The taping of this song took place during the day-long session in
which they recorded the bulk of their first British album “Please Please Me”,
on February 11th, 1963. It was the fifth of ten songs recorded on this day,
being the last one recorded during the afternoon session of 2:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Noting that there were multiple takes recorded of four other songs during the
afternoon session before “Misery”, it can be estimated that the eleven takes of
this song were recorded during the last hour, or between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. The
Beatles all played their usual instruments during this recording.
“Take One” of the song was complete and performed with great vocal
enthusiasm. Ringo even puts in a little drum fill after the second verse which
he dropped later. Already in place was the ending with John and Paul’s
alternating “ooohs” and “la-la-las,” although they sounded fresher and more
vibrant this first time around. The only fault in this take was George
Harrison’s rhythmic guitar run in the bridges of the song, which weren’t in
time. Probably for this reason alone, they were asked to try it again.
Just before “take two” begins, George practices his guitar run by
himself, and it sounds as if he’s perfected it. This take starts a little
rough, though, with the band’s timing being off just after John and Paul’s
vocal introduction. They quickly recovered from this and put in a spirited
performance only to have producer George Martin stop the recording just as the
second verse was beginning. Martin noticed that Harrison’s guitar sounded
louder and somewhat more distorted, so he asked him if he changed guitars.
“No…I probably changed the tone,” is what George Harrison explained, although
he probably just turned up the volume. Being the gentleman that he was, Martin
asked him to “clean it up a bit, and a little less volume, George” and then
they were ready to try it again.
After a bit more practicing on their guitars, “take three” began,
only to fall apart just after the first verse started because of John
forgetting to switch guitar chords. “Take four” got a little farther, but just
into the second verse John sang “she won’t…” instead of “I won’t see her no
more,” which called this try to a halt as well. “Take five” ended at the same
spot because, as John was concentrating on getting the words right, he forgot
to change chords again. They took a little time to drill the words into John’s
head before the next take began.
Except for another slight timing issue at the beginning, “take
six” was off to a good start. They had added a few interesting touches to the
arrangement by this time; the first noticeable one was Paul’s added grace notes
on his bass guitar sprinkled here and there. The big surprises here are on the
fourth measure of the bridges where, in addition to Harrison’s guitar run,
Ringo adds a snare drum roll (not unlike what he’d perform a month later at the
end of “Thank You Girl”). The eighth measure of the bridges also contains this
snare drum roll along with a newly constructed guitar riff from Harrison that
segues nicely back into the verse. The end of the song also features Ringo’s
snare drum rolls whenever either John or Paul sings their “ooohs” or
“la-la-las.” The timing wasn’t perfect, but we see them being very adventurous
with the arrangement, possibly at the suggestion of George Martin.
However, Martin must have instructed them to simplify the
arrangement again, instructing Ringo to just play a straight 4/4 drum beat throughout
the song and for George to only play the first guitar run in the bridges,
dropping the second run during the vocal "only one, lonely one." They
implemented these changes for "take seven,” which was also a complete
performance of the song. John changed his “oooh” at the end of the song to a
loud hum but still insisted on the “la-la-la” as the song eventually would be
fading away.
It was probably at about this point that George Martin decided
that he himself would add a piano overdub at a later date to replace Harrison’s
guitar run, which he was asked not to play because of his not being able to get
the timing right. He apparently began recording the next "take" at a
speed of 30 ips, instead of the usual 15 ips, to facilitate this future overdub
work.
While “take eight” broke down just as the first verse began
because of John flubbing the lyrics (“you’ve said the wrong words” Paul points
out to John), “Take nine” was a complete version and was deemed “best" at
that time, "Misery" considered complete as far as The Beatles
performance was concerned. It was now 6 pm and time for a break to gear up for
recording six more songs by 11 pm.
February 20th, 1963, was the date that George Martin chose to
record his piano overdubs onto “Misery,” thereby putting the finishing touches
on the song. Since EMI only used twin-track (or 2-track) machines for Beatles
recordings at this early stage, minimal overdubs occurred because of the need
to "bounce" additional mixes to create more recording space, each bounce
reducing the quality of the original recording. "I found with The
Beatles," George Martin explains in the book "Maximum Volume: The
Life Of Beatles Producer George Martin," "that if I recorded all of
the rhythm on one track and all of the voices on the other, I needn't worry
about losing the voices even if I recorded them at the same time. I could
concentrate on getting a really loud rhythm sound, knowing that I could always
bring it up or down afterwards to make sure the voices were coming
through." This being the case, George Martin completed his piano overdubs
for "Misery," assured the clarity of The Beatles' original
performance was still quite good.
The Beatles were not present on this day because of travel amid
their Helen Shapiro tour, but from 10:30 am to noon in EMI Studio One, these
piano overdubs occurred. George Martin experimented with adding piano overdubs
onto "take nine" but, upon listening to The Beatles performance,
decided that the first half of the song sounded flawed in various ways, such as
a speeded-up tempo at the end of the first verse and a flubbed bass note from
Paul at the beginning of the song.
George Martin decided to perform an edit of two different
"takes" to get the finished master of The Beatles' performance; the
first half of "take seven" and the second half of "take
nine." Upon listening to the original recordings of both
"takes," it appears that the main edit occurs just as the third verse
begins (at the word "shend") while George's guitar run in the first
bridge of "take seven" must have been edited out as well. With this
complete, George Martin went back to work in performing his piano overdubs onto
what was now "take 11," playing the exact riff that Harrison was
playing on the guitar, only in octaves and, of course, with perfect timing. He
also played a piano arpeggio on top of George’s introductory guitar chord and
added two accent notes in between the lyrics in the final two measures of each
bridge. It took five takes for him to complete these overdubs to his
satisfaction (takes 12 through 16). This becomes the first of many songs during
their career on which George Martin accompanies The Beatles musically.
Engineer Geoff Emerick, who was present on this day for his first
history of sessions he would engineer for The Beatles, details his witnessing
of George Martin's overdubs for "Misery." That session was my first
exposure to George Martin's signature 'wound-up' piano, piano recorded at
half-speed in unison with the guitar but played an octave lower. The combination
produced a kind of magical sound, and it was an insight into a new way of
recording - the creation of new tones by combining instruments and by playing
them with the tape sped up or slowed down. George Martin had developed that
sound years before I met him and he used it on a lot of his records.
Overdubbing a half-speed piano is not the easiest thing to do either, because
when you're monitoring at half speed, it's hard to keep the rhythm steady.
There certainly were more than a few expletives coming from George as he
struggled to get the timing down while overdubbing onto the song 'Misery,' on
both the spread chord that opens the song and on the little arpeggios and chord
stabs that play throughout."
All of the original mixes of “Misery” took place on February 25th,
1963 in the control room of EMI Studio One by George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and A.B. Lincoln. They made two mono mixes on this day, the first
having a chopped off introductory chord (which appears on the original British
“Please Please Me” album). The second mono mix, with the full introductory
chord, was sent to Vee-Jay Records in the US for inclusion on the
“Introducing…The Beatles” album. For some reason, two stereo mixes were also
made on this day, possibly to supply a version with slightly more reverb for
the American market. All of these mixes, though, did have a slight touch of
reverb added.
An amusing note to add concerning the recording of “Misery” is the
most noteworthy example of the Beatles pronouncing the consonant “s” as “sh.”
This slightly detected sound snuck in on other Beatle songs of 1963, such as “I
Want To Hold Your Hand” (“…when I shay that shomething…”), but it definitely
can be heard in “Misery” (“…shend her back to me…”). Add to this the comedic
“la,la,la,la,la,la” during the fade-out of the song, and it is apparent that
the song was viewed by the band as an album filler, being recently rejected by
Helen Shapiro. But, for our benefit, this adds a comedic touch which adds to
its charm and gives us a hint of the fun-loving Beatles we were soon to get to
know in their movie “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Song Structure and Style
The song runs in one of the most established formulas of popular
music of its time, written in the 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' style (or aaba)
which does not have a repeatable chorus. The songwriting style of many of The
Beatles favorite artists of the time copy a similar song structure, such as
Fats Domino and Arthur Alexander. The title, or hook-line, of the song, lay at
the end of each verse, which helps listeners to remember the title of the song.
In this case, The Beatles opted not to include a solo of any kind, which, after
the last verse, allows for an immediate repeating of the bridge and final
verse. After the guitar strum/piano arpeggio, Lennon and McCartney sing a
partially a cappella introduction of the key phrase of the song. The true tempo
of the song then appears as both John and Paul sing all of the song's lyrics
together, mostly in unison. Only when the words “in misery” are sung does
McCartney sing a higher harmony.
Ringo plays metronome-style drums for this song, sticking strictly
to the hi-hat with the right hand for the entire song. Except for the small
drum intro at the beginning of Ringo's appearance, no drum fills are played at
all until the song fades. This is strong evidence, not of Ringo's lack of
skill, but of his performing what is suitable to the song while recording. In
actuality, take six of "Misery" shows that Ringo originally planned
on performing energetic drum fills during the bridge, but later vetoed in favor
of the simple drumming we hear on the song. It was easily discernable at the
time that a Keith Moon-like drumming style was not required here, but he surely
did cut loose on other tracks recorded that day, such as “Boys” and “I Saw Her
Standing There,” which shows the versatility Ringo had. He definitely wasn’t a
“showboat,” but a group player.
