The Beatles' Please Please Me: Remaking a Classic

On the morning of February 11th 1963,

Abbey Road studio engineer Richard Langham

was unloading sound gear for a young band he didn't know much about.

He soon discovered that there was something rather different about them.

I put the speakers on the stands.

It was very interesting because in the back there were these pieces of paper lying around.

Like confetti, almost.

I picked a couple up and dusted them down and they were actually song titles

written on pieces of paper girls had thrown up onto the stage saying,

"Please play this and here's my phone number."

-'I'm Ringo and I play the drums.

-I'm Paul and I play the bass.

-'I'm George and I play a guitar.

-I'm John and I too play a guitar.

'Sometimes I play the fool.'

12 hours later, those four young men emerged having made musical history

and one of the most significant and groundbreaking albums of all time.

# One, two, three, four. #

With its iconic cover and songs such as I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout,

Please Please Me was the album that introduced the Beatles to the world.

It was number one for 30 weeks

until it was replaced by the Beatles' second album.

# I love you. #

It was the nearest thing to try and capture us live, you know,

as we might have sounded in Hamburg or Liverpool.

'Do You Want To Know A Secret, track two, take eight.'

'Shall we just do it on the second verse?'

# Listen

# Do you want to know a secret. #

In honour of the Beatles' speed and brilliance and sheer effrontery,

we've assembled 11 top artists here in studio two of Abbey Road

to recreate the recording of Please Please Me.

They will perform the tracks in the same order

and at the same time in the day.

The songs will go out live on Radio Two

so the artists have just one take to get it right.

We're going to take you through the Beatles' day, hour by hour.

I do think people who don't like the Beatles are very weird.

They were tough, they were funny.

They caught one moment in one time and it's got such a... It's great.

You often get the hairs on the back of your neck moment every now and again.

I've had it about 15 times in the last hour!

# Bop shoo-op

# My girl says... #

We were told, don't get too close to these people with long hair and everything else.

The last song nearly killed me.

It just ripped the place apart. It was unbelievable.

# Like I please you. #

The Beatles came to Abbey Road to record Please Please Me

in the middle of a tour with Helen Shapiro.

John Lennon had a stinking cold

and so, armed with a packet of throat sweets and a packet of fags

on top of the piano, they got stuck in.

The first song they recorded was There's A Place,

an introspective piece written by Lennon only a few months before.

# There's a place

# Where I can go. #

First in the studio and getting ready to tackle the song is Gabrielle Aplin.

Only 20, she's already had a number one with The Power Of Love.

-Grand.

-Shall we try it from the beginning?

-Yes. I'm so glad you're here.

Chris Evans is about to introduce Gabrielle live on Radio Two.

Coming to Chris in about 15 seconds.

-Say good morning everyone.

-ALL: Morning.

I wish all the listeners could be here. This is so special, what's going to happen here now.

You're building it beautifully for us. You're giving us the picture perfectly.

-Are you ready, Gabrielle?

-I'm ready.

-OK.

# There's a place

# Where I can go

# When I feel low

# When I feel blue

# And it's my mind

# And there's no time

# When I'm alone

# I think of you

# And the things you do

# Go round my head

# The things you said

# Like "I love only you"

# In my mind there's no sorrow

# Don't you know that it's so

# There'll be no sad tomorrow

# Don't you know that it's so

# There's a place

# Where I can go

# When I feel low

# When I feel blue

# And it's my mind

# And there's no time

# When I'm alone

# There's a place. #

In 1963, Richard Langham was a freshfaced Abbey Road engineer

working on Please Please Me.

Before going into the session, we were told,

don't get too close to these people with long hair and everything else.

So we just turned up. It was a cold February day.

We set everything up roughly in the studio because they hadn't arrived.

We had no instruments or amplifiers or speakers or anything.

Finally, they arrived. Basically, I think for all of us,

it was let's get this up and let's get on the road because by this time

it was probably 10:30am or 11:00am and the session was 10:00am to 1:00pm.

So we should have started bang on ten. Those were the strict rules of the studio.

All sessions were logged on recording sheets.

If it was a false start, anything like that was all logged and everything was kept.

All takes were timed.

So if George suddenly said, "That was good. We might put that in with number four.

"How long was take four?", you could tell him whether the timings

with the same and he'd know roughly they would edit together.

