The Beatles Please Please Me To With The Beatles
This book covers the albums Please Please Me and With The Beatles, and their associated singles, and the American albums Introducing The Beatles and Meet The Beatles! In addition to the usual chapters on the British, American and Canadian perspectives, the book contains chapters on the Decca audition and the EMI artists test session. There are also chapters on the recording sessions and album covers, as well as on the news, music and films of the era to place these albums in their proper context. And, of course, fan recollections.
The Fan Recollections for The Beatles Please Please Me to With The Beatles brought back memories of these two great British albums, along with their American versions, Introducing The Beatles and Meet The Beatles! In addition, fans wrote about the singles “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me,” “From Me To You,” “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” as well as seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. The first five Fan Recollections represent a sample of ones we received prior to the publication of the book. Those that follow were sent to us afterwards. We look forward to adding additional Fan Recollections from those who were not in the book or the on-line supplement that also appears in the digital edition.
Bruce is not looking for an analysis about these great albums and singles, but rather your reactions to first experiencing them.
He is also looking for photos taken from 1962 through February 1964 of fans and these albums and singles of the era. I you have pictures of you (and your friends) with Beatles records and memorabilia taken back in 1963 and early 1964, we would love to see them.
6 Fan Recollections
Leave Your Fan Recollection
Bruce is not looking for an analysis about these great albums and singles, but rather your reactions to first experiencing them. No photo required, but it would be great if you have one.
If you upload an image you attest that you own the full rights to that photo.
By submitting your story and photos you give your permission for Bruce Spizer and 498 Productions LLC to use your submission in part or full in any print, digital, marketing or any other use. You are not granting an exclusive right and you may still use your submission for any purpose you deem appropriate.
I was five years old in February 1964. One Sunday evening, I heard my 13-year-old sister screaming wildly. I followed the sound into the living room and saw her on her knees, hiding her head and screaming at our TV. I was wondering what was happening. She turned, saw me standing there, grabbed my arm, pulled me down and said: “Watch!” I fell down and watched the Beatles singing on The Ed Sullivan Show. I still remember! (Published in the hardback edition)
I was 14 when the Beatles took the world by storm. I recall the excitement of hearing them on AM radio in Washington, D.C. and buying Meet The Beatles! and Introducing The Beatles as if it was yesterday. I played Meet The Beatles! non-stop for at least a month. I still have all my original albums and most of the singles, many with picture sleeves. I wish I had the foresight to buy an extra copy of everything and kept it sealed. (Published in the supplement)
I was diagnosed with Beatlemania at age seven, brought on by The Ed Sullivan Show. That week I broke into my little bank and set off for Jordan Marsh to get a copy of Meet The Beatles!, the first record I ever bought myself. I played it endlessly on a portable Decca record player with a tone arm that must have weighed about five pounds. It still sounds pretty good, considering. Meet The Beatles! is the cornerstone of my large record collection, and I’m sure I’ve played it far more times than any other record.
My mom said when I wasn’t listening to the record, I was frequently singing “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” That may well be what I’m belting out in the photo [shown left] from my eighth birthday that summer of 1964, ukulele in hand, as I savored gifts including a swatch of Beatles wallpaper, a Beatles paperback book, a Mattel six-shooter, and buried under the new Beach Boys and Dave Clark Five albums, a copy of Introducing The Beatles. A real Beatles Birthday Bash! (Published in the hardback edition)
My family understood me.
I was 13½ years old and in eighth grade in February 1964. On Friday, February 7, word was racing around school that a great new group would be on Ed Sullivan on Sunday. My parents and I tuned in as we always did. As Sullivan uttered those famous words, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles!,” the audience began screaming. When they hit “All My Loving,” I was smitten. The next Friday I purchased a mono version of Meet the Beatles! I consider it the greatest “song” of all time because it encapsulates everything about the early Beatles and why we came to love them. I am still in wonder of the magic of the Beatles and how they mesmerized the world. (Published in the hardback edition)
As for the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, I don’t know what the big deal is. I slept through the whole thing. (Published in the supplement)
Tom Frangione,
Resident Beatles Expert
Sirius XM Radio
(age 19 months)
I remember sort of seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan on 2/9/64. My family always watched Ed every Sunday night for years. However, my Dad had a surprise for us that night. I guess he’d been hearing about them at work and didn’t like what he’d been hearing. So, there was no Ed for us that night on the living room TV hooked up to the roof antenna. My brother and I went upstairs to watch on an old TV that was on rabbit ears. We saw more “snow” than Beatles, but I saw enough to make me a lifelong Beatles fan. The next morning in school about 2/3 of the boys were combing their hair differently and the girls were just nuts. I’ve been around 72 years now and there has never been anything remotely like the explosion of the Beatles and I can’t imagine there ever will be again.
Here’s an example of how complete their invasion and domination was. The big AM top 40 station in Worcester, Massachusetts, WORC 1310, published a weekly survey based mostly on requests. For the week ending 3/7/64 the top 12 songs were by the Beatles! 3 other songs gave them 15 of the top 30. There were also 3 Beatles related songs which gave a total of 18 of the 30. They also had the top 2 albums. With what was yet to come by 1970 can there be any doubt why they are the biggest thing that’s ever happened in music?
Being just 13 in 1964 I could only be an avid listener of the fabulous sounds coming out of the little transistor radios of the time, but I got to be a jock on WORC throughout the 70s and it was a wonderful place to work.