Video: 'Please Please Me (Mono Version / Remastered 2009)'
(Monday, November 26, 1962, 7:00-9:45 p.m. GMT) — Fresh off the moderate success of their first single “Love Me Do“/”P.S. I Love You,” the British rock music band The Beatles recorded their second single, “Please Please Me” and “Ask Me Why” tonight at EMI Studio 2 in London for release on Jan. 11, 1963.
Video: 'Please Please Me (Remastered 2009)'
Both tracks were composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Video: 'Please Please Me Beatles Isolated Vocals Only Track'
The group arrived at 6:00 p.m. GMT and rehearsed for a short time ahead of the session’s 7:00 p.m. start.
Video: 'Ask Me Why (Remastered 2009)'
They recorded 18 takes of “Please Please Me,” including overdubs of Lennon’s harmonica. At the end of the session, producer George Martin addressed the group over the studio’s talkback system. “Congratulations, gentlemen,” he told them, “You’ve just made your first number one.”
Video: 'The Beatles - Ask Me Why - Isolated Vocals'
After recording “Please Please Me,” The Beatles then turned their attention to the single’s b-side. “Ask Me Why” was completed in six takes.
Video: 'The Beatles - Ask Me Why (Instrumental Mix)'
They also performed another Lennon-McCartney original, “Tip Of My Tongue” but Martin suggested it needed more work before it would be ready to record. The Beatles never returned to this song and instead gave it to Tommy Quickly, another artist managed by the group’s manager, Brian Epstein, who would record it in July 1963.