The rhythm guitar style used in this song was one that was used
quite regularly in the early Beatles recording career (“From Me To You,”
“There’s A Place,” “She Loves You” etc.) and which appears here for the first
time. Both John and George confined themselves to rhythm guitar in the song,
which is primarily shifting our focus on the vocals and lyrics. Take six of the
song also shows the guitar phrases that Harrison intended for the bridge of the
song which was left off in the end in favor of the similarly sounding phrases
played on piano by George Martin.
A minor surprise in “Misery” is the changed lyrics in the second
bridge. “Can’t she see she’ll always be the only one, only one” is replaced
with “She’ll remember, and she’ll miss her only one, lonely one.” Usually, in
Beatles songs, as well as the established song structure of the day, the bridge
is identical when repeated.
It’s also interesting to note that the lyrics, although quite
“downbeat,” are accompanied by a very cheerful melody line and chord structure.
Even within the lyrics, it is noticeable that the heartbreak sung about isn’t
taken quite that seriously. After we hear about the singer losing his girl “for
sure” and unable to see her anymore, we next hear “it’s gonna be a drag”! which
helps make the listener feel he’s not taking this breakup so hard after all.
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The Beatles at this point had recorded and released two British
singles with varying degrees of success. “Love Me Do” had reached number 17 in
December 1962, and “Please Please Me” had reached number 2 in February 1963. In
order to capitalize on the national success of their recent single, George
Martin, their record producer, decided to hastily record an album to satisfy
whatever needs their fan base may have had. They were asked by George Martin
what could be recorded quickly with only one day scheduled at EMI Studios. The
answer the Beatles gave him was their “stage act,” which by this time contained
the five-month-old “Seventeen,” as the song still held this unfamiliar early title at that time.
They needed to record ten songs to complete the album, which would also include
both sides of the two previously released singles, to comprise the standard
fourteen songs per album in Britain.
The recording date was February 11th, 1963, and the song
“Seventeen” rolled onto tape during the 10 am morning session that day.
Although the first song recorded in this session was “There’s A Place” and that
they recorded 10 takes of that song, “Seventeen” must have started around 11:30
am. The group played all of their usual instruments live along with lead and
background vocals, with no overdubs at this point.
The first take of the song was complete and, for all intents and
purposes, perfect. What is evident from this is that every aspect of the song
was well rehearsed ahead of time, The Beatles had performed this composition
repeatedly in their stage act for many months. Interestingly, we see that the
production team purposely added a good amount of reverb to George Harrison’s
guitar only during his guitar solo. This was their attempt to make the solo
stand out as different from the rest of the song and, as soon as the solo was
over, they decreased the reverb level to sound as before.
George Martin, though, thought this “take” could improve with
another try. After engineer Norman Smith calls out for “take two,” Lennon
quietly counts down the song, but only he starts playing. Paul then quietly but
commandingly counts down the song as planned and everybody follows his lead.
However, there are several flaws in “take two.” Everything starts
out fine, but John ends up coming in singing harmony in the second verse with
“how could I dance” from the first verse instead of “she wouldn’t dance” like
he should have. Then in the third verse, there must have been some confusion by
both John and Paul as to what the correct lyrics were since they both awkwardly
stumbled into the line “she wouldn’t dance” instead of “now I’ll never dance”
as it should have been. We also can easily determine by this “take” that
George’s guitar solo was ad-libbed since it was quite different from the first
take although very well performed.
Finally, in their repeat of the third verse, they both get the
lyrics right but Paul, probably figuring that they messed up the song too
badly, ended the song with a falling note on his bass guitar while John
commented to Paul about their mistakes.
Apparently not noticing the obvious vocal errors, George Martin
suggested they perform an edit piece to correct the flubbed ending. “Take
three,” therefore, was this short edit piece, which consisted of their
three-times repeat of “since I saw her standing there” at the songs’ end along
with the conclusion.
Having accomplished this edit piece acceptably, George Martin’s
next idea was to have the Beatles perform an edit piece for the guitar solo,
but this time without as much reverb and with more excited screams from John
and Paul. “Take four” was their first attempt at this edit piece, which began
with the last four measures of the third verse as an introduction. George
Harrison’s ad-lib guitar solo wasn’t quite as good, so they tried it again as
“take five.” After practicing their “wooohs,” they started off “take five” too
fast and, although they shouted more during the solo, the actual guitar solo
was not very good at all, which rendered this edit piece useless as well.
Having abandoned this idea, a decision to just start the song all
over again from scratch followed. Before “take six” begins, Paul concerns
himself verbally on how to remember the correct lyrics and how to get the right
tempo for the song. After another quiet countdown, “take six” begins but breaks
down during the second verse because Paul keeps getting the lyrics wrong.
“Yeah, but I mean, it’s too fast anyway,” he tells Norman Smith who called the
song to a halt.
Already feeling the frustration of having to do the song so many
times, Paul exclaims “and again” before he starts off “take seven,” which he
himself stops because he feels it’s going too fast. Showing himself as the
perfectionist that he is, Paul explains “and again, I’m sorry, you know, but…”
as he tries to demonstrate to the group what the correct tempo for the song
should be. “Take eight” begins fine but when Ringo accidentally misses hitting
his hi-hat during the first verse, everyone stops which prompts Paul to ask,
“What happened?”
Being clearly frustrated, Paul counts down “take nine” with a loud
“one, two, three, FAAA,” which propels the group through another complete
version of the song. This spirited performance was excellent; they even got the
lyrics correct. Being 1:00 pm already, everyone involved must have felt the song
was complete and decided to finally move along to the next, but not before
lunch. The Beatles, however, decided to skip eating and stayed in the empty
studio to drink milk and practice for the rest of the session.
Little did they know at the time that they would return to the
song later that day. At some point, George Martin thought having the group clap
their hands throughout the song would create an exciting atmosphere, so at
about 4:45 pm, the Beatles gathered around a microphone to do just that. “Take
ten” was a playback of “take nine” for them to perform this overdub but, upon
listening to it, George Martin decided that he liked “take one” better after
all. So the first take of the song was spooled up for the handclap overdub.
“Take eleven” only made it through the first few measures of the
first verse before engineers stopped the tape; it wasn’t run at a loud enough
volume. The Beatles kept clapping afterwards which motivated Paul to say “we
have to keep Britain tidy” and got them all laughing. The EMI staff started
playing “take one” again at the proper volume as the group clapped their hands
(with reverb) all through the song. This became “take twelve,” which was now
considered the new “best.” Therefore, the song was actually complete by about
5:00 pm.
Both the mono and stereo mixes of the song, as well as the rest of
the ten songs recorded on February 11th, were created on February 25th, 1963 in
the control room of EMI Studio One by George Martin, Norman Smith, and 2nd
engineer A.B. Lincoln. Before any mixing took place on this day, George Martin
decided to edit in Paul’s excited “One, Two, Three, FAAA” countdown of the song
from “take nine” onto the beginning of what was now “take twelve.” He felt this
would add the desired “potboiler” atmosphere he wanted for the song. After the
edit, both the mono and stereo mixes took place from this edited master. This
became the exuberant kick-off to the soon-to-be-released first British album,
entitled “Please Please Me with Love Me Do and 12 other songs.” (The original
“take nine” can be heard on the CD single for “Free As A Bird,” which Apple
released on December 31st, 1995.)
An interesting side-note is that the song did see the recording
studio another time by a former Beatle on July 21st, 1987. Paul McCartney
recorded "I Saw Her Standing There" along with 21 other classic rock
and roll standards as contenders for an album originally released in Russia
entitled "CHOBa B CCCP" (which is Russian for "Back In The
U.S.S.R."). The album did receive a worldwide release in 1991, but no
version of the album contains this version of the song. McCartney decided not to include it on the
album, and it remains unreleased to this day.
On June 23rd, 1994, the surviving three Beatles met at George's
private studio at his Friar Park home at Henley On Thames, England, to film and
record footage for possible inclusion in the "Anthology" television
special. With Paul and George on acoustic guitars and Ringo on drums (playing
with brushes), they went through a variety of older songs they used to perform
with The Beatles in the Cavern days and even back during their Quarrymen
period. Anthology TV director Bob Smeaton recalls: "There's a whole lot of
that stuff; we were there for a full day...They did a whole lot of rock and roll
songs." Producer Jeff Lynne remembers: "It was just a time warp kind
of thing. We played some old rock and roll stuff, a couple of Chuck Berry's,
even "I Saw Her Standing There.'" Neither the recording nor the film
footage has yet to be released.
Song Structure and Style
The song copies one of the most established formulas of popular
music of its time. It flows in the 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' style (or
aaba) which does not have a repeatable chorus. The songwriting style of many of
The Beatles favorite artists of the time duplicates a similar song structure,
such as Fats Domino and Arthur Alexander. The title, or hook-line, of the song,
appears at the end of each verse, which helps listeners remember the title of
the song. In this case, The Beatles may very well have not caught on to this
established practice, based on they named the song “Seventeen” and had
continued performing the song in their “stage act” for about five months with
this title. We do know that sometime before the release of the British album
“Please Please Me” by March 22nd, 1963, the name had been officially changed to
“I Saw Her Standing There,” possibly at the suggestion of the all-wise George
Martin.