And of course, you didn't have any idea when you wrote that record that it's now a historical document.

No. No-one told me when I wrote those that 50 years later they'd be here examined!

Around 11:30am, and with lunchtime looming,

the Beatles turned next to I Saw Her Standing There.

Written by Paul McCartney, for a long time it was known simply as '17'.

# One, two, three, four. #

The studio recording shows that it was sometimes a bit tense.

'Too fast.

-'You had the wrong words.

-Yeah, but it's too fast anyway.'

Today, things are much more relaxed.

About to perform the song are the Stereophonics.

-Kelly, this room, has it got a vibe to you?

-Yes.

I mean, we've recorded a couple of tracks here before a few years ago.

It's just one of those studios in the world.

There are a few in LA and this one which you can't help,

you know, feeling the presence of the records that were made here really.

You chose the track you're going to do, I Saw Her Standing There, particularly, didn't you?

-Why this track?

-I remember on a cassette in my house when I was a kid

with all the Beatles' stuff like I Want To Hold Your Hand

and stuff like that, this was one of the ones I remember as a kid.

There's a lot of stuff on the album which a lot of people

probably won't be as familiar with as you might think they would be on this record.

I think this suited the kind of stuff we were doing as a cover band when we were kids

and it suited the sound of the band and the key and the voices and stuff.

It's just a simple kind of rock 'n' roll song really.

# One, two, three, four

# Well, she was just 17

# You know what I mean

# And the way she looked

# Was way beyond compare

# So how could I dance with another

# Oooh

# When I saw her standing there

# Well, she looks at me

# And I, I could see

# That before too long

# I'd fall in love with her

# She wouldn't dance with another

# Oooh

# And I saw her standing there

# Well, my heart went boom

# When I crossed the room

# And I held her hand in mine

# We danced through the night

# And we held each other tight

# And before too long

# I fell in love with her

# Now, I'll never dance with another

# Oooh

# Since I saw her standing there

# Well, my heart went boom

# When I crossed the room

# And I held her hand in mine

# We danced through the night

# And we held each other tight

# And before too long

# I fell in love with her

# Now, I wouldn't dance with another

# Oooh

# Since I saw her standing there

# Since I saw her standing there

# Since I saw her standing there. #

Thank you.

By the time they'd finished I Saw Her Standing There,

they'd only completed two songs and it was lunchtime

and this being Britain in the 1960s, it was imperative, of course,

to down tools and go to the pub for a pint.

Nearly everyone did that anyway.

When George Martin and his team returned, they had a surprise in store for them.

When we walked back in from our lunch, the boys were still playing.

I think we actually stopped as we came in the door

because they were still playing

and this was something we hadn't seen before.

And so, we said, "We're back and we'll go to the control rooms and get ready for you again.

-So they had rehearsed?

-Yes.

They'd played all through the lunchtime.

Those rehearsals paid off.

The next song, A Taste Of Honey, was done in just five takes.

# A taste of honey. #

Joss Stone has accepted our challenge to rehearse and record it in an hour.

The song, A Taste Of Honey, had been a hit for American Lenny Welch,

and since the middle of 1962, part of the Beatles' the live set.

It's a strange song in some ways, isn't it? What did you make of it?

I thought it was a strange song. I mean, it's a great song.

-I think it's actually really quite beautiful.

-It is beautiful, yes.

It's got that lovely, you know, shape to it.

But my mum, she said it sounds like a Morris dancers song!

-I know what she means!

-Yes, with the bells.

-She was dancing around the room!

-It's very old-fashioned, isn't it?

I first heard it when I was a kid before you were born, horrifyingly.

The melody is really old-fashioned.

It's got a very old... It's not like Greensleeves,

-but you know what I mean.

-I know what you mean.

It could be like a really old-fashioned tune. It's modal.

-Is that right?

-I'll go with that.

-OK.

I've made, I don't know, five or six albums,

but my favourite ones would be the ones would be the ones

that only took like a week because it was really fun.

I've never done one in a day, but I'd love to try.

When you're in there, you can just... It's great.

And you capture that moment. And that's what they did.

They caught one moment in one time and it's got such a... It's great.

