"I'll Be on My Way"

Song: “I’ll Be on My Way”
Album: (Not Released on LP)

“I’ll Be on My Way” was likely the first single that Lennon and McCartney “gave away.”  The song, which John credited to Paul, was first recorded and released by Billy J. Kramer (another act managed by Epstein and produced by Martin) in April of 1963, B-sided by another Lennon-McCartney composition, “Do You Want to Know a Secret.”  The Kramer version reached number two in the UK charts (beat out by the Beatles “From Me to You,” which occupied the number one spot. 

The Beatles also recorded their own version of the song that April. It was broadcast on the BBC’s Side by Side in June 1963, and it’s their only known recording of the song.

"Please Please Me"

Song: “Please Please Me”
Album: Please Please Me (1963)

Lennon’s “Please Please Me” was the title track to the Beatles’ first LP and their second UK single (first in the United States).  Originally B-sided by “Ask Me Why,” the song was not particularly successful, but it was re-released in January 1964, this time coupled with “From Me to You,” and it rose to number three on the US Hot 100.

Despite the success of “Love Me Do,” the Beatles weren’t widely known outside of Liverpool and Hamburg. In fact, they were still obliged to perform their last stint in Germany when “Love Me Do” entered the British charts, preventing them from actively promoting the tune elsewhere.  But Producer George Martin saw enough promise in them to record a second single. He did not, however, have a lot of faith in “Please Please Me.” He considered it slow and rather unremarkable (Lennon originally conceived of it as a slow, bluesy song a la Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely”), and he would have preferred that they release their earlier recording of Mitch Murray’s “How do You Do It?” as their next single.  But he was swayed by their insistence that they record their own material and by, in Martin’s mind, a much-improved livelier version of “Please Please Me” they later played for him. Instead of being Orbison-influenced, this version borrowed more from the Everly Brothers, with John’s harmonica skills featured prominently and Paul’s high note held over the cascading melody.