This week, Sneaky Dragon’s Ian Boothby and David Dedrick look at the Beatles second album, Please Please Me, as well as their third and fourth singles, “From Me to You” and “She Loves You”. Ian finds his own narrative on the LP; David gives George Martin his props and discusses John and Paul’s writing methods. There is also the usual general silliness.
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Hey:
I am certain someone has written this previously, and I hate to be “that guy,” but a couple of things:
You mentioned that “There’s a Place” was written by John but was sung by Paul. Actually, John sings the lead and Paul sings the harmony.
Also, you mentioned that “All My Loving” was on an EP. That is true. But you’re in Canada, right. It *was* a single in Canada. (And I think it did well.) The Canadian import actually charted in the U.S.
I love the podcast.
J
Thanks for the corrections and amplifications, J! Don’t worry about being “that guy”. If I wasn’t “that guy”, I wouldn’t be doing this podcast.
Did I say Paul sang “There’s a Place?” What a dummy! It’s obviously John singing. I guess my mouth was working faster than my mind! I must admit, though, that when I was younger, I had trouble telling Paul and John apart when they sang. It wasn’t until I got Revolver (American version, unfortunately) with it’s handy list of who sang what that I was able to finally differentiate them.
And thanks for clarification on “All My Loving” being a single in Canada. We were slightly ahead of America with the Beatles so the first few albums were different in Canada: With the Beatles was released as Beatlemania! With the Beatles in November of 1963, then Please Please Me (slightly massacred) was released as Twist and Shout (they left off I Saw Her Standing There, for God’s sake!). The final exclusively Canadian release was The Beatles’ Long Tall Sally. After that, Capitol Records in Canada had to standardize their releases with Capitol US. (The most important fact is: I own all those records! 🙂 )
More comments, please!
David
Dear David:
Thanks for the comments. Did your Canadian albums have the Dave Dexter-added reverb of the American releases?
Man, those U.S. records where strange. They really, ahem, butchered Revolver here in the U.S.
I’ll be listening to your Beatles for Sale podcast on the drive home from work today.
J
The Canadian albums were not supervised by the evil Dave Dexter, who was the sole reason no Beatles records were released by Capitol until “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. In fact, one reason that the carnage stopped at Revolver is he was fired in 1966.
The US Revolver is ridiculously un-Lennoned! I never heard many of those songs until I bought the CD much later.
Hope the show helped to alleviate the tedium of driving! 🙂
(Bee tee dubs: I noticed that I said I had all the Canadian Capitol albums. Actually, I’m missing The Beatles’ Long Tall Sally so I’m not sure why I wrote that. Out of control bragging, I guess!)
Enjoying the podcasts (Ian ya might wanna rein it in just a little), but boy did you guys whiff on Roll a Over Beethoven. Beethoven and Tchaikovsky lovers? Or sleeping in the same bed? Guys, the lyric is referring to the fact that if Beethoven heard this song – or Rock and Roll music – he’d be rolling over in his grave! The only stretch here – Tchaikovsky of course being dead as well – is the idea that Beethoven and Tchaikovsky were buried side by side. It’s a brilliant lyric, all the more so for riffing on a common colloquialism that ties together two greats of classical music and Chuck Berry.
Yeah, Ian, rein it in!
Glad you’re enjoying the podcasts. There are probably more outrageous mistakes to come! 🙂
I am really enjoying your podcasts looking at the Beatles albums/singles. I just thought I would comment on “Baby’ in Black” being creepy – it is, of course, written for Astrid Kirchherr, who had visited the Beatles while they fimed A Hard Day’s Night, and John’s opinion that she had to get over the death of Stuart Sutcliffe and carry on living.
As to “This Boy” not being on anyone’s Top 20 Beatles tunes – it is my 7 year old daughter’s favourite song. She fell in love with it when she heard it as “Ringo’s Theme” in A Hard Day’s Night and plays it all the time.
Thanks for the podcasts – really enjoying them.
By the way, I read somewhere that “And Your Bird Can Sing” was a dig at Mick Jagger and his then girlfriend Marianne Faithful, who had a record out around that time.
First off, I am greatly appreciating your in-depth and at times humorous banter while discussing my favorite records by The Beatles. You probably realize by now that you mispronounced “Your Mother SHOULD Know” by repeatedly calling it “Your Mother WOULD Know.” From the Magical Mystery Tour show. You did say it correctly once I will admit. This is my only criticism of your detailed and accurate history of the Fab Four. I have listened to all of them and I do appreciate the running sequence approach because it makes it easier to follow along.
Keep up the good work. I can’t wait for the next episodes! You rate 5 stars!!
Great series – really enjoyed it!
One thing – George Martin isn’t from East London, (East End) – It’s North London! It’s a very different place.
John.
John, I meant the east end of North London. 🙂
Thanks for listening!
Great podcasts, I am listening to the songs as you go.
I can’t speak for the whole of Europe, but in France, The Beatles weren’t known as The Yeah Yeahs. Yéyé was a style of pop music from that era, and the name came from yeah yeah, therefore from The Beatles and others, but although The Beatles were classified as yéyés, they weren’t The Yeah Yeahs.
Thank you for the clarification, Catherine. I have only read that “in parts of Europe” the Beatles became known as “The Yeah-Yeahs” because of “She Loves You”. No one every specifies in which part of Europe this occurred – making me think it may be mythical.