The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love

"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released by The Beatles on the A-side of their sixth British single, "Can't Buy Me Love"/"You Can't Do That".

When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney stated that "I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that 'Can't Buy Me Love' is about a prostitute, I draw the line." He went on to say: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want." Although he was to later comment: "It should have been 'Can Buy Me Love' " when reflecting on the perks that money and fame had brought him.

"Can't Buy Me Love" was recorded on 29 January 1964 at EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, where the Beatles were performing 18 days of concerts at the Olympia Theatre.

The Beatles established four records on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Can't Buy Me Love" at number one:

Until Billboard began using SoundScan for their charts, it had the biggest jump to number one: (number twenty-seven to number one; no other single had ever done this).

It gave the Beatles three consecutive number-one songs ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was replaced at number one by "She Loves You" which was in turn replaced by "Can't Buy Me Love"). The three songs spent a combined total of 14 consecutive weeks at #1.

When "Can't Buy Me Love" went to number one (4 April 1964), the entire top five of the Hot 100 was by the Beatles, the next positions being filled by "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me," respectively. No other act has held the top five spots simultaneously.

During its second week at number one (11 April 1964), the Beatles had fourteen songs on the Hot 100 at the same time.

Rolling Stone ranked "Can't Buy Me Love" at #289 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song spent five consecutive weeks at #1. The only Beatles songs to exceed that mark were "I Want To Hold Your Hand" at seven weeks and "Hey Jude" at nine weeks.

Can't Buy Me Love became the Beatles' fourth UK number-one single and their third single to sell over a million copies in the UK.

The song was also released in the following albums: A Hard Day's Night (both the American United Artists and British Parlophone versions); Big Hits From England And The U.S.A., a various artists compilation album from Capitol issued in 1964; the British-only LP release A Collection Of Beatles Oldies; the 1970 compilation Hey Jude (also known as The Beatles Again); the 1973 double disc collection 1962–1966 (the Red Album); the 1982 release Reel Music, which features songs from Beatles films; the 1982 compilation 20 Greatest Hits (both in England and America); and 1, released in November 2000.

The Beatles - There's a Place

"There's a Place" is a song composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and was first released as a track on The Beatles' British debut LP, Please Please Me. Lennon and McCartney share lead vocals with George Harrison providing backing vocals.

The title was inspired by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Somewhere" from West Side Story, which contained the line: "somewhere there's a place for us". McCartney owned the album of the soundtrack at the time of writing "There's a Place" and acknowledges its influence. The "place" in question was "the mind", making its subject matter slightly more cerebral than Britain's kissing and cuddling songs and America's surf music from that period. Lennon is quoted as saying: "'There's a Place' was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing." It says the usual Lennon things: 'In my mind there's no sorrow...' It's all in your mind."

Composed at McCartney's Forthlin Road home, 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. The song was recorded on 11 February 1963 in ten takes during the first of three sessions for Please Please Me.

The song was officially credited to "McCartney/Lennon", as were all other Lennon/McCartney compositions on the original UK release of Please Please Me.

The Beatles - Twist and Shout

"Twist and Shout" is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell. It was originally titled "Shake It Up, Baby" and recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers.

The song was covered by The Mamas & the Papas (in the style of a ballad) in 1967 on their album Deliver, and on a film soundtrack by Cliff Richard. It was also covered by The Tremeloes. The Who performed it throughout their career, most notably on Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 and 1982's Who's Last.

The Beatles released the song on their first UK album, Please Please Me, the recording of which on 11 February 1963 was their first album session and is notable for 11 songs recorded in a mere 10 hours. "Twist and Shout", with John Lennon on lead vocals, was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining.

Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. His coughing is audible on the album, as is the cold's effect on his voice. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance: a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper".

A second take was attempted, but Lennon had nothing left and it was abandoned.George Martin said, "I did try a second take ... but John's voice had gone."