After the rousing count-in by Paul, the song creates anticipation
with its two opening instrumental bars in their established “beat” style,
leading to the first verse, each verse consisting of 8 bars. Paul also handles
the lead vocals, joined by John with lower harmony vocals for the second half
of each verse, culminating in the accentuation of the song's title. After the
second verse, the chords rise, and the harmonies continue as they enter the 5
bar bridge, which creates an illusion of sexual climax before bringing us back
to the ground with the third and final verse in the song structure, which
satisfies the listener with a happy ending; boy gets girl!
We then are treated to the first guitar solo officially recorded
in The Beatles cannon performed by George Harrison. This numbered only the
sixth song recorded with intention the studio released it for the LP. Harrison,
hands down, amazingly earns his keep as the lead guitarist in the band. (George
did perform lead guitar solos in the Hamburg recording sessions of 1961,
although these differed from under the “Beatles” name. “My Bonnie” had been
released on record before this time, but was billed as “Tony Sheridan and the
Beat Brothers.”) His solo, which plays during the same chord structure as a
verse, was recorded live with the rest of the band who all had confidence performing
the song live. Soon after this, it became common practice to overdub a guitar
solo later to refine the solo and get the best performance. Because the band
repeated performing the song over the previous five months, George had already
refined his solo, as evidenced by listening to take 9 of the song, almost
equally well performed.
The song then returns to the climactic bridge, and final “boy gets
girl” verse, repeating the song's title three times to, inadvertently, drive
home the title of the song in our heads. The chords take a surprise left turn
at the end to switch things up a bit, before crashing down with a triumphant
clang of a guitar chord coupled with a vocal accentuation from its lead singer.
A conclusion like this can only encourage applause.
It is interesting to note that in some of their performances of
the song during the next year or so, as well as McCartney’s performances in
much later years, the second bridge is eliminated. After the guitar solo,
McCartney goes right into the final verse. Whether this was intentional has not
been confirmed, although it’s suggested the band shortened the tune during
performances in order to move on to newer songs, since the lads considered the
song appeared already “old” by mid-1963, in their minds at least.
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus this blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’
fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my
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for full details.
Session One: The first time the song premiered in the recording
studio took place the first time The Beatles (with Pete Best) entered an EMI
recording studio. This occurred on the historic date of June 6th, 1962. They
recorded four songs during this two-hour session (6:00 to 8:00 p.m.) and “Ask
Me Why” appeared last. Brain Epstein had thought, mistakenly, that Martin was
impressed by the classic renditions of older songs that The Beatles worked up,
but after attempting“Besame Mucho” , it was apparent that originals were what
EMI wanted to hear, given that publishers Ardmore and Beechwood were looking to
secure publishing deals for original material from The Beatles' first single.
This suited the band just fine; they wanted to record original material anyway.
After an unknown number of takes were performed of “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I
Love You,” they then presented “Ask Me Why” for consideration.
George Martin apparently wasn’t present during the complete
session this day, but was called in from the studio canteen (where he was
taking a tea break) to hear them perform “Love Me Do.” Since Martin then took
over the rest of the session, he was present during their unnumbered takes of
“Ask Me Why” on that day, which occurred approximately at 7:30 pm. At the
conclusion of this session, Martin, and associate producer Ron Richards
determined that the material recorded on this day was not worthy of record
release and another session needed an immediate future date. Nonetheless, this
recording apparently was lost or recorded over shortly thereafter.
Session Two: The second session for the song was actually not a
recording session at all. This occurred on September 4th, 1962, which was the
second time The Beatles (this time with Ringo) were in EMI studios. They
arrived for a rehearsal session at 2:30 pm (which lasted until 5:30 pm) in
order to rehearse songs to determine which would grace the B-side of their
first single. “How Do You Do It” was already chosen by George Martin to be the
A-side, so after rehearing this song, they rehearsed five other original songs.
“Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me” were performed for sure, but noteworthy
sources indicate that “Ask Me Why” was one of the other three.
In the end, of course, Martin chose “Love Me Do,” as the A-side
and “P.S. I Love You” for the B-side of their first record since publishers'
disputes argued against releasing “How Do You Do It” on either side of their
first single. “Ask Me Why” was then left for consideration for another time.
Session Three: November 26th, 1962 saw the actual recording of the
song as we all know it. This three-hour session, to record both sides of their
second single, started at 7:00 p.m. and ended at 10:00. The group actually arrived
at the studio at 6:00 for a rehearsal session.
The first two hours wrestled recording “Please Please Me,” which
Martin chose for the A-side of the single. After a short tea break, they
returned at approximately 9:00 to record six takes of “Ask Me Why,” the sixth
deemed best. This fetched a completely live performance with no overdubs or
edits.
At that time, “Ask Me Why” wasn’t the guaranteed choice for the
B-side of their second single. They also recorded an unnumbered amount of takes
of a new original song entitled “Tip Of My Tongue.” After several attempts at
recording this song, George Martin decided that the arrangement needed more
work and said "leave it for another time." This, of course, never happened,
and the song transferred over to Tommy Quickly to record, which he did in July
of 1963.
The decision to pass on “Tip Of My Tongue” left “Ask Me Why” as
the B-side to “Please Please Me.” One thing rang certain; The Beatles wanted
both sides of their second single, like their first, to be original
compositions.
Mixing: Three mixes took place. The first was a mono mix made on
November 30th, 1962. This was deemed suitable for the single release, which
occurred in Britain on January 11th, 1963.
A further mono mix, as well as a stereo mix followed during the
control room session for the “Please Please Me” album, which happened on
February 25th, 1963. Apparently, George Martin felt that the original mix of
the song needed a touch of reverb to match the rest of the album. Since the
original session tapes were still available, a true stereo mix could be done.
These mixes are the ones available to this day.
Song Structure and Style
This song could probably win an award for being the most
complicated and confusing song structure in the early Beatles catalog. It is
true that all conventional rules of songwriting went out of the window in later
years, such as with “Happiness Is A Warm Gun.” But as for The Beatles
songwriting styles throughout their entire career, there are only a few
exceptions to the established song structures common in popular music. This
truly is one of those exceptions. To an average listener, “Ask Me Why” may seem
like just your average early Beatles song with its distinctive harmonies and
breaks. But when analyzed, it can easily be determined that Lennon and
McCartney hadn’t quite fallen into their songwriting “groove” yet.
This is not to say that the song is “bad” by any stretch of the
imagination. Quite on the contrary, “Ask Me Why” has an understated charm. It
flows with the precision that comes from extensive rehearsal and performance,
being that it had been part of their “stage act” for many months before the
recording session. The structure of the song may be confusing when under
scrutiny, but The Beatles had all the changes down perfectly. They knew where
the song was going, and that’s all that counts.
The best analysis of the song's structure shows that it consists
of a ‘verse/ altered verse/ bridge/ refrain’ pattern (which we’ll call abcd).
But after this pattern occurs, we see a ‘verse/ refrain/ bridge/ refrain’
pattern (which show as adcd). Adding to the confusion is the number of breaks
that occur throughout the song, possibly with the intent of creating a
transition from one part of the song to the other. This may be hard to follow,
but we’ll discuss a play-by-play to make things clearer (or more confusing).
The song first starts out with a two-bar instrumental
introduction, which includes a break and the opening words of the first
verse. The style of having the opening
words of the verse come before the first bar of the verse happens in many
Beatle songs throughout their career, such as “All My Loving” and “All I’ve Got
To Do.” The distinctive background harmonies of Paul and George are heard
immediately backing John’s lead vocal. The first verse has an odd thirteen
bars, which include two breaks.
The song then enters into a second 13-bar verse, which initially
sounds identical to the first verse structurally, but is altered at the end to
create a suitable transition into the bridge which follows. Only one break occurs during this altered
verse.
The bridge has a standard eight bars but ends with a pronounced
break which strongly emphasizes the harmonized word “misery.” The song then
goes into what appears to be another verse because of it starting with the
title of the song in the lyrics, but is very quickly revealed to be a refrain,
which ends the series of the song’s components with a proper resolution.
The sequence then appears to repeat, as another 13-bar verse
begins, but we are then thrown a curve-ball by repeating the refrain, which
could indicate the conclusion of the song. But, no! We then enter into the
identical bridge from the first sequence (ending in the pronounced “misery”)
and then, for the third time, repeat the refrain again, ending with a small
classy guitar flourish from Harrison.
Definitely no fault emerges in the performance, as all vocals are
spot-on pitch and all instruments play flawlessly. Harrison is found to be in
especially good form, showing him equally adept at crooner tunes as he is doing
Carl Perkins or Chuck Berry. Ringo has all the breaks down perfectly, even
though he had inherited this original song from the likes of Pete Best before
him. Lennon’s vocals crack at times, but it only comes across as adding
character to the vocal performance.
As for the lyrics of the song, it is simply a somewhat
cliché-heavy ode to the joys of being in love. McCartney admitted that at times
the lyrics in their songs were secondary to the musical structure, such as this
earlier entry in the Lennon/McCartney songbook, positive much better lyrical
content was to come. The focus of the song should most definitely pillar on the
song's structural complexity.
