Music Blog

Please Please Me

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for the this week’s edition of
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday.
Here’s what I have to say.

© Harrison Archive
“The LP cover was photographed with us looking over the balcony of the EMI offices in
Manchester Square. It was by Angus McBean and I’ve still got the suit I wore then.
I wore it in 1990 to a party. It was a Fifties party but I cheated and wore a Sixties suit.
It looked as if it fit, but I had to have the trousers open at the top.” –
George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology (2000) 

This week for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday theme, “The Big Time”, the challenge is to write about a song from a breakout album. For those of you who may not know, Google tells us a breakout album is one that achieves significant and unexpected commercial success, often leading to a surge in popularity and recognition. It’s an album that “breaks out” from the typical, mainstream trajectory of an artist’s career, gaining widespread attention and acclaim. 

It all began in February 1963 when the Beatles got together at Abbey Road Studios to work on their debut album. An incredible ten hours later, it was all finished except for a few tweaks by producer George Martin. On March 22, Parlophone Records rush-released the album to capitalize on the success of the Beatles’ singles, “Please Please Me” and “Love Me Do”.

The album 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 …. an unprecedented achievement for a R&R group. This breakout album not only topped the UK charts but also helped launch the Beatles into stardom, marking the beginning of their extensive success. 

Today, we instantly preface so many Beatles songs with ‘Lennon & McCartney‘, but on Please Please Me, eight of the 14 tracks were written by John and Paul; the others were covers they had been playing regularly at gigs. The songs I’m featuring today are all original Lennon & McCartney compositions.

The first song to be recorded at the February 1963 session for the Beatles’ Please Please Me album, “There’s A Place” was completed in 10 takes, plus a harmonica overdub later in the afternoon. The song was written in Paul McCartney’s house in Liverpool and was based loosely on “Somewhere” from West Side Story. The song’s lyrics relate to the singer’s ability to overcome his loneliness by retreating into the haven of his mind. “There’s A Place” encapsulates the drive and hunger of the Beatles in 1963. The song is full of the energy familiar to those who saw them live in Liverpool or Hamburg, and a sense of urgency and desire for success pervades the recording.

This is “There’s A Place”


LYRICS

There, there is a place
Where I can go
When I feel low
When I feel blue

And that it’s my mind
And there’s no time
When I’m alone

I, I think of you
And things you do
Go ’round my head
The things you said

Like “I love only you”
In my mind there’s no sorrow
Don’t you know that it’s so
There’ll be no sad tomorrow

Don’t you know that it’s so
There, there is a place
Where I can go
When I feel low

When I feel blue
And that it’s my mind
And there’s no time
When I’m alone

There’s a place
There’s a place
There’s a place
There’s a place

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Paul Mccartney/John Lennon
There’s a Place lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Mpl Communications Inc

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“Please Please Me” was the Beatles’ second single in the UK, their first in the US and the title track of their first LP. It is a John Lennon composition (credited to McCartney/Lennon). The single was released in the UK on January 11, 1963 and reached #1 on the New Musical Express and Melody Maker. The early stages of “Please Please Me” sounded very dreary, like a slow, bluesy Roy Orbison vocal. It was obvious to George Martin that the tune needed pepping up. He told the Beatles to bring it in again and they’d have another go at it but the boys wanted to work on it on their own. When they returned with an up tempo version, George Martin knew they had a hit. “Please Please Me” was chosen for the Beatles’ first national UK television appearance, on Thank Your Lucky Stars on January 19, 1963.

This is “Please Please Me”


LYRICS

Last night I said these words to my girl
I know you never even try, girl
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa yeah, like I please you

You don’t need me to show the way, love
Why do I always have to say, love
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa yeah, like I please you

I don’t want to sound complaining
But you know there’s always rain in my heart (in my heart)
I do all the pleasing with you
It’s so hard to reason with you
whoa yeah, why do you make me blue?

Last night I said these words to my girl
I know you never even try, girl
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa yeah, like I please you
(Please me) whoa yeah, like I please you
(Please me) whoa yeah, like I please you

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Paul James McCartney/John Winston Lennon
Please Please Me lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Written in early 1962, “Ask Me Why” is primarily a John Lennon composition but was credited to Lennon & McCartney, as were all other originals on the first pressing of the Please Please Me album. The song was part of their live act prior to their recording contract. The song emulates the style of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, by whom John Lennon was greatly influenced. “Ask Me Why” was originally recorded at Abbey Road studios on June 6, 1962 with drummer Pete Best. As the session was a ‘commercial test‘, none of the performances recorded that day were deemed suitable for release, and the tape reels from that session were thought to be destroyed. 

