# Best of the Beatles: Please Please Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888 "2014-02-09T13:39:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/1 "2014-02-09T13:39:19Z")
Now, looking back through SDMB history, I see this series of polls has been done before. However, it was four years ago, so it’s time for an update, and although there were polls for each album, I’m not sure whether any “best song” was eventually chosen. With that said, welcome to the first of several polls designed to determine the greatest Beatles song of all time! We’ll go in sequential order, starting with their debut album, _Please Please Me_. Once all the albums have been done, there will be an extra poll with singles never put on a studio album, and then the Final Poll, where the best song of each album will be collected and the greatest song will be chosen. Now, I know this method isn’t perfect - it kind of has the same issue the World Cup does, so the final poll might not be that competitive - but it’s the simplest, cleanest way. A little background knowledge about _Please Please Me_: it was actually recorded in one very, very long day - a day where John happened to have a cold. In an effort to make his voice smoother, they stockpiled boxes of milk in the studio (which is actually one of the worst things for a vocalist to drink) but despite their efforts, “Twist and Shout” came out scratchy and strained. Which made it a huge hit. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/2 "2014-02-09T13:46:02Z")
Sorry to double post, but I was too late to edit: all songs that are covers have been marked with an asterisk in the polling options. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/3 "2014-02-09T14:23:29Z")
I went with “There’s a Place.” Second choice would have been “P.S. I Love You,” third choice the title track. These are the most interesting ones harmonically and melodically. Dig the unusual vocal harmonies in “There’s a Place” at the word “mind.” It’s lyrically a bit ahead of its time as well. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/4 "2014-02-09T14:26:23Z")
By the way, someone once wrote their meticulously detailed musicology thesis on how the composing of “I Saw Her Standing There” was (surely subconsciously) heavily influenced by “When the Saints Go Marching In.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/5 "2014-02-09T14:36:19Z")
I voted for “Please Please Me”. It really caught my attention when it was first released. And I didn’t think much of “I Saw Her Standing There” when it was released. Now, however, I appreciate the Rockabilly aspects of ISHST more. So it was a toss-up for me. I felt I had to go with my first impressions when I first heard the songs. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/6 "2014-02-09T14:44:10Z")
We ought to be able to vote for more than one. A song that is everybody’s second choice, but nobody’s first, probably deserves to win. I have always had a big soft spot for “Anna (Go to Him)”, but I can’t, in conscience, say its the best (or even second). But _Please, Please Me_ is a great album. Almost every track on it is better than almost every track on _Beatles for Sale_, or _With the Beatles_, or _Let it Be_. (For their first few canonical albums, _The Beatles_ followed the Windows release version rule.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/7 "2014-02-09T14:48:01Z")
Voted for ISHST as it has one of my favorite Beatle [bass lines.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWtoKte_ge4) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/8 "2014-02-09T15:39:36Z")
I find “P.S. I Love You” the most innovative melody on the album; every time I hear it, it surprises me about how neatly it falls into place. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/9 "2014-02-09T15:47:32Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I went with “There’s a Place.” Second choice would have been “P.S. I Love You,” third choice the title track. These are the most interesting ones harmonically and melodically. Dig the unusual vocal harmonies in “There’s a Place” at the word “mind.” It’s lyrically a bit ahead of its time as well. I voted for “I Saw Her Standing There” but it was a really, really hard choice between that and “There’s a Place.” With ISHST, though, I feel as though the count off at the beginning is like the opening chord to “Hard Day’s Night.” You hear it, and you just get energized. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/10 "2014-02-09T16:05:43Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > I voted for “I Saw Her Standing There” but it was a really, really hard choice between that and “There’s a Place.” With ISHST, though, I feel as though the count off at the beginning is like the opening chord to “Hard Day’s Night.” You hear it, and you just get energized. Yeah, those are the two that I was deciding between. The more “hipster” part of me wants to pick the less obvious “There’s a Place,” but I just can’t deny the opening of “I Saw Her Standing There” and the driving pulse of the song. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/11 "2014-02-09T16:08:36Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Voted for ISHST as it has one of my favorite Beatle [bass lines.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWtoKte_ge4) This . . . and for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/12 "2014-02-09T17:27:09Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Voted for ISHST as it has one of my favorite Beatle [bass lines.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWtoKte_ge4) I actually remember reading somewhere that they borrowed it from a Chuck Berry song. It’s still awesome! ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/13 "2014-02-09T17:45:07Z")
Please Please Me. In this boomer’s opinion it remains the single greatest pop/rock single ever. Great song, arrangement, all four musicians firing on all cylinders. Especially Ringo and Paul. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/14 "2014-02-09T17:48:41Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I have always had a big soft spot for “Anna (Go to Him)”, but I can’t, in conscience, say its the best (or even second). I just voted for PPM, but FWIW “Anna” is my favorite vocal performance by John. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/15 "2014-02-09T19:02:05Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Voted for ISHST as it has one of my favorite Beatle [bass lines.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWtoKte_ge4) No contest. It’s the only song I like off the record. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/16 "2014-02-10T02:42:26Z")
Another vote for the title track. The tight Everly-Brothers-influenced harmonies, the call-response chorus recalling sea chanties (probably heard by Lennon from his sailor father Fred), the wild drum part by Ringo. George Martin called it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/17 "2014-02-10T03:12:44Z")
“P.S. I Love You” because it first sounded like “Peanuts, I love you” and later like “Penis, I love you.” ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/18 "2014-02-10T06:27:44Z")
Love Me Do because of the harmonica. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/19 "2014-02-10T21:20:29Z")
“Boys” is actually a Ringo song…he brought it with him from Rory Storm… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888/20 "2014-02-10T22:53:09Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Love Me Do because of the harmonica. You know, that’s a good point. That harmonica line has got to be one of the most recognizable and memorable harmonica hooks in pop music. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-please-please-me/680888.md?page=2)