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus this blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’
fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my
novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the “My Shop” tab near the top of this page
for full details.
Session One: On September 4th, 1962, The Beatles gathered in EMI
Studio Two for their second EMI recording session, trying to nail down what
would be the songs on their first single for the Parlophone label. Before the
sessions began, producer George Martin and his assistant producer Ron Richards
observed The Beatles going through a vigorous rehearsal session to determine
which songs to best feature on their first record. George Martin had already
determined that "How Do You Do It," a Mitch Murray-penned composition
he had handpicked for The Beatles to record, would be the A-side of their first
single. The objective now was to pick which of their original songs would become
the B-side. The Beatles rehearsed six songs in these three hours, 2:30 to 5:30
pm, which included the newly written “Please Please Me.”
As this was the slow and bluesy Roy Orbison version of the song,
George Martin brought forth some suggestions. "They played me 'Please
Please Me,' but it was very slow and rather dreary," George Martin relates
in Mark Lewisohn's book "Tune In," adding, "I told them if they
doubled the speed it might be interesting. I told them what beginning and what
ending to put on it." Paul remembers: "We were a bit embarrassed that
he had found a better tempo than we had." In any event, these suggestions
were to be worked out and implemented by the group another time, thereby
disqualifying "Please Please Me" for the B-side at this point. Of
course, since this was a rehearsal session only, no tapes were rolling so there
is no audio evidence of this bluesy version of the song as John originally
envisioned it.
However, engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick were present on
this day to witness this early version of "Please Please Me" being
rehearsed. In his book "Here, There And Everywhere," Geoff Emerick
explains: "The song being rehearsed was soulful and was sung with great
feeling by John, but it had a very slow tempo and was marred by a clumsy phrase
that George Harrison played over and over again, repetitive to the point of
annoyance. Ringo was doing something odd too - he was sitting behind his kit
with a maraca in one hand and a tambourine in the other, all while hitting the
bass drum pedal with his right foot, a ridiculous posture that caused Norman
(Smith) to burst into laughter and shout out to us, 'Look at what that bloody
drummer is up to now!" George Martin, of course, witnessed this display as
well, which could easily have cemented his earlier idea of using a studio
drummer for The Beatles.
As it turned out, "Love Me Do" was chosen by George
Martin as the B-Side for the new single at this point, them proceeding to
record it later that day. The other rehearsed songs, including "Please
Please Me," were pushed back for possibly another time.
Session Two: One week later, on September 11th, 1962, The Beatles
reconvened at EMI Studio Two at 4:45 pm to continue the sessions for their
first single. Because of disputes with publishing companies, the song "How
Do You Do It" was no longer going to be a part of the first Beatles
single. George Martin reluctantly agreed that "Love Me Do" would be
the A-side of the record, the objective of this session being to record songs
for consideration for the B-side. Ron Richards was in the producer's chair, but
George Martin decided to go ahead and hire a session musician to act as drummer
on this day, his choice being Andy White. The first song recorded was
"P.S. I Love You," this being recorded relatively quickly, with a
good portion of studio time still available.
Geoff Emerick remembers: “There was still another hour of time
available to The Beatles. 'Have you boys got anything else you’d like to play
for me?' (Ron) Richards asked over the intercom. 'Yes!' came the enthusiastic
reply...Just then, George Martin walked in…and got on the talkback to say hello
to the band…He announced that he was going to have a quick listen to what
they’d done, and would then be right down to start work on the new song. Norman
(Smith) lifted a few faders, and we were able to hear what was going on
downstairs." The Beatles had taken time in the past week to incorporate
the changes that George Martin suggested for "Please Please Me,"
including increasing the tempo. However, Ron Richards made another suggestion
on this day. "George was playing the opening phrase over and over and over
throughout the song. I said, 'For Christ's sake, George, just play it in the
gaps!'"
Geoff Emerick continues: “After the first run-through, there was a
great deal of discussion, and it was clear that George Martin was dissatisfied.
‘Look, you’ve definitely got something there, boys...we need to sort out...some
harmony parts for Paul.’ They nodded enthusiastically and began experimenting
along the lines that George had suggested." Lennon remembers that they
“were getting tired,” but at least one of these ‘tired’ experimentations
appears caught on tape. This version of "Please Please Me" was
included on the 1994 compilation album "Anthology 1."
"We almost abandoned it as the B-side of 'Love Me Do,"
John recalls. "Imagine that a number that could get us to the top just
tucked away...We'd been going over it a few times and when we came to the
question of the flip side of 'Love Me Do,' we intended using 'Please Please
Me,' but our recording manager George Martin thought our arrangement was fussy,
so we tried to make it simpler. We were getting very tired, and we just
couldn't seem to get it right." An acetate disc of the recording done on
this day is evidence that it was indeed in consideration for the B-side of
"Love Me Do."
Interestingly, Geoff Emerick writes that drummer Andy White “was
dismissed for the day” just before they started work on “Please Please Me.”
However, listening to the evidence on the “Anthology 1” album, it appears that
the drumming style is quite unlike that of Ringo. This newly found recording
shows the drummer playing perfect drum fills in the bridge of the song, whereas
Ringo’s usual staggered left-handed fills are prominently featured in the
released version recorded in November. Mark Lewisohn's book "Tune In"
verifies that Andy White was indeed the drummer on this version of the song.
This then could be used as a pattern for Ringo to mimic during their next
recording session. Ringo, of course, was present this day, so he could easily
remember these intricate changes himself.
After this first version of "Please Please Me" was
recorded, they utilized the remaining time of the recording session to record
another version of "Love Me Do" with Andy White on drums and Ringo on
tambourine. With this accomplished, the session ended at 6:30 pm. “We were
standing in the corridor outside the control room after the session," Ron
Richards remembers. "George (Martin) was saying, ‘We haven’t quite got
‘Please Please Me’ right, but it’s too good a song just to throw away. We’ll
leave it for another time…” Listening to the “Anthology 1” version, you can see
how close they really were to the finished version. The few missing ingredients
could easily have been added in overdubs, which was a luxury that they did
utilize the next week anyway. However, the decision was eventually made that
the first version of "Love Me Do" (with Ringo on drums) would be the
A-side and "P.S. I Love You" would be the B-side of their first
single.
In the meantime, The Beatles took to heart the suggestions made to
rework "Please Please Me" once again for a future recording session.
Lennon states: "In the following weeks, we went over and over it again and
again."
Session Three: The next time The Beatles were in EMI Studio Two
was two-and-a-half months later, on November 26th, 1962, to record their second
single. And this time, no session drummer was in sight. George Martin
acquiesced to Ringo’s rightful place behind the drum kit.
Ten days earlier, however, on November 16th, 1962, George Martin
called a meeting with the group for a proposed plan of action. During this
meeting, George Martin suggested resurrecting The Beatles' recording of
"How Do You Do It" for the A-side of their second single, feeling
strongly that it had hit potential. The group strongly objected as he figured
they would, thereby deciding that their choice of "Please Please Me"
would do the trick. George Martin's instincts were correct, Gerry And The
Pacemakers cutting the song shortly thereafter and making it an international
hit. It was decided, though, that the original session for “Please Please Me,”
recorded on September 11th, was unsuitable for The Beatles' second record, so
the November 26th session was arranged to remake the song, as well as to record
the B-side. One 3-hour session was all that was thought to be needed, unlike
the two 3-hour sessions that were necessary for their first single.
The band arrived in the studio at 6 pm for an hour-long rehearsal
with fan Roberta (Bobby) Brown present for moral support. In fact, during this
rehearsal, Lennon suggested she play piano during the quick ascending chords in
each of the three verses of "Please Please Me." In Mark Lewisohn's
book "Tune In," she relates: "John was showing me these chords
on the piano, saying, 'So Bobby, you can play this...' and I just said to him,
'You're mad. There's no way I can do this.' He said, 'But you can play piano,'
and I said, 'Yes, but I have to have a piece of music in front of me.' It went
on like this for some time, and in the end, I just said 'I can't do it.'"
Not being a member of the Musicians' Union would have prevented her
performance, not to mention that George Martin probably would have put the
kibosh to it anyway.
This rehearsal led straight into the proper three-hour recording
session that ran from 7 to 10 pm. The Beatles launched right into the newly
arranged “Please Please Me” at 7. Martin suggested that Lennon play the
harmonica for the main riff of the song rather than it being played on guitar
by George Harrison. But, unlike the situation with “Love Me Do,” it was decided
to record the song live with John playing guitar and overdub the harmonica
afterwards. The result was a combination of Harrison on guitar and Lennon on
harmonica both doing that distinctive riff.
The total number of takes, including the harmonica overdubs,
amounted to eighteen. At around 9 pm, after two hours of recording, George
Martin made his famous exclamation from the recording booth, “You’ve just made
your first number one.” This confidence on Martin’s part continued from this
point on, never again suggesting The Beatles to record other people’s material
for their singles. And this was maintained throughout their career. Although
there were eight US singles released that featured cover tunes as the A-side,
these were decisions made by American record labels and were not the official
British releases.