# I dreamed of your first kiss

# And then

# I feel upon my lips again

# A taste of honey

# Tasting much sweeter than wine

# I will return

# Yes, I will return

# I'll come back for the honey

# And you

# Yours was a kiss

# That awoke my heart

# There lingers still

# Though we're far apart

# A taste of honey

# Tasting much sweeter than wine

# Oooh

# Oh-oh

# Oooh

# Oh

# Oh, yeah

# A taste of honey

# Yes, I will return

# Yes, I will return

# I'll come back

# I'll come back

# For the honey

# And you

# And you. #

# As I write this letter... #

One of the LP's most famous songs has a secret behind it.

The man who knows the story is the Beatles' press officer, Tony Barrow,

who wrote the distinctive sleevenotes on the back

that were pored over by a million teenagers.

I was trying to give the listener a companion piece, if you like.

Something that would complement what was going in through the ears

with something that would go in through the eyes.

# You, you, you... #

It used to be a matter of listening and reading

and the two went together completely.

# Until the day I do love. #

"This brisk selling disc".

-You don't hear that much now, do you?

-Not really, no.

# You, you, you. #

I actually opened Brian Epstein's first London offices

above a dirty bookshop in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden.

For the first few weeks, I had the Beatles into the office

for a few hours most days to do interviews.

At the time that Please Please Me was coming out,

John had been married for quite a few months

and in fact his son, Julian, was born around that time.

And yet it was Brian Epstein's policy that artists of his

should not have girlfriends, partners, whatever.

If necessary, we were saying, "No, John Lennon is not married."

And I remember that during one of the interviews

where that kind of question cropped up,

John took a hold of my press office copy,

turned it over and beside his own name he hand wrote the word, "Married!",

which was his defiance, if you like, of our covering it up.

# I love you. #

Come 3:30pm, it was the turn of Lennon's Do You Want To Know A Secret

about that double life as popstar and married man.

Singing it in studio two, exactly 50 years on,

is Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds.

# You'll never know how much I really love you

# You'll never know how much I really care

# Listen

# Do you want to know a secret

# Do you promise not to tell

# Closer

# Whisper in your ear

# Say the words you long to hear

# I'm in love with you

# Listen

# Do you want to know a secret

# Do you promise not to tell

# Closer

# Let me whisper in your ear

# I'll say the words you long to hear

# I'm in love with you

# I've known a secret

# For a week or two

# Nobody knows

# Just we two

# Listen

# Do you want to know a secret

# And do you promise not to tell

# Closer

# And let me whisper in your ear

# I'll say the words you long to hear

# I'm in love with you

# I'm in love with you

# I'm in love with you. #

The fact that the Beatles wrote so many of the songs on the album was revolutionary.

Producer George Martin witnessed the Lennon-McCartney partnership up close.

Paul would help John musically

because I think he had a greater understanding

of the theory of music.

John tended to drive the car without a clutch rather.

He'd just go from one gear to another.

On the other hand again,

John would have perhaps more of a mastery of imagery in words

and would make Paul work harder at his lyrics.

We very much emulated each other and mirrored each other, really.

I mean, literally, with me being left-handed.

It was like looking at yourself and looking at your own thoughts.

# The world is treating me bad... #

One of the songs written by Lennon and McCartney on Please Please Me,

the track, Misery, was just 16 days old,

written for the singer headlining their tour, Helen Shapiro.

Paul, you've just come out with this bombshell.

-You saw the Beatles and Helen Shapiro on that tour in '63.

-Yes.

I also saw the one with Roy Orbison

and the one with Chris Montez and Tommy Roe.

It was at Sheffield City Hall.

I'm going to say, the Beatles were my first gig as well.

But I don't even remember it. I think I was two.

My mum took me with a view to posterity.

-Do you remember anything about it?

-Yes.

I have vivid pictures of it, yes. But, I mean, I would have been 12.

-I was born in '51.

-Right.

So I would have been 12

and I distinctly remember Ringo and his style.

I'd never seen anybody play like that and hit the drums like that.

-And screaming, presumably, was there?

-There was a lot of screaming.

But then I left and it was OK!

Shapiro's gig is a significance because they wrote Misery,

the song you're going to do, for Helen Shapiro.

-She never ended up doing it though.

-I didn't realise that. I had no idea about that.

We're they the thing that made you want to be a musician?

Absolutely. I was already playing in a little band.