The Beatles' cover was released on 2 March 1964 in the U.S. as a single, with "There's a Place" as its B-side,by Vee-Jay Records on the Tollie label. It reached No. 2 on 4 April 1964, during the week that the top five places on the chart were all Beatles singles. (In the Cashbox singles chart for the same week, "Twist and Shout" was No. 1.)

In the United States, "Twist and Shout" was the only million-selling Beatles single that was a cover record, and the only Beatles cover single to reach the Top 10 on a national record chart. The song failed to hit #1 because the Beatles had another song occupying the top spot, Can't Buy Me Love.

In the UK, "Twist and Shout" was released by Parlophone on an EP with three other tracks, "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "A Taste of Honey", and "There's a Place", from the Please Please Me album. Both the EP and album reached No. 1 (see Twist and Shout (EP)). In Canada, it became the title track to the second album of Beatles material to be issued by Capitol Records of Canada, on February 3, 1964.

It is 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 at The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania". They performed it on one of their Ed Sullivan Show appearances in February 1964.

The Beatles continued to play the song live until the end of their August 1965 tour of North America. Additionally, they recorded "Twist and Shout" on nine occasions for BBC television and radio broadcasts, the earliest of which was for the Talent Spot radio show on 27 November 1962.

The Beatles - All My Loving

"All My Loving" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), from the 1963 album With The Beatles. Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, it drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP.

The song was released as a single in Canada, where it became a number one hit. The Canadian single was imported into the US in enough quantities to peak at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964.

"All My Loving" was originally released in the UK on 22 November 1963 on With the Beatles.The first US release was on Meet the Beatles!, released 20 January 1964.The song was the title track of the All My Loving EP released in the UK on 7 February 1964.

"All My Loving" was the Beatles's opening number on their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964; the recording was included on Anthology 1. The group also performed "All My Loving" three times for BBC radio, once in 1963 and twice in 1964. The final version, which was recorded on 28 February 1964, was included on Live at the BBC.

The song was used twice in films by the group - it plays in the background at the end of the nightclub scene in A Hard Day's Night (though without the drum opening and the coda), while an instrumental version appears in the movie Magical Mystery Tour.

According to Alan Weiss, a TV producer who happened to be there, "All My Loving" was playing on the sound system at Roosevelt Hospital emergency room when Lennon was pronounced dead after being shot on 8 December 1980.

"All My Loving" has been praised by multiple critics. Ian MacDonald said, "The innocence of early Sixties British pop is perfectly distilled in the eloquent simplicity of this number" and described the song as helping McCartney be seen as more of an equal to Lennon.Richie Unterberger of Allmusic said it "was arguably the best LP-only track The Beatles did before 1964" and that if it was released as a single in America it would have been a huge hit.

The Beatles - Ain't She Sweet

"Ain't She Sweet" is a song composed by Milton Ager (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics) and published in 1927 by Edwin H. Morris & Co., Inc./Warner Bros., Inc. It became popular in the first half of the twentieth century, one of the hit songs that typified the Roaring Twenties. Like "Happy Days Are Here Again" (1929), it became a Tin Pan Alley standard. Both Ager and Yellen were elected to membership in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

"Ain't She Sweet" was also performed by The Beatles with John Lennon on lead vocals. It was recorded on June 23, 1961 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg, Germany with Pete Best on drums, and produced by Bert Kaempfert, released in 1964, May 29, and included on the Anthology 1 album in 1995.

A different rendition, recorded during a jam session in 1969 with Ringo Starr on drums, was released on the Beatles' Anthology 3 - it is the only song which appears on two of the Anthology records. The song was also included in the John Lennon Anthology box set.

The Beatles & Tony Sheridan - Nobody's Child

"Nobody's Child" is a song written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree. First recorded by Hank Snow in 1949, it was covered by Tony Sheridan and The Beatles, recorded at a time when the Beatles were performing in Hamburg, Germany in 1961.

George Harrison played lead guitar on this version in 1961. Years later, in 1990, he played on another version performed by his then super-group band the Traveling Wilburys.

