After the single "Please Please Me" became the Beatles' first number-one hit, the band needed a debut album quickly and recorded the songs in just one day.
The debut Beatles album was a number one hitImage: Universal Music/picture alliance/dpa
Advertisement
When the album "Please Please Me" was released in the UK on March 22, 1963, it shot straight into the Top 10 of the British charts. Six weeks later it was number one, and stayed there for 30 weeks. It also spawned a number of hit singles including "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Twist and Shout."
But the record was a rush job. It was mostly recorded in one day by the Fab Four from Liverpool while Paul McCartney and John Lennon were suffering from a cold.
At the time, the band played a grinding schedule of gigs in small clubs, or as an opening act for other artists. With a growing fan base, and as mainstays of the popular Liverpool Cavern Club, "The North's No. 1 Rock Combo" sometimes played two gigs a day. On New Year's Eve in 1962, The Beatles performed what proved to be their last gig at the Star Club in Hamburg, a venue where they had played residencies since 1960.
The Beatles' first number one
In between gigs, producer George Martin of EMI Records — with which the band signed in 1962 — called the band into Abbey Road Studios in London. The single "Love Me Do," released in October 1962, reached number 17 in the charts but still made the Beatles famous nationwide.
A successor had to come quickly. Martin desperately wanted to record "How Do You Do It," written by composer Mitch Murray, but the Beatles wanted to release their own composition.
The Beatles in the months after their debut album went number oneImage: empics/picture alliance
They looked to John Lennon's "Please Please Me," which was recorded in September 1962 at the same sessions where "Love Me Do" was written. Peppered with sexual innuendo, the lyrics of "Please" seem almost raunchy by the standards of the time.
Producer Martin didn't like the style of this version of the song — too monotonous, too slow. And so they were all back in the studio recording the single that was to catapult the Beatles to number one.
When the recordings were finished, Martin was confident: "You've just recorded your first number one." On January 11, 1963, the single with the B-side "Ask Me Why" was released and Martin was proven right.
Meanwhile, the hit single helped The Beatles promote their ongoing daily concert schedule, with manager Brian Epstein now firmly at the helm. It was not long before Martin called them back into the studio on February 11, 1963. The first long-playing record was to be made — and in one day!
Advertisement
The Fab Four's 13-hour recording marathon
George Martin wanted to get the raw, original sound out of the Fab Four.
The band was tight, having been playing so many shows, and they managed to record the remaining 10 songs live — in addition to the existing four titles.
For the last number, "Twist and Shout," John had to give his battered voice a rest, forcing Martin to go with a scratchy take that has endeared the song to millions of Beatles fans to this day.
Producer Brian Epstein pushed The Beatles to record their first album in a single dayImage: picture alliance/United Archives
Martin only used a two-track tape recorder, and only a few instruments were mixed in. It took them between 15 and 90 minutes per song.
After almost 13 hours, gallons of tea, milk, throat lozenges and cigarettes, the songs were recorded, with Martin later adding some piano tracks.
Despite the rather simple recording technique, the production costs were relatively high: £400, which would correspond to about $9,200 (€8,500) today.
The start of Beatlemania
It unusual for a band to put so many of their own songs on a debut album at the time: only six of the 14 tracks on "Please Please Me" were cover versions.
The fact that the Beatles had convinced their producer to record their own material meant that the Lennon-McCartney pair were quickly recognized as songwriters. Paul and John agreed to always use both their names, even if a song was only written by one of them.
The album "Please Please Me" still sounds fresh and testifies to the band's, and George Martin's, perfectionism and conviction to break new ground.
The first of 12 studio albums, the debut long-play not only marked the start of a global Beatlemania but also the birth of a new way of making pop music that would inspire future generations of musicians.
A Beatle and more: George Harrison
Shy and standing in the shadows of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, "The Beatles" lead guitarist became known as "quiet Beatle." A look at George Harrison's life in honor of his 80th birthday.
Image: Mary Evans Library/picture-alliance
More than The Beatles
After gaining world fame with the Beatles, George Harrison went on to enjoy success as a solo artist, as well as chart a personal spiritual path. Harrison takes 11th place on the list of the "100 best guitarists of all time" by the music magazine "Rolling Stone." Throughout his life, he was on a spiritual quest — one which decisively influenced his music.
