bacharach song did the Beatles record? :)

It was sung by John Lennon and also recorded by the Shirelles. Amazing how many songs of the Shirelles the Beatles recorded (or tried to in their style), maybe that's why some people referred to them as the "male Shirelles" at one time.

The song was part of The Beatles stage show from roughly 1961 till 1963, and can also be heard on many bootleg records and on the BBC radio shows.

P.S. I Love You

The second song on the B-side of Please Please Me was called P.S. I Love You, and written mostly by Paul McCartney.

It appeared for the first time on the B-side of the debut single of the Beatles, backed with Love Me Do. According to producer Ron Richards, Paul wanted this song to be the A-side, but Richards told the group that there was already another song with that title on an A-side, so he convinced them to take Love Me Do as their first A-side.

The song was written in Germany and session musician Andy White does the drumming (Ringo does the maracas!). No original master tape exists since it was common practice to erase the master tapes in 1962.

The Beatles appear on Thank Your Lucky Stars

Thank Your Lucky Star was a popular TV programme on ITV that ran from 1961 to 1966.

Popular bands could mime one or two songs, and the Beatles taped one song (Please Please Me) on 17 February 1963 for a scheduled broadcast on Saturday 23 February.

They were third in a 7-band line-up, with Billy Fury as the top act.

Love Me Do

Love Me Do is the Beatles' first single which reached nr. 17 in the NME charts.

It is also track 8 (first track on the B-Side) of Please Please Me.

The song is an early Lennon-McCartney composition, mainly written by Paul McCartney at the age of 16, somewhere in 1958-59. There exist many version of this songs, with different drummers: Pete Best, Andy White and Ringo Starr. How to tell the difference between the Andy White version and the one with Ringo Starr? Easy: if you hear a tambourine, it is Andy White on drums and Ringo banging the tambourine.

Please Please Me (Song)

Please Please Me was the second single by the Beatles and the one that started the rollercoaster-ride for them. It also appears on their first LP as track number 7 (last track of the A-side).

Depending on who you talk to, Please Please Me was (or was not) the Beatles first nr. 1 hit. On 22 February it reached number one on the singles chart of New Musical Express and on Melody Maker. But it only reached number two on the Record Retailer.

After they recorded the song, George Martin spoke the legendary words "Gentlemen, you've just made your first number one"

Ask Me Why

Ask Me Why was released as the B-side of The Beatles' second single Please Please Me, and appeared also as track nr. 6 on their first LP Please Please Me.

The song was mainly written by John Lennon in 1962. It was recorded twice, once on June 6, 1962 and another time on 26 November 1962. So far the first recording session has not yet surfaced on any bootleg albums, and it is feared the original takes have been lost or more likely have been deleted as was common practice in those days to make space for new recordings.

Boys

The fifth song on Please Please Me was given to Ringo Starr. Ringo always had at least one song on almost every album:

- Boys on Please Please Me
- I Wanna Be Your Men on With the Beatles
-  Honey Don't on Beatles for Sale
- Act Naturally on Help
- What Goes On on Rubber Soul
- Yellow Submarine on Revolver
- With a Little Help From My Friends on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Don't Pass Me by and Goodnight on The White Album
- Octopus's Garden on Abbey Road

Boys was written by Luther Dixon/Wes Farrell and part of the Beatles' live set since 1961. In the early days it was Pete Best who took the spotlights on this song.