The Beatles - Roll Over Beethoven

"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit single by Chuck Berry originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace classical music.
The song has been covered by many other artists and Rolling Stone ranked it #97 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

According to Rolling Stone and Cub Koda of Allmusic, Berry wrote the song in response to his sister Lucy always using the family piano to play classical music when Berry wanted to play contemporary popular music.

In addition to classical composers Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, the lyrics mention or allude to several popular artists. "Early in the Mornin'" is the title of a Louis Jordan song and "Blue Suede Shoes" refers to the Carl Perkins song.

Finally, "Hey Diddle Diddle" which comes from the nursery rhyme, "The Cat and the Fiddle", is an indirect reference to Berry's Chess stablemate Bo Diddley, who was an accomplished violin player. Although the lyrics mention rocking and rolling, the music that the classics are supposed to step aside for is always referred to as "rhythm and blues" (R&B). Arthur Alexander appropriated the lyric "a shot of rhythm and blues" for the title of his later song.

Later in the song, a "rhythm revue" describes the old style R&B show with many featured artists appearing on one bill in front of a big band.

"Roll Over Beethoven" was a favorite of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison even before they had chosen "The Beatles" as their name, and they continued to play it live right into their American tours of 1964.

Their version of "Roll Over Beethoven" was recorded on 30 July 1963 for their second British LP, With The Beatles, and features George Harrison on vocals and guitar.

In the United States, it was released 10 April 1964 as the opening track of The Beatles' Second Album and 11 May 1964 as the opening track of the second Capitol EP "Four by the Beatles".

In 1964, The Beatles released a live version of "Roll Over Beethoven" on Live at the BBC. This live version was recorded on 28 February 1964 and broadcast on 30 March 1964 as part of a BBC series starring The Beatles called From Us to You. This version of "Roll Over Beethoven" was used in the film Superman III directed by Richard Lester who also directed The Beatles' first two films, Help! and A Hard Day's Night.

The Beatles - Please Mr. Postman

"Please Mr. Postman" is the debut single by The Marvelettes for the Tamla (Motown) label, notable as the first Motown song to reach the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.

The single achieved this position in late 1961; it hit number one on the R&B chart as well. "Please Mr. Postman" became a number-one hit again in early 1975 when The Carpenters' cover of the song reached the top position of the Billboard Hot 100.

The Beatles included "Please Mr. Postman" as part of their live act in 1962, performing it regularly at the Cavern Club. By the time it was recorded for their second album, With the Beatles, it had been dropped from their set, and required some work in the studio to bring it up to an acceptable standard.

Ian MacDonald criticised their version for having a "wall of sound" and for a "general airlessness."

The Beatles - Sweet Georgia Brown

"Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard and pop tune written in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard (music) and Kenneth Casey (lyrics).

The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925 by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week No. 1 for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra.

It is widely known as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

The song was covered by The Beatles while working as a back-up band for singer Tony Sheridan. Two versions exist; the first was recorded on May 24, 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, using the original lyrics.

The second (but the first version released) was released in 1964 during the wave of Beatlemania, with Sheridan having re-recorded the vocals with notably more tame lyrics featuring the added verse "in Liverpool she even dares / to criticise the Beatles' hair / with their whole fan-club standing there / oh Sweet Georgia Brown."

Recently, bootleggers have utilized the two recordings to produce an instrumental featuring only the Beatles' instruments and backup vocals, entirely eliminating Sheridan. Roy Young played the piano.

The Beatles - This Boy

"This Boy" is a song was released in November 1963 as the B-side of the British Parlophone single "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The Beatles performed it live on 16 February 1964 for their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It also appears as the third track on side one of the American release, Meet the Beatles!.