I played drums start with but I was into bands like The Shadows

and when the whole Liverpool thing kicked off, I was gone. That was it.

I didn't want to do anything else.

I've still got the wallpaper to prove it!

Paul, as you can hear, we're in the studio,

so we'll leave Paul to do Misery.

Thanks a lot.

# The world is treating me bad

# Misery

# I'm the kind of guy

# Who never used to cry

# The world is treating me bad

# Misery

# I've lost her now for sure

# I won't see her no more

# It's going to be a drag

# Misery

# I remember all the little things we've done

# Can't she see she'll always be the only one

# Only one

# Send her back to me

# 'Cause everyone can see

# Without her I will be

# In misery

# I remember all the little things we've done

# She'll remember and she'll miss her only one

# Only one

# Send her back to me

# 'Cause everyone can see

# Without her I will be

# In misery

# Oh, yeah

# Oh-oh-oh-oh

# Yeah

# Send her back to me

# 'Cause everyone can see

# Without her I will be

# In misery

# In misery

# Baby, misery

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Misery

# Oh-oh-oh

# Misery

# Baby

# Misery. #

The groundbreaking music of the Please Please Me album

was wrapped up in a striking cover

with its famous stairwell picture taken by the legendary Angus McBean.

Eamonn McCabe, one of Britain's finest contemporary photographers,

has a theory as to why it works so well.

This picture was taken within seconds.

Angus McBean, who had been working in his studio with the boys

and got some reasonable pictures but they weren't happy with them,

so there was another meeting planned at the headquarters

in Manchester Square of EMI.

When Angus comes in, he's just got his camera with him,

a portrait camera, and someone just yells at him from upstairs.

And he looked up and he saw this picture and he just said,

"Are they here?" They said, "Yes they've just arrived." "Get them out."

And he's got the wrong lens on. He's only got a portrait lens,

which is quite a long lens to do one person. So he's only got that lens.

He gets the four of them probably as far away as he can

in order to get all four in and then he has to do lie on his back.

Here's a 64-year-old man lying on his back probably looking very, very smart

in his cravat and his smart shoes and coat.

Four blokes taking the mick out of him and he's got to take a picture.

But he got it. When he took about four or five frames, he said, "That will do".

It's such a moment in time because if you look, Ringo hasn't got a mop top hair cut yet.

He's still got the Teddy boy hair cut and that's gone in a few weeks.

He's just arrived, hasn't he? The picture was just taken so quickly and without planning

because the great thing with Angus was, he was a great ideas man.

He was the kind of Man Ray of British photography. He would think...

He came out of the theatre.

Everything was about lighting and concepts and very controlled, manufactured pictures.

Here's some of the outtakes, as it were, of the day.

Does this tell us anything about the session?

It tells you about a photographer working a room, working a space.

-That doesn't work.

-That doesn't work and that doesn't work.

-No.

-That's fantastic.

Then, to be fair to the creatives, the yellow works within the space.

The red. All these things are so important in cover art.

In many ways, he was the wrong guy to do it because his main work

is very surreal, very black and white, very intense and created.

Nearly every image is created in his head. A great surreal photographer.

A great star of British photography.

And he comes up, really, with a newspaper shot,

done on the hoof, lying on his back.

But I love that line, "That will do". And he decides that will do.

At this point 50 years ago, the Beatles were wrestling

with a McCartney composition called Hold Me Tight.

But after 13 takes, they still weren't happy with it

so they decided to shelve it.

Instead, we're going to hear the title track of the album

that's already given them their first number one, Please Please Me.

Performing it are Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze,

accompanied on harmonica by blues legend, Paul Jones.

# Last night I said these words to my girl

# I know you never even try girl

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Please please me, oh, yeah

# Like I please you

# You don't need me to show the way love

# Why do I always have to say love

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Please please me, oh, yeah

# Like I please you

# I don't want to start complaining

# But you know there's always rain in my heart

# I do all the pleasing with you

# It's so hard to reason with you

# Oh, yeah, why do you make me blue

# Last night I said these words to my girl

# I know you never even try girl

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Come on (Come on)

# Please please me, oh, yeah

# Like I please you Please me, oh, yeah

# Like I please you Please me, oh, yeah

# Like I please you. #

Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford and Paul Jones have just come hotfoot from studio two

and a performance of Please Please Me.