Mixing: Unlike the sessions for the first single, no mixes
occurred on this day. The rest of the three-hour session consisted of recording
two contenders for the B-side of the single, which were “Ask Me Why” and the
ill-fated “Tip Of My Tongue,” which never was released and is said to be lost.
The Beatles gave the latter inferior song (George Martin’s opinion) to another
artist in the Brian Epstein stable, Tommy Quickly, who released it as his first
single in August of 1963, although it didn’t become a hit.
The mono mix of “Please Please Me” was done four days later, on
November 30th, 1962, in the control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin,
Norman Smith, and an unnamed 2nd engineer. As to which take used for this mix
remains a mystery, but it was deemed suitable for the British single release
(on January 11th, 1963) as well as the mono version of the British album
release (on March 22nd, 1963).
Curiously, when the “Please Please Me” album was being mixed for
stereo on February 25th, 1963 in the control room of EMI Studio One, Martin and
his engineering staff (Smith and A.B. Lincoln) decided first to construct a new
version of the song by editing takes 16, 17 and 18. From this, they then made a
stereo mix of the song which became the master for the stereo album in Britain
as well as the US.
There are some subtle but noticeable differences, such as Lennon
flubbing a line in the last verse. Instead of saying “I know you never even
try, girl,” he starts out with the lyrics of the second verse by accident, which
says “Why do I always…” Lennon catches himself mid-way through the line and
joins McCartney who was harmonizing the correct line. This results in Lennon
singing the next phrase “Come on” with a slight laugh, knowing that he made a
mistake.
Another noted difference in the stereo mix concerns the harmonica
parts in the various parts of the song. The takes that George Martin used to
form the stereo mix did not have the harmonica since that was overdubbed
afterward. In order to edit in those harmonica pieces into the stereo mix, they
had to actually sync-up the finished mono mix with the stereo mix in those
areas of the song. This resulted in an odd sounding effect because of two
separate takes of the song going at slightly different speeds. Especially noticeable
is the final ten seconds of the song where the vocals don't match very well.
Nonetheless, this deemed as the best the EMI team could do given that the
master tape containing the harmonica overdubs no longer existed.
Session Four: In order to sound complete, mention should be made
of a January 23rd, 1969 recording session at Apple Studios. The Beatles were
rehearsing / recording material for their latest project, “Get Back,” which
became the album “Let It Be,” released on May 8th, 1970. This project was rehearsed
in the studio while the tapes were rolling, which caught the band joking,
arguing, and engaging in impromptu jam sessions.
During an abortive attempt at the song “I’ve Got A Feeling,” the
song segued into the first verse of “Help!,” and then the very beginnings of
“Please Please Me.” Although this impromptu medley may pique our curiosity, it
most likely will never be officially released because of its rough and
unprofessional quality. Incidentally, a film crew was in place for the majority
of these sessions as they were creating what became the “Let It Be” movie. This
medley never appeared in the movie, but the footage has been leaked and has
surfaced in various places.
Session Five: The Beatles also touched on "Please Please
Me" at the very end of rehearsals on January 25th, 1969, which was also at
Apple Studios, but this has never seen the light of day.
Song Structure and Style
The study of “Please Please Me” demonstrates the proper way to
write a hit pop song in the sixties. It has all the ingredients that demand
attention from its listeners, which include an interesting eye-catching title,
an introductory riff that effortlessly sticks in your head, a fair amount of
breaks which make the listener take notice of the songs’ key focal points, and
a dramatic ending that leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction. Regarding the
song's arrangement, Lennon quotes as saying that the band “aimed this one
straight at the hit parade.”
The song pattern follows in the standard style that encompasses
most of the early Beatles catalog, which is the 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse'
style (or aaba). They opted not to include a solo of any kind or a repetition
of the bridge and final verse, as they were prone to do. Either of these
ingredients would have created a prolonged and ineffective mood, as well as
exceeding the two-and-a-half minute rule for a pop song in the early
sixties.
They start the song with a four-bar introduction, which premieres
the memorable riff played simultaneously by John on harmonica and George on
guitar. We know that, even though George Martin had much to do with arranging
the introductions on their original songs, the Beatles wrote this riff
themselves, because Harrison was playing it repeatedly during the song’s
rehearsal on September 4th, before George Martin had heard it.
We then enter into the first verse, which is 16 bars long. The
melody line starts with the opening riff harmonized by John and Paul, John
taking the true melody line with Paul sustaining one higher harmony note
throughout the phrase. McCartney has called this a “cadence” which, after the
fact, a Liverpool music teacher told them that she taught it to her pupils,
citing “Please Please Me” as its source. McCartney got the idea from “Cathy’s
Clown” by The Everly Brothers, which uses this cadence to good effect in its
chorus.
The same melodic phrase repeats (with different lyrics) before a
dramatic break occurs, introducing a new guitar riff which segues into the
anticipatory “Come On” question-and-answer section of the verse. The
‘questions’ are sung solo by John, while Paul and George harmonize the
'answers.' This climaxes into the title of the song near the end of the verse,
which acts as the true hook line of the song. And then, again, we hear the
harmonica/guitar riff to set the stage for the second verse.
After the second verse repeats the identical musical structure,
there is an unexpected break containing a drum fill by Ringo, which acts as a
segue to the 10 bar bridge. The drum fill, played by Andy White in the fourth
bar on the version recorded on September 11th, is replaced by “in my heart,”
which is harmonized by Paul and George. Instead, a drum fill is played by Ringo
in the third bar. We see a partial reprise of the verse structure at the end of
the bridge, starting with the words “you, oh yeah, why do you make me blue”
mimicking the melody line of “please me, oh yeah, like I please you.” Each of
these phrases could be sung interchangeably.
The bridge does not go to any uncharted territory with its chord
structure, as the three chords heard in the verses are repeated throughout. The
interest lies in the rapid-fire eighth notes used predominantly throughout the
bridge, in comparison with the quarter notes used in the verses. This suggests
an urgency which creates a counterpoint to the verses’ simple-but-catchy melody
line.
The final verse is a repeat of the first verse, with the exception
of the conclusion, which repeats the “please please me” hook line three times
for emphasis. Cleverly, the last line of the verse combines the word ‘please’
with the first word of the repeated last line, which becomes “like I, please
please me.” This clever subtlety is sung twice until the third repeated hook
line ends with an exuberant and tight five chord progression which ends the song.
This brings the final verse to a whopping total of 21 bars.
The lyrics of the song describe as if the singer is relating a
personal experience between his ‘girl’ and himself. Actually, the only
indication of this is in its’ opening line, which is repeated twice in the
song, “Last night I said these words to my girl.” Other than this line, the
rest of the lyrics sound as if he is speaking to his ‘love interest,’
addressing her throughout the song as “you.” Therefore, it would probably be
appropriate for most of the lyrics of this song to be in quotes, being that all
of this relates to a third party.
Another interesting observation concerning the lyrics is the
suggestion, by author Tim Riley, that “Please Please Me” is the “first real
oral sex pop song.” While, with this thought in mind, you can interpret the
song seems written about this subject, it seems unlikely that this early on
Lennon would have tackled this subject. In later years, he liked to touch on
matters such as this, but in slyer ways, such as in “Happiness Is A Warm
Gun,” “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Dig A
Pony.” But since the Beatles, as of this date, deny ‘oral sex’ as the subject
of “Please Please Me,” we have to conclude that the song should stand interpreted
with a more innocent slant. Of course, McCartney has been known to elaborate on
all-things-Beatles as the years progress, so maybe this will be confirmed one
day. And, of course, we can’t put it past Lennon to pull one over on us.
The excellent musicianship displayed on this track shows The
Beatles to be an impressively tight unit, trained from years of experience in
Hamburg as well as the Cavern. All the intricate breaks and unforeseen changes
come across effortlessly, showing the public what they were really capable of
even at this early stage.
Ringo shows himself very adept at holding his own, even while
mimicking Andy White’s work from the previous recording session. McCartney is
in top form performing excellent bass work while harmonizing without losing a
bit of pitch. Lennon’s last-minute adaptation to harmonica was an outstanding
fit for the song, continuing the identifiable, although short-lived, trend of
hit singles featuring that instrument.
Harrison also showed himself adept at performing the guitar riffs
that became one of the trademarks of the song. He was a little shaky with this
task when they attempted to record the song on September 11th, but during the 2
and a half months that transpired between sessions, he was quite well-rehearsed
enough to be up for the task.
A curious note is the change in the guitar riff at the end of the
bridge. On the stereo version of the song, it is noticeable that the notes he
is playing on the riff are different than the harmonica which he always plays
with in unison. It is the same way on the mono version, although it’s hard to
pick out of that mix. And, when listening to the many versions of the song done
either for the BBC or on the September 11th version (available on Anthology 1),
he always plays it with these different notes at the end of the bridge. You may
either conclude that it was planned or, more likely, that it was a mistake that
became so ingrained that it always came out that way. One would think that if
rightly planned, Lennon's’ harmonica part would have been played the same way
at that point. It also would not fit the established pattern of the song's
structure to change the guitar riff in just that one spot. Well, no one ever
claimed that The Beatles were perfect, and we’d be foolish to say they were,
but they still are the greatest.
