Baby It's You

George, Paul and Lennon

This would be the second Shirelles song covered by The Beatles in their debut album, Please Please Me. Written by Burt Bacharach and Luther Dixon with lyrics by Mack David, Baby It's You was a hit for both The Shirelles and The Beatles. However another cover of this song by the band Smith, peaked the highest in the US Charts at #5 in 1969.

John(lying) and Paul

Baby It's You is part of The Beatles stage act from 1961 to 1963. The Beatles completely mimic the structure of the original Shirelles recording, not wanting to tamper with the 'girl group' classic that they so deeply admired. Lennon delivers a very confident lead vocal, which is accentuated in the fourth measure by the recurrence of the distinctive "sha la la" harmonies by Paul and George.


An interesting fact about this song, or rather what others thought of this song is that the title of the song is "Sha-la-la-la-la", because of its' repeated occurrence in the song.


I must add that credits should be given to the composers of this song. it is a great song, no matter who performs it, be it The Beatles, The Shirelles, Smith, The Carpenters, which ever way you like it, a great song will always be a great song. Hope you enjoy listening to it.

P.S. I Love You

Beatles Fan

P.S. I Love You was written with their female audience in mind and The Beatles included this as part of their Cavern Club song set where it was a favourite of the fans. A typical McCartney's song, it is believed that the song was written in 1961. However, there are some quarters who believe that the song was written in April 1962. Regardless when the song was written, it is evident of McCartney's natural ability, even at this early stage, to write a well crafted song and impressively structured song. The song's melody, simple lyrics and effective   major-to-minor chord structure, is an indication of the potential for better things to come.

Young McCartney

An interesting fact for this song is that it is widely believed that McCartney wrote this song as a dedication to his then girlfriend, Dot Rhone. McCartney denies this and described "P.S. I Love You" as 

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

Lennon before a concert

John Lennon has this to say about the song

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

P.S I Love You peaked at #17 in the UK Singles Chart in 1962 and at #10 in the US Billboard Hot 100. When it was re-released in 1982 in UK, it peaked at #4 in the UK Singles Chart. Hope you enjoy the listening to the song!!!

Love Me Do

Young McCartney

Love Me Do is The Beatles first single in the UK. Written by Paul McCartney in his younger days, Love Me Do is a simple song with a simple melody based around 2 simple chords: G7 and C, before moving to D for its middle eight. If you listen/read the lyrics, you will find that most of them are of one syllable i.e. love, me, do, you, know. The only word that is not one syllable is someone, which of course a word that consist of two one syllable word. That is how simple the song is. 


Originally, the song was sung as a Everly Brothers-style duet, with Lennon singing "love me do" at the end of each verse. When Lennon decided to add the harmonica to the song, Paul had to sing Lennon's part at the end since Lennon could not play the harmonica riff and sing at the same time.

Lennon playing the harmonica

There were many songs at that time with the same simple message of "I Love You and You Love Me". However Love Me Do by The Beatles stands out as it was set to a gospel blues style of play. To add to the uniqueness of the song is the Lennon's harmonica introduction at the start of the song greatly adds to the blues effect that the song was meant to be. These two combined enabled the song to stand out and become The Beatles first hit.

Lennon and McCartney

An interesting fact is that the word Love is repeated 21 times in the song itself. Of course, many a die-hard Beatles fanatics would make something out of this, but Paul McCartney has this to say about Love Me Do: 

 "Love Me Do was one of our greatest philosophical songs... for it is simple and true, making it incredibly simple"


Love Me Do was the first Beatles song that I have learned to play with on guitar, and the first Beatles song that I remembered the lyrics to. It's so simple and easy and enjoyable. I hope you find the joy that I experienced listening to this song.

Please Please Me

Lennon, Harrison, McCartney and St

The second single released by the Beatles in the UK, Please Please Me is also the title track of The Beatles début album. The Beatles début album was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single.

Young Lennon with mother, Julia

Please Please Me is a John Lennon original, though like most of their songs, credited to Lennon/McCartney. The original Please Please Me was envisioned as a bluesy, slow tempo song. It was inspired by two main sources - Roy Orbisons' Only The Lonely and Bing Crosby's Please. John used to listen to his mother, Julia, sing Please around the house during his childhood and Lennon liked the wordplay in the song so much that he decided to write a song that did the same thing. The wordplay that I am referring to is "Please, lend your little ear to my pleas". 

Martin, left, with The Beatles in the studio

When their producer, George Martin, heard the original Please Please Me, he immediately requested for them to make major changes to the song, including increasing its tempo. The Beatles did as requested, and also decided at some point to repeat the "lead harmonica" effect they had used on Love Me Do.  After 18 takes of the song, the final result would be The Beatles' first major hit. George Martin, upon hearing the completed track, turned on the intercom and told the group "Gentlemen, you have just recorded your first Number One record. 

Martin with The Beatles receiving a silver disc in1963

Some would argue that George Martin was partially correct as it is a common belief that Please Please Me was never a #1 single in Britain. But on 22 February 1963, the song reached #1 on all charts but that of Record Retailer, and is used by the Guinness Book of Records. They only have it at #2, and it is the most widely quoted today.

Whether it was in #1 or not, Please Please Me is still a great song, and with both Lennon and McCartney on lead vocals, this song shows how compatible those two voices are and they should never have parted. Enjoy the song!!!

Ask Me Why

Pete Best

A Beatles original, Ask Me Why was originally released in the UK as the B-Side of Please Please Me single. The Beatles has themselves admitted that the song is a formula song and is notable for one aspect: it's the first appearance on record of a song truly written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney at the same time. The first time it was recorded was on the 6 June 1962, which featured Pete Best as the group's drummer. Unfortunately that recording has been lost to history as EMI has destroyed it. This song is also one of the few Beatles original that can be found on the infamous LP: The Beatles live at the Star Club in Hamburg.

Lennon and McCartney

Though written together, McCartney has this to say about the song:

"It was John's original idea and we both sat down and wrote it together, just did a job on it. It was mostly John's"

Lennon

Ask Me Why was greatly influenced by the style of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, an American rhythm and blues group and the first successful group for Motown. The song also draws its opening guitar phrase from the Miracles "What's So Good About Goodbye".

Ask Me Why is usually confused for There's A Place, another Beatles composition. Most die-hard Beatles fan says that this song is underrated and overlooked by new fans. Whatever their opinion is, I believe that Ask Me Why is a great composition and shows The Beatles creativity in song writing early in their career.

Hope you enjoy the song as much as I have.