Its composition was an attempt by John Lennon at writing a song in the style of Motown star Smokey Robinson,specifically his song "I've Been Good To You", which has similar circular doo-wop chord changes, melody and arrangement. Paul McCartney cites The Teddy Bears 1959 hit "To Know Him Is To Love Him" as also being influential. Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison join together to sing an intricate three-part close harmony in the verses and refrain (originally the middle eight was conceived as a guitar solo, but altered during the recording process)and a similar song writing technique is exercised in later Beatles songs, such as "Yes It Is" and "Because".

An instrumental version of "This Boy", orchestrated by George Martin, is used as the incidental music during Ringo Starr's towpath scene in the film A Hard Day's Night. The piece, under the title, "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" was released as a single - but failed to chart in the UK - on 7 August 1964 with "And I Love Her" on the B Side, although it did reach number 53 in the American Top 100 later that year. It was also included on Martin’s Parlophone album Off the Beatle Track and the EP Music From A Hard Day’s Night by the George Martin Orchestra, released 19 February 1965. It was also included on the American A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album.

The Beatles recorded "This Boy" on 17 October 1963. On the same day they recorded "I Want To Hold Your Hand", the group's first fan club Christmas single, and a version of "You Really Got A Hold On Me".

They recorded 15 takes of This Boy, followed by two overdubs. The song was recorded with a rounded ending, although it was faded out during a mixing session on 21 October.

Alternate recordings have also been officially released. A live version performed on The Morecambe and Wise Show in 1963 was released on Anthology 1 and two incomplete takes from the original recording were released as a track on the single Free as a Bird.

The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There

"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and is the opening track on The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963.

In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side on the label's first single by The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". While the A-side topped the US Billboard charts for seven weeks starting 18 January 1964, "I Saw Her Standing There" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 February 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at #14.

The song placed on the Cashbox charts for only one week at #100 on the same day of its Billboard debut. In 2004, "I Saw Her Standing There" was ranked #139 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song was recorded at EMI Studios on 11 February 1963, as part of the
marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me.

On the album, the song starts with a rousing "One, two, three, four!" count-in by McCartney. Usually, these count-ins are edited off the final audio mix. However, record producer George Martin wanted to create the effect that the album was a live performance: "I had been up to the Cavern and I’d seen what they could do, I knew their repertoire, and I said 'Lets record every song you’ve got, come down to the studios and we’ll just whistle through them in a day'".

Martin took the count-in from take 9, which was considered 'especially spirited' and spliced it onto take 1. Music journalist Richard Williams suggested that this dramatic introduction to their debut album was just as stirring as Elvis Presley's "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show…" on his opening track, "Blue Suede Shoes", for his debut album seven years earlier.

In addition it also made the point that The Beatles were a performing band as, at that time, they opened their live set with this song.On the first American release of the song, issued on Vee Jay Records, the count was edited out—but the "Four!" is still audible.

The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the band's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, starting the British Invasion of the United States music charts. The song entered the chart on 18 January 1964 at number 45; it later held the number one spot for seven weeks, and ended up charting for 15 weeks.

Starting at the song's final week at #1 on the American charts, the Beatles had a whopping record of seven #1 songs in one year. In order, these were "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Love Me Do" (a somewhat out-of-place 1962 re-release), "A Hard Day's Night", "I Feel Fine", and ending with "Eight Days a Week" one year later.

It also held the top spot in the United Kingdom charts. A million copies of the single had already been ordered on its release. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide.

The song was greeted by raving fans on both sides of the Atlantic but was dismissed by some critics as nothing more than another fad song that would not hold up to the test of time. Cynthia Lowery of the Associated Press expressed her exasperation with Beatlemania by saying of the Beatles: "Heaven knows we've heard them enough. It has been impossible to get a radio weather bulletin or time signal without running into 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'."

Bob Dylan was impressed by the Beatles' innovation, saying, "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid." For a time Dylan thought the Beatles were singing "I get high" instead of "I can't hide". He was surprised when he met them and found out that none of them had actually smoked marijuana.

