History Music / PleasePleaseMe

[[SeinfeldIsUnfunny It may or may not sound like it to modern ears]], but no British band in 1963 had ever recorded anything this wild. Lemmy from Music/{{Motorhead}} used to go and see the early Beatles, and he always considered them "the gear" and [[http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/580889-the-beatles-were-hard-men-too-brian-epstein-cleaned-them a better live band than]] Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}.

** "Misery" has the distinction of being the first Beatles song to be covered, when British crooner Kenny Lynch did a version in 1963. Lynch was later one of the celebrities who appeared on the cover of Music/{{Wings}}' ''Music/BandOnTheRun''.

[[SeinfeldIsUnfunny It may or may not sound like it to modern ears]], but no British band in 1963 had ever recorded anything this wild. Lemmy from Music/{{Motorhead}} used to go and see the early Beatles, and he considered them "the gear" and [[http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/580889-the-beatles-were-hard-men-too-brian-epstein-cleaned-them a better live band than]] Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}.

''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by Music/TheBeatles, released in 1963. It is best remembered for the hit singles "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me". Fan favourites such as "I Saw Her Standing There", "There's A Place" and the cover "Twist And Shout" are also present on this album.

* Music/GeorgeHarrison - guitar, backing and lead vocals
* Music/JohnLennon - lead vocals, guitar, harmonica
* Music/PaulMcCartney - lead vocals, bass
* Music/RingoStarr - drums, percussion, lead vocals, tambourine, maracas
* Andy White - drums in "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" (uncredited)

[[SeinfeldIsUnfunny It may or may not sound like it to modern ears]], but no British band in 1963 had ever recorded anything this wild. Lemmy from Music/{{Motorhead}} used to go and see the early Beatles, and he considered them "the gear" and [[http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/580889-the-beatles-were-hard-men-too-brian-epstein-cleaned-them a better live band than]] Music/TheRollingStones.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* WorkingThroughTheCold: John and Paul both had colds at the marathon February session, with John needing to suck on throat lozenges and drink milk to get through "Twist and Shout".

It was listed at #39 in ''Magazine/RollingStone'''s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].

[[AC: Side One]]

[[AC: Side Two]]

** ''Introducing...The Beatles'' on Vee-Jay Records, which is ''Please Please Me'' minus the title song and "Ask Me Why", but otherwise the exact same song sequence, was the first Beatles album released in America. It was originally supposed to be issued in July of 1963, but financial problems at Vee-Jay forced them to scrap the release. EMI, furious at the breach of contract, yanked Vee-Jay's Beatle rights. Then, when news of Capitol's impending Beatles promo campaign broke at the start of 1964, Vee-Jay decided to release the album, knowing they were going to get sued, but figuring they'd still clean up money-wise. It was competing directly with Capitol's ''Music/WithTheBeatles'' retool ''Meet the Beatles'', and "I Saw Her Standing There Was" was on both albums. A publishing dispute led Vee-Jay to drop "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" and reinstate "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" on reissue. Then Vee-Jay repackaged the album twice, as ''Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles '' and ''The Beatles vs. [[Music/FrankieValliAndTheFourSeasons The Four Seasons]]'', which simply repackaged ''Introducing...The Beatles'' and ''Golden Hits of The Four Seasons'' together in a cheesy BattleOfTheBands framework.

* CoverVersion: "Anna (Go to Him)" (originally recored by Arthur Alexander), "Chains" (first released version by The Cookies[[note]]Music/TheEverlyBrothers did the original recording, which wasn't released until decades later[[/note]]), "Boys" (a The Shirelles cover), "Baby It's You" (another Shirelles cover), "A Taste of Honey" (written for the Broadway production of the play of the same title, with the first released vocal version by Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, of all people; he was in that Broadway production. The Beatles' take is based on the Lenny Welch rendition) and "Twist and Shout" (Covering Up a CoveredUp song, with The Beatles covering Music/TheIsleyBrothers, who themselves covered The Top Notes).

