The Beatles - Please Please Me

"Please Please Me" is the second single released by The Beatles in the United Kingdom, and the first to be issued in the United States. It was also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single.

It was originally a John Lennon composition, although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by George Martin.

It is a common belief that "Please Please Me" was never a Number 1 single in Britain but on 22 February 1963 the song reached number one on the singles charts compiled by the New Musical Express (the most recognised chart at the time) and the Melody Maker where it was Number 1 for two weeks. It only reached number two on the Record Retailer chart, which subsequently evolved into the UK Singles Chart and is the most widely quoted today.

The single, as initially released with "Ask Me Why" on the B-side, failed to make much impact in the US, but when re-released there on 3 January 1964 (this time with "From Me to You" on the B-side) it reached number three in the US Hot 100.

The Beatles had accomplished a modest debut success with "Love Me Do", but outside of Liverpool and Hamburg they were still practically unknown. Part of the problem was that the group were committed to begin what was to be their final Hamburg season just as "Love Me Do" entered the British charts, and so were unable to actively promote it on their home soil.

Nonetheless, their producer, George Martin, felt it was a promising start and decided to go ahead with a second single.
Lennon first conceived "Please Please Me" as a bluesy, slow tempo song. Lennon recalled: "I remember the day I wrote it, I heard Roy Orbison doing "Only the Lonely", or something. And I was also always intrigued by the words to a Bing Crosby song that went, 'Please lend a little ear to my pleas'. The double use of the word 'please'. So it was a combination of Roy Orbison and Bing Crosby".

McCartney and Lennon initially share the vocals with McCartney holding a high note while Lennon drops down through the scale, a ploy they learned from the Everly Brothers UK hit song "Cathy's Clown" (April 1960).
It was one of the songs that comprised the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 of 4 April,1964 when The Beatles held the top five spots.

Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 184 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.