Image: KPA Copyright/picture-alliance
A lad from Liverpool
George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943, in Wavertree, a suburb of the northern English port city of Liverpool. He went to the same primary school as the three-year-old John Lennon and later met Paul McCartney on the school bus — an encounter that would change his life and the world.
Image: Getty Images
A musical boy from Liverpool
A friend of his father taught George the basics of playing guitar. He got his own first instrument at 13; today, it hangs as a memento behind glass. Coming of age in the heyday of rock 'n' roll, George, like many boys, dreamed of a career as a rock musician. In 1958, his friend Paul McCartney brought him into the band The Quarrymen, which had been founded by John Lennon two years earlier.
Image: CC 2.0/Hens Zimmerman/wikimedia
A Beatles career
In 1960, The Quarrymen became The Beatles, though with a slightly different cast. That was the start of an incredible world career. George Harrison (center top) played lead guitar. The fact that John Lennon and Paul McCartney called the shots always rankled him. Harrison conceded that the two were a great duo — but they had egos to match, and there simply was no room for anyone else.
Image: Mary Evans/imago images
Beatlemania in Germany
No matter where they showed up, the Fab Four from Liverpool unleashed a frenzy. Young girls fainted left and right, for instance during a 1966 Germany tour organized by the German teen magazine "Bravo." It was the only time the Beatles ever toured Germany.
Image: UPI Photo/imago images
The songwriter
While in The Beatles, George Harrison wrote quite a few songs, but for the most part, he couldn't get his material past Lennon and McCartney. Classic Beatles songs including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" ("White Album," 1968), "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" ("Abbey Road," 1969) were the exception.
For the first time in 1965, while shooting the movie "Help," Harrison held an instrument in his hands that was widely unknown in Europe: a sitar. Fascinated, he took lessons with Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar (above right). He played the instrument in the song "Norwegian Wood" (1965), starting a trend. In "Paint It Black" (1966), The Rolling Stones also played a sitar.
Image: ASSOCIATED PRESS/picture alliance
Spiritual journey
Harrison increasingly showed an interest in Indian culture. In 1966 The Beatles traveled to India to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. While the other members of the band quickly lost interest, Harrison took it a step further and converted to Hinduism, subsequently joining the Hare Krishna movement. He also traveled on various occasions back to India, such as in 1996 (above).
Image: public domain/wikimedia
Just married
On January 21, 1966, Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a photo model he met while shooting "Yeah Yeah Yeah." The above photo shows the young couple in Barbados. Back then, no one would have guessed that only six years later, Pattie would run away with George's best friend, Eric Clapton.
Image: London Express/dpa/picture-alliance
An end — and new beginnings
Unhappy with his role in the band, Harrison recorded a solo album in 1968, "Wonderwall Music." The Beatles split up two years later, and Harrison released "All Things Must Pass," a song that rose to the top of the charts in England and the US. He must have had 80 songs tucked away in a drawer that he never got to record with the Beatles, record producer Phil Spector said.
Image: United Archives/imago images
Concert for Bangladesh
Many of Harrison's songs are about spirituality and the transience of life. In 1971, he organized a concert for Bangladesh to raise money for the victims of a devastating flood. It was a groundbreaking charity concert, featuring the likes of Bob Dylan (above right), Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar and Eric Clapton.
Image: Everett Collection/picture-alliance
Life at Friar Park
Friar Park, a mansion in Oxfordshire, was home for George Harrison, his second wife, Olivia, and their son, Dhani. In December 1999, a demented man entered the premises and attacked the musician with a knife. Harrison survived, severely injured.
Image: Tim_Ockenden/dpa/picture-alliance
At auction
Harrison had a few hits in the 80s and 90s, but then his life took a different turn. Records, films, TV performances — he lost interest and decided to let it all go, he said, adding these things are only meaningful to people who don't know where they are headed. Pictured above are letters and tapes of an unreleased song written for a friend that were auctioned in 2017.
Image: Peter Byrne/empics/picture-alliance
Posthumous honor
George Harrison died of lung cancer on November 29, 2001. He was 58 years old. Eight years after his death, Hollywood gave him a star on the Walk of Fame. His former Beatles band colleague, Paul McCartney, his wife Olivia and their son, Dhani, turned out for the ceremony.