* CoverVersion: "Anna (Go to Him)" (originally recored by Arthur Alexander), "Chains" (originally by The Cookies), "Boys" (a The Shirelles cover), "Baby It's You" (another Shirelles cover), "A Taste of Honey" (written for the Broadway production of the play of the same title, with the first released vocal version by Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, of all people; he was in that Broadway production. The Beatles' take is based on the Lenny Welch rendition) and "Twist and Shout" (Covering Up a CoveredUp song, with The Beatles covering Music/TheIsleyBrothers, who themselves covered The Top Notes).

* CoverVersion: "Anna (Go to Him)" (originally recored by Arthur Alexander), "Chains" (originally by The Cookies), "Boys" (a The Shirelles cover), "Baby It's You" (another Shirelles cover), "A Taste of Honey" (written for the Broadway production of the play of the same title, with the first released vocal version by Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, of all people; he was in that Broadway production. The Beatles is based on the Lenny Welch rendition) and "Twist and Shout" (Covering Up a CoveredUp song, with The Beatles covering Music/TheIsleyBrothers, who themselves covered The Top Notes).

* CoverVersion: "Anna (Go to Him)" (originally recored by Arthur Alexander), "Chains" (originally by The Cookies), "Boys" (a The Shirelles cover), "Baby It's You" (another Shirelles cover), "A Taste of Honey" (written for the Broadway production of the play of the same title, with the first released vocal version by Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, of all people; he was in that Broadway production. The Beatles version is almost a note-for-note cover of the Lenny Welch rendition) and "Twist and Shout" (Covering Up a CoveredUp song, with The Beatles covering Music/TheIsleyBrothers, who themselves covered The Top Notes).

* CoverVersion: "Anna (Go to Him)" (originally recored by Arthur Alexander), "Chains" (originally by The Cookies), "Boys" (a The Shirelles cover), "Baby It's You" (another Shirelles cover), "A Taste of Honey" (written as an {{Instrumental}} for the play of the same title, with the first vocal version by Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, of all people, though The Beatles picked it up from Lenny Welch's version) and "Twist and Shout" (Covering Up a CoveredUp song, with The Beatles covering Music/TheIsleyBrothers, who themselves covered The Top Notes).

* CoverVersion: "Anna (Go to Him)" (originally recored by Arthur Alexander), "Chains" (originally by The Cookies), "Boys" (a The Shirelles cover), "Baby It's You" (another Shirelles cover), "A Taste of Honey" (a Lenny Welch song) and "Twist and Shout" (The Isley Brothers cover).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** The lyrics to "Please Please Me" essentially mean "I went down on you, so why won't you go down on me?" (They deny this, though.)
** As discussed on the Headscratchers page, the song is blatantly sexual yet there is absolutely ''nothing'' in the lyrics that narrows it down to the subject of ''oral'' sex.
** Many question the opening lines of "I Saw Her Standing There":
---> "Well she was just seventeen\\
You know what I mean" [[note]] In the UK, the legal age is 16, so it's not really about a jailbait. [[/note]]
*** It could be playing along the lines of NatureAdoresAVirgin, which she probably is because she's so young.
*** John and Paul have both sworn it means ''literally nothing''. Paul's original lines went: "Well she was just seventeen / ''Never been a beauty queen / But'' the way she looked was way beyond compare..." which they both agreed was crap; the final version was literally the only other idea they had.

* ShoutOut:
** The bass riff from Music/ChuckBerry's "Talkin' About You" inspired "I Saw Her Standing There".
** "Twist & Shout" is performed on the street during a memorable scene in ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff''.

[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/please_please_me_2939.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320: A pleasing album that will make you twist and shout!]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/please_please_me_2939.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: A pleasing album that will make you twist and shout!]]

* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Averted with The Shirelles cover "Boys", which the Beatles sang without altering the lyrics or caring about homosexual undertones in their case.

* EnforcedMethodActing: Aside from "Love Me Do" and its B-side "P.S. I Love You", taken straight from he single, it was all recorded in just one day, an exhausting 13-hour period. The intention was to make it as sound as much as a LiveAlbum as possible, and it's been stated that John's voice in "Twist and Shout" shows the wear and tear from all the work; in fact, John apparently insisted on saving that song for last because he knew it was going to wreck his voice completely.