The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, but the award went to Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz for "The Girl from Ipanema". However, in 1998, the song won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award. It has also made the list in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In addition, the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Endowment for the Arts and Scholastic Press have named "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as one of the Songs of the Century.

In 2004, it was ranked number 16 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2010, Rolling Stone placed the song at number two on the 100 Greatest Beatles Songs after "A Day in the Life".
It was ranked number two in Mojo's list on the "100 Records That Changed the World", after Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti".
The song was ranked number thirty-nine on Billboard's All Time Top 100

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is currently ranked as the twenty-third best song of all time, as well as the number three song of 1963, in an aggregation of critics' lists at acclaimedmusic.net.

The Beatles - From Me to You

"From Me to You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a single in 1963. "From Me to You" would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by the Beatles, but failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release.

However, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song becoming the first Lennon/McCartney tune to enter the American pop chart. It was one of the very last songs to be credited "McCartney/Lennon"; soon afterwards their songs began appearing credited to "Lennon/McCartney".

Lennon and McCartney began writing "From Me to You" while on a coach heading to Shrewsbury as part of the Beatles' tour with Helen Shapiro. The title was inspired by the name of the letters section of the New Musical Express, which they had been reading: "From You to Us". McCartney noted that their early songs tended to include the words I, me, or you in them, as a way of making them "very direct and personal".

This was one Lennon/McCartney song that the duo truly co-wrote; McCartney described it as "very much co-written".

The Beatles - Thank You Girl

"Thank You Girl" is a song by The Beatles and released as the B-side of "From Me to You", which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963).

While not released on an LP in the United Kingdom until Rarities in 1978, the single was featured as the second track on The Beatles' Second Album in the United States. As the B-side to "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", it hit #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1964.

Originally titled "Thank You, Little Girl", John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song as a tribute to the band's many female fans. McCartney said, "We knew that if we wrote a song called, 'Thank You Girl', that a lot of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine 'thank you'. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans."

Written “eyeball to eyeball", a phrase Lennon and McCartney would later use to describe their early formulaic writing sessions, "Thank You Girl" demonstrates how they were able to produce a song from scratch by working in total partnership. Lyrically, Ian MacDonald suggests that Lennon probably wrote the first line of each verse, allowing McCartney his flair for word play and inner-rhyming in completing it.

Lennon said the song was originally intended as a single: "'Thank You Girl' was one of our efforts at writing a single that didn't work. So it became a B-side or an album track." In April 1972, he told Hit Parader, "[The song was written by] Paul and me. This was just a silly song we knocked off." McCartney seemed to agree describing it as "a bit of a hack song, but all good practice."

Both "From Me to You" and "Thank You Girl" were credited to McCartney-Lennon, as were eight of the songs on the Please Please Me album. The songwriting credit would be permanently changed to the more familiar Lennon/McCartney for their next single release; "She Loves You".

The Beatles - She Loves You

"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963.

The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record in the United States by being one of the five Beatles songs which held the top five positions in the American charts simultaneously.

It is The Beatles' best-selling single in the United Kingdom, and was the best selling single in Britain in 1963.

"She Loves You" was credited to "Lennon/McCartney" as were all subsequent songs written by the pair and released during the remainder of the band's tenure. With the exception of the single version of "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", all prior songs were credited as "McCartney/Lennon".

The sequence was a source of controversy when McCartney changed it to "McCartney/Lennon" for some live versions released later in his career.
This was the first song by The Beatles to be heard by a substantial number of Americans; the only United States release by The Beatles that had even charted before that was "From Me to You", which lasted three weeks in August 1963, never going higher than number 116.

In November 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "She Loves You" as the 64th Greatest Song of All Time. In October 2005, Uncut magazine named "She Loves You" as the third biggest song that changed the world, behind Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone".

In August 2009, at the end of its "Beatles Weekend", BBC Radio 2 announced that "She Loves You" was The Beatles' all-time best-selling single in the UK based on information compiled by The Official Charts Company.