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus this blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’
fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my
novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the “My Shop” tab near the top of this page
for full details.
Session One: The first time the song premiered in the studio was
during their first recording session at EMI studios with George Martin on June
6th, 1962 between 6 and 8 pm. It was the third of four songs recorded that day,
the number of takes not being known. George Martin did have something positive
to say about this song, commenting that he liked the switches between major and
minor chords throughout the song. This recording of “P.S. I Love You” made on
this day (with Pete Best on drums) has apparently been lost or recorded over,
although some of the tapes have resurfaced later, as has happened with the
version of “Love Me Do” recorded this day (available on “Anthology 1”). As to
whether this will too resurface, only time will tell.
Session Two: Producer Ron Richards ran The Beatles (with Ringo)
through a rehearsal session at EMI studios on September 4th, 1962, between 2:30
and 5:30 pm, to help determine which two songs would dominate for their first
single. Of the six songs rehearsed at this time, “P.S. I Love You” was one of
them, being that they had already recorded the song three months earlier on
June 6th with somewhat positive feedback from George Martin. This song was not
chosen at this time because Martin had hand-picked the song “How Do You Do It”
to be recorded as the A-side and, reluctantly, “Love Me Do” as the B-side.
As events transpired, “How Do You Do It,” although being recorded,
was rejected by publisher Dick James because he didn't think The Beatles'
version did the song justice. This left a big question mark as to what the
A-side of the first Beatles record was to be. That question mark was still
hanging in the air next week as they reconvened at EMI studios for their next
recording session.
Session Three: September 11th, 1962, was that session, with Ron
Richards producing. The session ran from 4:45 to 6:30 pm in EMI Studio Two.
Geoff Emerick, a newly hired teenage ‘button-pusher’ at EMI, was present at
this session to witness the uncomfortable situation that ensued as Ringo
arrived on this day to find a professional drummer, Andy White, had been hired
for the session. “We weren’t happy with the drum sound on the original ‘Love Me
Do,’” explains Richards regarding their September 4th session, “so I booked
Andy White for the re-make. I used him a lot at the time – he was very good.”
Emerick’s book “Here, There And Everywhere” gives the details:
“Ringo looked around a little helplessly, at a loss as to what to do. He began
heading up to the control room. As the door opened, (engineer Norman Smith)
crossed the room to greet him. ‘Morning Norman,’ Ringo answered in a funeral
tone that matched his demeanor. Where’s George (Martin)? A flustered Ron
(Richards) cleared his throat and introduced himself to Ringo…’Well, actually
he’s asked me to tell you that we’ll be using Andy here today – he’s a professional
drummer, hired for the session.’ Ringo’s face fell further still; he looked
like he wanted to jump off the nearest bridge.”
Geoff Emerick continues: “Andy White, looking embarrassed, stood
up. ‘Hello, mate,’ he said to Ringo, ‘I’ve heard a lot of good things about
your group.’ They shook hands awkwardly; then White quickly headed down to the
studio. I remember being impressed by Andy’s decision to leave right away, thus
avoiding what could have been an unpleasant confrontation – another lesson in
studio etiquette. Dejectedly, Ringo sank into a chair beside Ron, and the
session got underway. The Beatles began by running through a new song, entitled
‘P.S. I Love You.’ After just a few run-throughs, White seemed to get the hang
of it. I was amazed at how quickly he did so, and how well he fit in with three
unfamiliar musicians – the mark of a great session player.”
“Following some discussion, it was decided that full drums weren’t
necessary on the song and (Andy White) was relegated to playing bongos. After a
few run-throughs, Ron suggested that Ringo go downstairs and join in, playing
maracas. I could sense that he was growing increasingly uncomfortable at having
the sulking drummer sitting beside him, and this must have struck him as a good
way of getting Ringo out of the control room.”
“P.S. I Love You” was recorded live with no overdubs or edits, and
after 10 takes, it was complete, take 10 being deemed best. After the recording
was complete, Emerick recalls that the group “came up to the control room for a
playback. They were enthused by what they were hearing, and eagerly discussed
making it the A-side, but Richards dismissed them imperiously. ‘It’s good, but
it’s no A-side,’ he said. ‘We’ll use it as the B-side of your first single. Now
we need to get back to work; George (Martin) wants you to have another go at
‘Love Me Do.’” Richards reveals another reason “P.S. I Love You” couldn’t be
the A-side: “I was originally a music publishing man, a plugger, so I knew that
someone had already done a record with that title.” A similarly titled song
recorded by Peggy Lee was no doubt remembered by Richards.
The song took approximately one hour to record, so by 5:45 pm,
they recorded a version of John's recent composition "Please Please
Me" for possible consideration as the B-side and then began work on “Love
Me Do.” “P.S. I Love You” was then mono mixed at the end of the session by
Richards, Smith, and an unknown 2nd engineer, in the control room of EMI Studio
Two and used for its’ British single release on October 5th, 1962.
Stereo Mixing: February 25th, 1963, was the date chosen to create
both mono and stereo mixes for the upcoming British album, “Please Please Me.”
Since “P.S. I Love You” was also to be on the album, and it was recorded on a
single track only, they somehow needed to create a stereo mix for the stereo
copies of the album. To solve the problem, a “fake” stereo mix had to be made
from the mono mix made on September 11th, 1962. Like “Love Me Do,” the song was
rechanneled to have all the treble frequencies on one side and all the bass
frequencies on the other, creating a stereo effect. There has never been, nor
ever will be, a true stereo mix of the song, since it was originally only
recorded in mono.
There are, however, additional official Beatle-related recordings
of the song. Sometime between September of 1987 and February of 1989, while
Paul McCartney was recording his “Flowers In The Dirt” album, he and his band
concocted a rhythmic rendition of both “P.S. I Love You” and “Love Me Do” which
they entitled “P.S. Love Me Do.” They were paired together, undoubtedly,
because of these two song's publishing being the only ones in the entire
Lennon/McCartney catalog that were owned by Paul. This studio recording miss
inclusion on his solo album except for the Japanese version, entitled “Special
Package,” which featured various bonus tracks. A live version of this song also
surfaced, recorded on April 21st, 1990 in Rio de Janeiro, which he included on
European copies of his EP “Birthday.”
Song Structure and Style
At first glance, this song seems to have an unorthodox structure,
but after being analyzed, it is found to be of a similar structure as most of
the early Beatles catalog. The structure consists of ‘verse/ verse/ bridge/
verse’ (or aaba). The exception to this rule is the unique introduction to the
song, which is an altered version of the bridge that is repeated twice later in
the song. The introduction, although identical in lyrics and number of bars to
the bridge, differs in chord structure as well as melody line. Whether George
Martin suggested this introduction, as other early Beatles songs were subjected
to introductory arrangements by Martin, or stood as McCartney’s original
arrangement remains unknown. Either way, it opens the song in a very unique and
impressive way.
After this eight-bar introduction, the first verse commences,
which consists of ten bars. McCartney is clearly singing lead with background
harmony vocals from John and George, interestingly accentuating whatever
syllable appears on the one beat of the first five bars, which turn out to be,
“Treasure these few words till we’re together, keep all my love forever.” An
interesting chord (B flat) is played during the first occurrence of the word
“you,” adding anticipation which leads back to the resolving chord (D). McCartney’s adept and effective songwriting
skills are on display even this early in The Beatles’ songwriting career.
Each verse consists of an alternating between major and minor
chords, which is what attracted George Martin to this song, and
characteristically concludes with the title of the song, which becomes the
hook-line.
After a second verse which is identical in structure, the first
actual occurrence of the bridge takes place, which consists of eight bars and
features full three-part harmony from Paul, John, and George. This is followed
by an identical repetition of the first verse before segueing into the bridge
once again. This time McCartney accentuates the bridge in between each lyric
gap, which differentiates it from the first time the bridge entered.
The final verse, which is a repetition of the second verse, is
different this time in that the background vocals harmonize throughout the
first five bars instead of the first syllable, as was done with each preceding
verse. Four additional bars are added to the end as the harmonies rise, which
creates a suitable climatic conclusion. So ends a satisfying and cleverly
arranged production.
Andy White’s bongo style on the song hints at a rumba or cha-cha
style (one even wants to say ‘cha-cha-cha’ at the end of the song). And with
Ringo’s maracas, we get a full Latin flavor to the song.
Many may dismiss White’s drumming style on this song, saying that
he misses the mark by not incorporating The Beatles driving beat. The
responsibility, no doubt, probably rests on either Paul McCartney or George
Martin, who intended the song to sound this way. George Martin is probably the
one favored here since The Beatles heeded to his expertise in the studio this
early in the game. It should be noted that White’s drumming on “Love Me Do,”
also recorded this day, incorporated the rock/r&b style that The Beatles previously
played on the song (witness Pete Best playing on "Anthology 1" and
Ringo Starr’s released version on "Past Masters Volume 1"). We may
never settle this argument fully because, even though Best and Ringo had played
the song in the studio prior to Andy White, neither of those versions have
survived for our ears to hear. Ringo’s performances of the song after this,
such as on the BBC, mimicked Andy White’s drumming as heard on the released
record.