This is “Ask Me Why”


LYRICS

I love you, cause you tell me things I want to know
And it’s true that it really only goes to show
That I know that I, I, I, I
Should never, never, never be blue

Now you’re mine, my happiness still makes me cry
And in time, you’ll understand the reason why
If I cry, it’s not because I’m sad
But you’re the only love that I’ve ever had

I can’t believe it’s happened to me
I can’t conceive of any more misery

Ask me why, I’ll say I love you
And I’m always thinking of you

I love you, ’cause you tell me things I want to know
And it’s true that it really only goes to show
That I know that I, I, I, I
Should never, never, never be blue

Ask me why, I’ll say I love you
And I’m always thinking of you

I can’t believe it’s happened to me
I can’t conceive of any more misery

Ask me why, I’ll say I love you
And I’m always thinking of you
You, you

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: John Winston Lennon/Paul James Mccartney
Ask Me Why lyrics © Dick James Music Ltd., Lenono Music, Mpl Communications Inc

Please Please Me remains critically acclaimed; it was voted 39th on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012, and #622 in the third edition of Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 100 Albums in 2000.

The Big Time

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some tunes.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, The Rhythm Section, et al., and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

49 thoughts on “Please Please Me”

  2. Please Please Me was their first great song to me…it really set them on their way. No offense to Love Me Do but this one was the real thing. It’s still exciting to this day.

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      1. I like the early, middle, and late periods. That is why they are my top rock band.
        Also thank you for the Gabriel post inspiration! I hope you got some visitors today.

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    1. This was something I thought about for a long time, Jim, and I knew I wanted to feature the Beatles but it wasn’t easy. As you said, the Beatles started at the top; they broke the proverbial mold. What other album could I have gone for besides their debut album? Thanks very much!

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  8. There was no way I was going to skip your post about The Beatles. 🙂

    While I think it’s fair to say John, Paul, George and Ringo grew more sophisticated on their later albums, these early songs are very charming and illustrate their potential, especially their amazing harmony vocals. “Please Please Me” also still gives me a smile every time I listen to it. What a great song!

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    1. That’s a very good way of putting it, Christian: The Beatles grew more sophisticated.

      If someone held a gun to my head and told me to pick their breakout album but it couldn’t be Please Please Me, which one would I go with? Revolver.

      With songs like Eleanor Rigby, Taxman, Tomorrow Never Knows, For No One ….. how could I go wrong!

      Thanks for a great comment!

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      1. “Revolver” is a great pick, not only musically but also how that album propelled forward music recording with its introduction of innovative recording techniques, including artificial double tracking (ADT), tape loops, backwards recordings and vari-speeding.

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    1. Thanks very much, Christine. Honestly, this was a difficult choice for me but considering what a phenom these boys were right from the beginning, I had to go with this one. I’m so pleased to know you enjoyed hearing their wonderful songs.

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  14. I can always count on you to bring the Beatles to me in a way only a real live fan girl can do so. I think about the story you told of going to see them and can only imagine how much all of their songs bring you back to that adolescent girl and all her hopes and dreams. Beautiful choices Nancy.

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    1. Lovely comment, Jodi. Thanks very much.

      True Beatles’ fans know there’s so much more than the suits and the hair and the funny antics that elicited screams, tears and fainting, especially in the early days. As their music “matured”, the depth of their lyrics and the beautiful intricacies of their harmonies touched our hearts and souls. They filled a huge void in our lives. I’m not at all embarrassed to admit I love the Beatles and their their glorious music, and always will.

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  17. Definitely the biggest “Break-out Album” of all time, Nancy … meanwhile, down here in Aussieland; INXS’s third album, “Shabooh Shoobah” (1982): was their International ‘Breakout’ album …

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  18. Interesting choice from an American perspective, as this album was never released there: the various tracks were spread across several others, back in the days when the US record company gave you all sorts of different permutations. Still a great album, though, which I bought as soon as I could – i.e. a few years later when we finally got a record player!

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    1. You make a good point, Clive. I was able to acquire a copy of this album as soon as I could afford it (from a friend who lived in the UK). I have a nice collection of UK and US released LPs.

      Our WP friend Christian made a good observation in his comment here. If you haven’t read it yet, scroll up and take a look.

      Thanks, Clive

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      1. Our local record shop had a section for import albums, so I guess that is how people could buy it there to beat the record company buggering around with them. It’s a great album, the start of a huge phenomenon. Thanks for the heads up on Christian’s comment – good thoughts.

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