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Monday, February 11, 1963

"Please Please Me" album session #1

For The Beatles

Last updated on February 7, 2016

From Wikipedia:

[…] The norm for British 12″ vinyl pop albums in 1963 was to have seven songs on each side (American albums usually had five or six songs per side) leaving producer George Martin needing only ten more tracks if he were to include the four sides of the group’s first two singles: “I asked them what they had which we could record quickly, and the answer was their stage act” Martin said. He had at first contemplated recording the album live at the Cavern Club in front of the group’s home audience and visited the Liverpool club on 9 December 1962 to consider the technicalities (or, as more recent scholarship indicates, on 12 December 1962.) But when time constraints intervened, he decided to book them at EMI Studios in Abbey Road and record them live there instead. Martin said, “It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire—a broadcast, more or less.

Initially only a morning and afternoon session were booked; the evening session was added later. Therefore, at 10:00 am on Monday, 11 February 1963, the Beatles began working their way through their live set song by song, the number of takes varying on each, and finished at 10:45 pm—less than 13 hours later— capturing in essence an authentic representation of the band’s Cavern Club-era sound. The day ended with a cover of “Twist and Shout,” which had to be recorded last because John Lennon had a particularly bad cold and Martin feared the throat-shredding vocal would ruin Lennon’s voice for the day. This performance, caught on the first take, prompted Martin to say: “I don’t know how they do it. We’ve been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get.” Mark Lewisohn would later write: “There can scarcely have been 585 more productive minutes in the history of recorded music“. Paul McCartney double tracked his vocal on “A Taste of Honey” and Lennon added harmonica onto “There’s A Place” during these sessions. Martin overdubbed piano on “Misery” and celesta on “Baby It’s You” on 20 February during which the Beatles were not present.

The song “Hold Me Tight” was recorded during these sessions, but was “surplus to requirements” and not included on the album. “Hold Me Tight” was recorded again on 12 September 1963 for With the Beatles.

The whole day’s session cost around £400 (£10,000 as of 2016). Martin said: “There wasn’t a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000.” This budget had to cover all of the artists on Martin’s roster. Individually, under a contract with the Musicians’ Union, each Beatle collected a £7 10s (£7.50) session fee for each three-hour session. […]


Session activities

  1. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  2. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  3. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  4. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  5. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

    AlbumOfficially released on Bootleg Recordings 1963

  6. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

    AlbumOfficially released on Bootleg Recordings 1963

  7. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  8. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  9. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 9

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  10. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 10

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  11. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  12. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  13. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  14. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  15. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  16. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  17. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  18. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  19. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 9

    AlbumOfficially released on Free As A Bird

  20. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 1

    Unreleased track

  21. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 2

    Unreleased track

  22. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 3

    Unreleased track

  23. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 4

    Unreleased track

  24. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 5

    Unreleased track

  25. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

    Unreleased track

  26. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

    Unreleased track

  27. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

    Unreleased track

  28. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

    Unreleased track

  29. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

    Unreleased track

  30. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

    Unreleased track

  31. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  32. Do You Want To Know A Secret

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  33. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 6

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  34. A Taste of Honey

    Written by Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow

    Recording • Take 7

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  35. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 11

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  36. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 12

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  37. There's A Place

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 13

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  38. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 10

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  39. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 11

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  40. I Saw Her Standing There

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 12

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  41. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  42. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  43. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  44. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  45. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  46. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  47. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  48. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

    AlbumReleased on bootleg Please Please Me - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

  49. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 9

  50. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 10

  51. Misery

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 11

  52. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

  53. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

  54. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

  55. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

  56. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

  57. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

  58. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

  59. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

  60. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 9

  61. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 10

  62. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 11

  63. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 12

  64. Hold Me Tight

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 13

  65. Anna (Go to Him)

    Written by Arthur Alexander

    Recording • Take 1

  66. Anna (Go to Him)

    Written by Arthur Alexander

    Recording • Take 2

  67. Anna (Go to Him)

    Written by Arthur Alexander

    Recording • Take 3

  68. Boys

    Written by Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell

    Recording • Take 1

  69. Chains

    Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King

    Recording • Take 1

  70. Chains

    Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King

    Recording • Take 2

  71. Chains

    Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King

    Recording • Take 3

  72. Chains

    Written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King

    Recording • Take 4

  73. Baby It's You

    Written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Barney Williams

    Recording • Take 1

  74. Baby It's You

    Written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Barney Williams

    Recording • Take 2

  75. Baby It's You

    Written by Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Barney Williams

    Recording • Take 3

  76. Twist and Shout

    Written by Phil Medley, Bert Russell

    Recording • Take 1

  77. Twist and Shout

    Written by Phil Medley, Bert Russell

    Recording • Take 2


Staff

Musicians

Production staff


Going further

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn

The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.

We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!

Shop on Amazon

The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 1: My Bonnie through Beatles For Sale (1961-1964)

Nominated for the 2018 Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.

The first book of the series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 1: My Bonnie through Beatles For Sale (1961-1964)" tracks the evolution of the band from their earliest recordings and initial hits, through "Please Please Me", "With The Beatles", "A Hard Day's Night", and "Beatles For Sale". From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time.

Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.

Shop on Amazon

Paul McCartney writing

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