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Session One: The first actual recording of the song occurred at
EMI studios on June 6th, 1962. The Beatles (with Pete Best) arrived at EMI and
set up their instruments in Studio Three for this two-hour session (6 to 8 pm).
The equipment they brought was not at all suitable for recording purposes. They
had to strap up Lennon's amplifier to stop it from rattling and had to do a
soldering job on a Tannoy speaker to convert it for McCartney to play through
since his amplifier proved insufficient.
With this accomplished, The Beatles showed producers, George
Martin, and Ron Richards, what they could do. (George Martin was not present at
first, delegating "pop" recordings to producer Ron Richards.) It was
standard practice for the producer to start with what he felt was the most
promising consideration for a single. Therefore, Ron Richards suggested they
first perform “Besame Mucho” (their rendition of The Coasters version) although
senior producer George Martin reportedly thought the song was “too corny.” The
band then went into the song which they hoped would be chosen for the single,
“Love Me Do.”
Although the number of takes they did this day is not known, more
than performed one take took place. Tape operator Chris Neal recalls: "All
of a sudden there was this raunchy noise which struck a chord in our heads. It
was 'Love Me Do.' Norman (Smith) said to
me, 'Oi, go down and pick up George (Martin) from the canteen and see what he
thinks of this.'" When George Martin arrived in the control room, he was
attracted by something they were doing. "I picked up on 'Love Me Do'
mainly because of the harmonica sound. I loved raw harmonica and used to issue
the records of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee." The harmonica John was
using, by the way, was the chromatic model that he, reportedly,
"shoplifted" in Arnhem, Holland during their first trip to Hamburg,
Germany.
George Martin, however, started to make arrangement suggestions
for the song. He noticed that John was singing the song's title solo during the
climax of each verse but then switched to harmonica before he could sing the
word "do." Paul relates:
"George Martin said, 'Wait a minute, there's a crossover there. Someone
else has got to sing 'love me do' because you're going to have a song called
'Love Me Waahhh.' So, Paul, will you sing 'love me do'?" God, I got the
screaming heebie-jeebies. We were doing it live, and I was suddenly given this
massive moment on our first thing, where everything stopped, no backing, the
spotlight went to me, and I went (in trembling tones) 'love me doooooo.' I can
still hear the shake in my voice when I listen to it."
It is interesting to note that the harmonica continued to play a
major role in their early recordings. Their next two singles (“Please Please
Me” and “From Me To You”), as well as other tracks recorded during the early
days, featured the instrument as overdubs. After 1963, however, John rarely
used the harmonica again, although the instrument did make brief appearances in
songs like “I’m A Loser” and even “Rocky Raccoon.”
After the “nerve-wracking” (as McCartney described it) experience
of having a professional producer rearrange your song for you, Martin decided
that he wasn’t very impressed with the song after all. He reportedly “hated the
lyrics.” He then asked them what else they had, and they did two other
originals that day, “P.S. I Love You” and “Ask Me Why.”
Another thing that Martin was not impressed with was Pete Best. As
they had rehearsed in Hamburg back in May, Pete incorporated his "skip
beat" into "Love Me Do" during this recording. The awkward
timing change was very noticeable, something we can all now hear since this
recording surfaced after released on the compilation album "Anthology
1." This is not to be evidence alone that Pete Best was not a talented
drummer - one listen to the previous track "Besame Mucho" (also
available on "Anthology 1") will show how impressive he could be. At
any rate, what George Martin deduced from this day was that he needed to use a
sessions drummer for The Beatles. This was the final nail in the coffin for
Best, as they had been thinking of replacing him with Ringo for some time.
Their next appointment in the studio would be without Pete Best.
Concerning John's harmonica work on the song, he took advantage of
being in the company of Delbert McClinton, the harmonica player with Bruce
Channel, during The Beatles' appearance with them on June 21st. Lennon
reportedly got a fifteen-minute lesson from McClinton on how to perform the
"Hey Baby" harmonica riff in preparation for the group's next trip to
the recording studio in September.
Session Two: George Martin did not know anything about replacing
Pete Best until, on September 4th, 1962, The Beatles walked into the recording
studio with Ringo Starr. (George Harrison, in fact, came this day sporting a
black eye that some sources say he received from a 'head-butted' Pete Best fan
at the Cavern Club.) The three-hour session (7 to 10 pm) was arranged precisely
for recording both sides of their first single.
Before the session started, though, there was a rehearsal session
(from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.) to determine which songs would best suit recorded that
evening. Martin had insisted that a song which he found for them, “How Do You
Do It,” would be the A-side of the first single, which he had introduced to The
Beatles beforehand by sending a demo recording of the song to Liverpool for
them to learn. Later that afternoon, Martin decided from the rehearsal session
that “Love Me Do” ranked the best candidate for the flip side.
At some point during the evening recording session, which started
at 7 pm, John made it known to George Martin that, although they worked up what
they felt was a suitable arrangement, they disliked “How Do You Do It” with a
passion. The Beatles felt that they “couldn’t take that song back to Liverpool”
and that they’d be “laughed at.” Even though they felt the intimidation of
being in a ‘big time’ recording studio, they stood their ground about wanting
to record their own material. But Martin stood on stronger ground and insisted,
saying that when they could write a better song than what he had chosen for
them, he would let them release it as the A-side. So far, as far as he was
concerned, their original compositions were suitable only for B-sides.
So, after at least two reluctant but spirited takes of “How Do You
Do It,” George Martin considered the song complete and ready for mono mixing,
which followed that evening. The next task at hand, starting at approximately
7:30 p.m., was to record the intended B-side, “Love Me Do,” which brought a
much more labored effort. This was a one-track recording, meaning mono only,
George Martin deciding to focus on the rhythm track alone without vocals, which
alone took 15 takes to perfect. Thereafter, as the rhythm track copied from one
tape machine to another, John and Paul superimposed their vocals. This also was
a labored effort which took much longer than expected to get this song
recorded, George Martin having to extend the session well past the usual 10 pm
ending time to 11:15 pm.
It is interesting to note that, since the vocals ended up as
superimposed later, Lennon could very well have sung lead on the song. In later
years, there were instances when you would hear John’s harmonica while he was
singing (such as “I’ll Get You” and “I Should Have Known Better”) as
overdubbing progressively became standard practice in the studio. The best
explanation is that, since they had already made the switch to McCartney
singing lead back in June, they would stick with that plan. Some of their fans
back home, including Johnny Gustafson (the bass player of the band The Big
Three), protested to McCartney singing lead when the record was released,
saying that they liked Lennon’s lead vocals better, as they were used to
hearing live.
With Ringo being a relatively new member of the band, both
McCartney and George Martin were reportedly not very happy with his drumming on
the song. Paul relates that after the session was over, John, Paul, and George
Harrison were told privately by Martin that he would like to do the session for
“Love Me Do” again with a hired session drummer. Although this was hard for the
band to accept, they relented, and another booked session took place a week
later. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, a mono mix was made of this song as
well, although unknown which take deemed best.
Session Three: During the week-long interval between recording
sessions, an interesting development took place. Music publisher Dick James did
not like the rendition of "How Do You Do It" that The Beatles
recorded and did not want it released on either side of their single, saving
the song for someone else to record who could do the song justice. Also, music
publishers Ardmore and Beechwood poised themselves for financial gain with any
Lennon / McCartney songs released, so they added pressure for both sides of the
first Beatles single to be original compositions. With all this in mind, George
Martin relented to John Lennon's request for The Beatles to release their own
songs. Therefore, with so much time invested in "Love Me Do,"
Management decided that the recording of this song done on September 4th, 1962
with Ringo on drums was to be The Beatles first A-side. Their next recording
session on September 11th, 1962 in EMI Studio Two (4:45 to 6:30 pm) would
accomplish the B-side of their first single. And since this was just to record
a B-side, George Martin would let Ron Richards handle the production.
Ringo had no clue of their decision to hire a session drummer.
Therefore, when The Beatles arrived in the studio on this day, apparently he
was the only one surprised to see session drummer Andy White there as well. At
first, Ringo sat dejectedly in the control room with producer Ron Richards,
thinking about how phony the record business was because of their not allowing
him to play with his band. Richards then asked him to play maracas on the first
song recorded that day, “P.S. I Love You.” There apparently was some thought
given to this song becoming the A-side, again relegating “Love Me Do” to the
B-side. Ron Richards then realized that the title “P.S. I Love You” was already
gracing a previously released song by Peggy Lee, so this squashed the idea of
this title being The Beatles' first A-side.
As an alternative for consideration for the B-side of the single,
The Beatles then launched into a recording of "Please Please Me" with
Andy White on drums, this version is now available on the compilation album
"Anthology 1." It nearly made the grade for being the B-side to "Love
Me Do," evidence of an acetate disc made for production. However, George
Martin, who was then present in the studio, suggested they leave the song for
another time because it was "too good a song to just throw away" on a
B-side. Then, Ringo was “shattered” when
he realized that his band was then asked to re-record “Love Me Do” with Andy
White on drums. He felt they were doing a “Pete Best” on him and that, since he
apparently was only good enough to play drums at their performances, he “might
as well leave.” Ringo reluctantly played the tambourine and, starting at
approximately 6 pm, they went through 18 takes of the song, this time live in
the studio, vocals and all. The last take, take 18, was deemed the best and a
mono mix followed at the end of the session.