The Beatles - I'll Get You

"I'll Get You" is a song by The Beatles, written by Lennon/McCartney, and released by The Beatles as the B-side of their 1963 single "She Loves You".

The song was initially titled "Get You in the End". Typical of the Beatles songwriting style of that period, John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing in unison for the majority of the track, allowing the few occasions when they do harmonise to stand out.
But unlike most Beatles songs of the time however, there is no lead break; the lead guitar is virtually reduced to a second rhythm guitar. The most prominent instruments in the track are McCartney's "plumply rounded bass",and Lennon's harmonica, which was overdubbed in a rush as session time ran out.

The song's opening line "Imagine I'm in love with you" was innovative, as it drew the listener immediately into the story. McCartney would cite this as an early example of Lewis Carroll influencing their lyrics.

The song was a B-side on two separate occasions. It was initially released as the B-side of "She Loves You" (on 28 August 1963 in the United Kingdom and 16 September in the United States) and was also later released in the United States only on 21 May 1964 as the B-side of "Sie Liebt Dich", a German language recording of the previous A-side. Both were released on the Swan Records label in the United States - the only Beatles releases on that label (the British release was on Parlophone).

The song was also released in the U.S. on 10 April 1964 on the Capitol Records album The Beatles' Second Album. It was not released on album in the United Kingdom until the Rarities release as part of the set The Beatles Collection. A live version of the song, recorded at the London Palladium on 13 October 1963 is included on Anthology 1.

The Beatles - P.S. I Love You

"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney).It was released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me. It was later included on the Beatles compilation Love Songs.

The version featured on the single and album was recorded in ten takes on 11 September 1962 at EMIs Abbey Road Studios, London. Producer George Martin had booked session drummer Andy White as a replacement for Pete Best, whom he considered not technically good enough for recording purposes (Martin was unaware that Best had been fired and replaced by Ringo Starr who plays maracas on the song).

White was a freelance showband and session drummer, and gave the recording a lightweight cha cha treatment.

The Beatles (with Starr playing drums) also recorded this song at the BBC on 25 October 1962, 27 November 1962, and 17 June 1963 for subsequent broadcast on the BBC radio programs Here We Go, Talent Spot, and Pop Go The Beatles, respectively.

McCartney described "P.S. I Love You" as “ a theme song based on a letter... It was pretty much mine. I don't think John had much of a hand in it. There are certain themes that are easier than others to hang a song on, and a letter is one of them... It's not based in reality, nor did I write it to my girlfriend from Hamburg, which some people think. ”

John Lennon said about this song:
“ That's Paul's song. He was trying to write a "Soldier Boy" like The Shirelles. He wrote that in Germany, or when we were going to and from Hamburg. I might have contributed something. I can't remember anything in particular. It was mainly his song. ”

Lyrically constructed with their female audience in mind, the Beatles included it as part of their Cavern Club song set where it was a favourite of the fans.The Beatles admired Buddy Holly and the Crickets (best demonstrated by their cover of "Words of Love" on the Beatles for Sale album). Writer Jonathan Cott suggested that the "P.S." part of the song was a subtle reference to "Peggy Sue", from the lyric "I love you, Peggy Sue".

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.

The Beatles - Ask me why

“Ask Me Why" is a song originally released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of their hit single "Please Please Me". It was also included on their first UK album, Please Please Me.

Written in early 1962, "Ask Me Why" is principally a John Lennon composition, but was credited to Paul McCartney and John Lennon, as were all other Lennon/McCartney originals on the first pressings of Please Please Me album.

It was part of their live act prior to their recording contract, and was one of the songs performed at their Parlophone audition in Abbey Road's studio three on 6 June 1962.

The song emulates in style that of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, by whom Lennon was influenced, and draws its opening guitar phrase from the Miracles’ "What’s So Good About Goodbye" (1961).

"Ask Me Why" was originally recorded at Abbey Road studios on 6 June 1962 with an unknown number of takes as part of The Beatles' EMI audition.

The Beatles - Love Me Do

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