"PLEASE PLEASE ME"
b/w  "ASK ME WHY"
PARLOPHONE 45 R 4983
RELEASED JANUARY 11, 1963

EARLIEST POSSIBLE FIRST PRESSING
WITH 'JR' DEMONSTRATION PROMO STAMPER
AND 'FACTORY SAMPLE - NOT FOR SALE' STICKER ON B-SIDE LABEL

HYBRID LABELS WITH "MADE IN GT. BRITAIN" TEXT PRINTED ON THE B-SIDE ONLY

CONDITION: NM- (VG+++)
ITEM#: PAR350
PRICE: ------

John LENNON was inspired to write “Please Please Me” by his memories of his mother, Julia, singing the Bing Crosby hit “Please,” which topped the U.S. charts for six weeks in 1932 when issued on Brunswick 6394. John was impressed with the wordplay in the song’s lyrics, particularly the line, “Please lend your ears to my pleas.” He took it one step further with the line “please please me,” which first uses the word “please” as a request and then as a verb meaning “to pleasure.” John envisioned the song as a slow ballad in the style of Roy Orbison. The Beatles rehearsed and auditioned “Please Please Me” for George Martin at Abbey Road on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 1962, prior to the group’s first proper recording session. The song sounded drastically different from what would become their first big hit. According to Martin, “Please Please Me” was “a dreary song” which “was like a Roy Orbison number, very slow, bluesy vocals.”  He suggested that the group rearrange the song by speeding up the tempo and working out tight vocal harmonies. Paul McCARTNEY described the initial recording of the song SAYING “After we had recorded "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", we played "Please Please Me" TO George Martin. It was a bit fussy, and he told us to smooth it out a bit. Simplify it. We did — and the results speak for itself.”

The Beatles’ second single, “Please Please Me”  b/w  “Ask Me Why,” was released by Parlophone on January 11, 1963. It entered the Record Retailer chart on Jan. 17 and remained on the charts for 18 weeks, peaking at No. 2 on March 2, unable to get past Frank Ifield’s third consecutive chart topper, “Wayward Wind".  Although “Please Please Me” stalled at No. 2 in Record Retailer, the song reached the coveted No. 1 spot in the BBC chart, Melody Maker, Disc and NME (which reported the single at No. 1 on Feb. 22 and the following week). On April 13, “Please Please Me” was awarded a silver disc by Disc magazine signifying sales of 250,000 units. By the end of 1963, the single had sold 310,000 copies.

The growing popularity of the Beatles and the favorable response to their second disc prompted Mersey Beat to publish comments and reviews of “Please Please Me” in its Jan. 31, 1963, issue. BBC disc jockey Brian Matthew stated that, “Visually and musically The Beatles are the most exciting and accomplished group to emerge since The Shadows. In the next few months they will become one of the hottest properties in the music industry.”  World’s Fair magazine wrote, “This young group may soon be challenging The Shadows for top chart honors. Go out and buy "Please Please Me" now ... This group has every chance of being the big star attraction of 1963.”

THIS EXTREMELY EARLY UK FIRST PRESSING OF THE BEATLES' SECOND SINGLE RELEASE IN GREAT BRITAIN DATES FROM THE FIRST WEEK OF RELEASE IN JANUARY 1963 AND IS ON THE ORIGINAL RED AND SILVER PARLOPHONE LABEL (45-R 4983). BECAUSE THE LABEL DESIGN AND COLOR WERE CHANGED TO BLACK JUST AS IT WAS ISSUED, THE RED LABEL ISSUE OF "PLEASE PLEASE ME" IS MORE DIFFICULT TO FIND THAN THE GROUP'S FIRST 45 RELEASE "LOVE ME DO".

When this single was initially being prepared, a VERY LIMITED run of WHITE LABEL RED "A" demonstration / promotional copies were pressed to promote the upcoming release. These demo copies featured a unique 'JR' stamper code in the dead wax which was then changed to the standard number SYSTEM when the commercial copies went into production. However, for AN EXTREMELY SHORT PERIOD, there was an overlap where a miniscule number of STOCK copies featured the original demo 'JR' stampers on side 2. Only a handful of these were ever pressed before the 'JR' stamper was removed. THEREFORE, THE STAMPER CODES FOUND ON THIS PARTICULAR SINGLE ARE USUALLY ONLY FOUND ON THE WHITE LABEL RED "A" DEMONSTRATION (DEMO) COPIES OF THIS SINGLE. IT IS EXTREMELY RARE AND VERY UNUSUAL TO FIND THEM ON A REGULAR STOCK COPY. THE SIGNIFICANT DETAIL IS THE "J R" STAMPER.

MATRIX AND STAMPERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
SIDE ONE:  7XCE 17217-1N.  STAMPERS:  MPT 3  G O
SIDE TWO:  7XCE 17218-1N.  STAMPERS:  MPT  JR

A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR OF THE OVERLAP PERIOD OF DEMONSTRATION DETAILS OF THIS DISC IS THE "FACTORY SAMPLE - NOT FOR SALE" STICKER REMAINING ADHERED TO THE B-SIDE LABEL. THESE ARE FOUND ON 'PREVIEW' STOCK COPIES THAT WERE ISSUED FOR PRE-RELEASE DISTRIBUTION TO SELECTED MEDIA AND RADIO STATIONS, SHORTLY PRIOR TO THE JANUARY 11TH STREET DATE.

The initial pressings of the commercial single have THE red Parlophone labels with silver print. There are two variations with red labels: ONE does not have “MADE IN GT. BRITAIN” on the label, while SOME has “MADE IN GT. BRITAIN” below the Parlophone logo at THE 3 o’clock POSITION. As Parlophone was using labels that erroneously omitted “MADE IN GT. BRITAIN” at the time the single was issued in January 1963, the records missing the “MADE IN GT. BRITAIN” designation were pressed prior to the discs with the designation. THIS DISC OFFERED HERE HAS ANOTHER EXCELLENT RARE FACTOR THAT DISPLAY HYBRID LABELS THAT ARE EVIDENT: THE 'MADE IN GT. BRITAIN' TEXT BENEATH THE "£" LOGO AT THE 3 O'CLOCK POSITION IS PRINTED ON THE B-SIDE, BUT THE TEXT IS MISSING ON THE A-SIDE.

THE CONDITION OF THE VINYL ON THIS RARE 45 SINGLE IS A SHIMMERING NEAR MINT MINUS (BORDERS VG+++) RETAINING A DEEP BRILLIANT GLOSSY SHEEN TO THE GROOVES, WITH SIMPLY A FEW LIGHT HARMLESS SLEEVE "WHISPS" EVIDENT. THIS RECORD IS CONSISTENT WITH CAREFUL HANDLING AND PLAY. THE LABELS ARE A BRIGHT RED NEAR MINT MINUS, CLEAN AND UNBLEMISHED WITH MINIMAL WEAR TO THE CENTER HOLES THEMSELVES.

ACCOMPANYING THE RARE DISC IS ITS ORIGINAL "SPECIAL RUSH COPY" EMI "TOP POP" SLEEVE THAT WERE ONLY ISSUED WITH PARLOPHONE DEMONSTRATION COPIES FROM THIS PERIOD. THE SLEEVE IS IN VG++ CONDITION WITH MINIMAL HANDLING WEAR AND NO SPLITS.