In the end, after some discussion, the original version of “Love
Me Do” recorded on September 4th, 1962 with Ringo on drums would indeed be the
A-side of their first British single after all, with "P.S. I Love
You" as the B-side. Ringo was quite happy about that!
Stereo Mixing: On February
25th, 1963, George Martin assembled his team in Studio one at EMI to produce
mono and stereo mixes for their first album, “Please Please Me.” The version of
“Love Me Do” that would appear on the album, it was decided, was the Andy White
version recorded on September 11th, so the mono mix made on that day was
sufficient for the mono release of the album. However, the stereo version of
the album needed a stereo mix, and the song originally recorded appeared on
only one track, so a stereo version of the song needed to be mixed somehow from
the mono mix done on September 11th. To remedy this situation, George Martin
prepared a “mock” stereo version of the song by placing the bass signals of the
song on one channel and the treble frequencies on the other channel. This
process gives the listener a higher definition stereo feel, but without the
separation of true stereo, as most of the other tracks on the album have. This
mix is what appears on all of the stereo US versions of the song.
Session Four: On May 30th, 1968, during the recording of the
rhythm track for what became "Revolution 1," 'take 18' evolved into a
long jam session that lasted over ten minutes. During this jam, Paul was
inspired to sing a verse of "Love Me Do" which bled over onto an open
microphone and prompted Ringo to perform a 'Beatles break' similar to the
original recording. This 'take' was eventually released on the Super Deluxe
50th Anniversary edition of the "White Album" in 2018.
Session Five: Interestingly enough, the last recording session
that included the song was on January 28th, 1969. This occurred at Apple
Studios as the then titled “Get Back” project was nearing completion. An
impromptu rendition of “Love Me Do” found it's way onto tape but, because of
the “rough” sound quality of the recording, it never materialized on any
Beatles release.
Session Six: On June 23rd, 1994, the three surviving Beatles met
in George's private home studio at Friar Park at Henley On Thames, England, for
a recording session that Apple Corp filmed for possible inclusion in the
"Anthology" television special. "They did a whole lot of rock
and roll songs," television director Bob Smeator relates, although the
vast majority of the recording and film footage has never seen the light of day,
a small snippet of the available footage shows what appears to be a newly
recorded version of "Love Me Do," granting not officially verified.
One question remains, however, about the original 1962 recording
of the song: Why was the first version of “Love Me Do” with Ringo on drums
replaced with the second version with Andy White on drums for all future single
releases in Britain (and the rest of the world)? The answer lies with George
Martin. He apparently felt strongly enough about this matter to destroy the
master tape of Ringo’s version of the song as he was preparing the British EP
“The Beatles’ Hits,” released in September of 1963. He wanted to ensure that
the superior version in his opinion, the Andy White version, would be the one
to go down in history. Since the version with Ringo finally did resurface in
1980, his idea didn’t quite go as planned.
Official Beatle-related recordings of “Love Me Do” also include a
session by Paul McCartney, sometime between September of 1987 and February of
1989, of a unique composition entitled “P.S. Love Me Do.” “Love Me Do” and
“P.S. I Love You” survived as the only “Lennon/McCartney” songs in the entire
catalog owned by MPL Communications (Paul’s music publishing company). This
being the case, Paul combined both songs and, with his current studio band,
created a rhythmic rendition which he recorded during the sessions for what
became his album “Flowers In The Dirt.” While the song did not appear on the
general release of this album, it was among the many bonus tracks that did
appear on the 1990 Japanese Tour edition, entitled “Special Package.”
A live recording of “P.S. Love Me Do” was made on April 21st,
1990, in Rio de Janeiro, the results appearing on his “Birthday” EP released
later that year.
Also, sometime between February of 1997 and February of 1998,
Ringo and his current studio band recorded a new version of “Love Me Do” for
his eleventh studio album “Vertical Man,” which was co-produced by Ringo and
Mark Hudson. The song features Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler on backing
vocals and harmonica. A live recording of Ringo’s version of the song was made
as well, on May 13th, 1998, and released on his album “VH1 Storytellers.”
Song Structure and Style
This song, directly listened to, defines written in the 'verse/
verse/ bridge/ verse' style (or aaba) as most other songs on the album. Despite
its simplistic structure, there are some unique characteristics here. One is
that each verse is completely identical; lyrics, harmonies, instrumentation,
and several musical bars. Typically, subsequent verses would change at least
lyrically, usually repeating the first verse only as the last verse in the
sequence. Or, there would be an added element in the instrumentation, such as
an added percussion, guitar part, etc. An added harmony may even be utilized to
distinguish one verse from the other. In this case, the song, with its
distinctive harmonies and stick-in-your-head hook, would have to stand on its
own. As time has shown, this was enough to make the song stand on its own.
Another rather unique characteristic is that the solo section of
the song, which occurs between the third and final verse, is performed in the
chord structure of the bridge. When you examine Beatles songs throughout their
career that have a solo, you’ll notice that it usually appears utilizing the
verse chords. “Love Me Do” is an early exception to this unwritten rule.
Both versions of the song are identical in structure and
performance, the only difference being the appearance of a tambourine, played
by Ringo. This is the easiest was to determine which version you possess. The
version without the tambourine is the first version recorded on September 4th,
1962, featuring Ringo on drums. The version with the tambourine is the second
version recorded on September 11th, 1962, featuring Andy White on drums and the
despondent Ringo on tambourine.
As stated by the composers, the song was written in an R&B
style, with a possible skiffle influence since crafted during the time of the
skiffle craze, and a slow skiffle beat is detected. The song opens with an
eight-bar introduction highlighted by Lennon’s harmonica riff, which becomes
the identifying element of the song. The song then naturally progresses to the
first verse with the distinctive vocal harmonies of Lennon and McCartney, John
taking the lower (formerly lead) vocal line to McCartney’s higher (formerly
backing) vocal line. Each verse has an unusual 13 bars, which includes a 2 and
a half bar “please” with harmonies that cascade into a break, allowing for the
usual ending of the verse with the title of the song used as the hook line.
Notice that McCartney has to sing the song's title in the lower register sung
by John throughout the rest of the song, which is evidence that John usually
sang it prior. But, in order for the harmonica to come in on the one beat of
the 10th bar as prescribed by George Martin, McCartney was now dubbed “lead
singer” of the song.
After the identical second verse, Paul once again sings the lower
register lead vocals of the 8-bar bridge while John plays a harmonica line.
Paul then alternates to his former higher vocal line whenever John doesn’t have
a harmonica in his mouth, allowing Lennon to sing his usual lower register
vocal line. This happens twice but ends in another break, allowing for a subtle
transition back to a third identical verse.
The bridge chords then repeat, but this time as a harmonica solo
from Lennon, which is quite reminiscent of the harmonica work on Bruce
Channel’s hit “Hey Baby,” which inspired John’s performance. The bridge is
extended another 4 bars and ends in another break, which acts as another
transition back to the identical final verse. This verse then extends and
repeats until faded out, which occurred at the mix session near the end of each
day’s recording.
An issue needs to be settled regarding whether Lennon played
guitar on the session, as some claim that he did. We can reach an answered
conclusion determined by a few examined details. The first detail is that the
second version of the song (the one most are familiar with) was recorded
completely live, vocals and all. Some can claim he could have played his Gibson
J160E guitar while having a harmonica brace around his neck, allowing both
instruments played throughout the song. But the question was: 'Did he wear a
harmonica brace on the days the song was recorded?' He did have one during 1964
performances while performing songs such as “I’m A Loser.” One thing that is
for certain is that it was impossible for Lennon to play both instruments live
at the same time without a harmonica brace. It is improbable that he would have
kept putting down his harmonica and picking up a guitar pick and then kept
doing this repeatedly throughout the song.
To help settle this issue, we can observe actual photographs taken
during the first session of this song. Lennon can clearly be seen with his
acoustic guitar strapped on but holding his harmonica with both hands. He does
not have a harmonica brace in the pictures. Although the vocals were overdubbed
after the basic tracks were recorded for this version, there is no evidence to
suggest that the harmonica was recorded simultaneously with the vocal overdubs.
As for the second version with Andy White on drums, it appears highly unlikely
that John performed both guitar and harmonica simultaneously since this version
was recorded completely live.
Although pictures are not available of this second session, there
is no evidence of Lennon even possessing a harmonica brace until much later. If
you listen to the track “Love These Goon Shows!” on the “Live At The BBC”
album, you will hear a description of how John couldn’t play the guitar and
harmonica at the same time, which indicates that, at the time of recording the
song in question (June 1st, 1963), he still did not possess a harmonica brace.
Another indication is the video they made shortly afterward lip-syncing to
“Love Me Do” (as seen on the Anthology video). John cups the harmonica in his
hands when he’s not singing and, while he does have a guitar around his neck,
only taps the guitar during his vocal work on the song. And, of course, there
is not a harmonica brace in sight.
Add to this fact that a second guitar is not discernable in either
version of the song; the evidence indicates that it was impossible for Lennon to
have played guitar on “Love Me Do.”
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus this blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’
fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my
novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the “My Shop” tab near the top of this page
for full details.