It's got a famous harmonica line on it. You played the harmonica on that then.

-Was he any good at the harmonica, John Lennon?

-John was very good.

Actually, we were just talking about it. Do you remember Hey Baby?

No, I don't.

# I want to know If you would be my girl. #

Great record.

Bruce Channel, fine singer, and that was a terrific song.

But the thing that really got me with it was the harmonica playing

and that was a chap called Delbert McClinton.

It is now said that Delbert actually taught John Lennon,

which would explain everything

because John was actually a much better harmonica player

than most of the people who were quite highly regarded in those days.

And what about the idea of them doing it in a day?

How does that seem to you now as musicians?

Does that seem extraordinary?

I think it's probably the way to go now, isn't it?!

I mean, there's not a lot of money around in the music industry

any more to come into a studio.

As long as you are equipped with the songs

and the knowledge of how you're going to record them,

like Glenn was saying, they had rehearsed and knew exactly what they were going to do.

It is exactly the way to do it.

It's about capturing the moment.

I think that's completely back again now, capturing the moment.

It's 7:00pm at Abbey Road and it was at this point in 1963

that the Beatles turned their attention to a song

that was a particular favourite of John Lennon's.

Someone else who loves it is Mick Hucknall.

The song you're going to do, 'Anna',

reflects how much the Beatles were into black music and R&B music,

which of course will strike a chord with you, won't it?

When I first heard them, it was just about the fact that

they came from the north-west of England, to be honest.

I didn't know anything about R&B when I was four years old.

I got my first plastic Beatles guitar when I was five.

-So that would be 1965.

-Wow!

The first gig I ever did,

-I was six and I sang I Want To Hold Your Hand.

-Did you?

-Yes.

-In a pair of Austrian lederhosen. But we won't go into that.

-Are you sure?

I'm sure lots of people would like to know more about that.

Was it a professional engagement?

In the '60s, going on holiday for working-class people

was completely the most glamorous thing you could imagine.

One of the ladies who looked after me, she went on holiday

and she brought me back a pair of Austrian lederhosen.

So I wore them for the wedding

and then I got up with a grown-up band and sang that song.

They were a bit older than me so they were teenagers

and they had the first two Beatles albums and I was around

when they were playing it so they were a major part of my upbringing.

You're a Manc and that's my part of the world as well.

But there was nothing that the Beatles belonged to Liverpool, was there?

They belonged, kind of, to us as well, didn't they?

I always say that before the Beatles, the Northwest of England was famous for George Formby and Gracie Fields.

We weren't expected to achieve very much, really.

What they gave us was that we have a future. We can do something.

I don't think...

Of course, the Beatles belonged to Liverpool

but they were ours, too.

They were the Northwest and you can't begin to describe the influence

they had on people of that generation.

It was huge.

And the song you are going to sing, 'Anna',

as a singer, what kind of song is it to tackle?

I love the bridge.

# All of my life I've been searching. #

That note. Just getting that note is a great thrill.

Arthur Alexander, who sang the original,

John's version is very faithful to the original Arthur Alexander version

so when I'm singing it, I'm thinking if John can be faithful to it,

then I'll be faithful to John who was faithful to Arthur,

so we'll just kind of go that way and keep it simple.

I always love about the lyric, I don't know if you agree with me,

I think it sounds like he's saying, if he loves you more than me you should go to him.

But really he's going, come on, me having said that, who are you going to pick?

What I love is "Girl, before you go you give back your ring to me".

-He does want the ring back!

-I'm having that ring!

-Probably because it's not paid for yet!

-It would be worth a few quid.

# Anna

# You come and ask me, girl

# To set you free, girl

# You say he loves you more than me

# So I will set you free

# Go with him

# Go with him

# Anna

# Girl before you go now

# I want you to know now

# That I still love you so

# But if he loves you more

# Go with him

# All of my life

# I've been searching for a girl

# To love me

# Like I love you

# Oh, now

# Every girl I've ever had

# Breaks my heart and leaves me sad

# What am I, what am I supposed to do?

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Anna

# Just one more thing, girl

# You give back your ring to me

# And I will set you free

# Go with him

# All of my life

# I've been searching for a girl

# To love me

# Like I love you

# But let me tell you now

# Every girl I've ever had

# Breaks my heart and leaves me sad

# What am I, what am I supposed to do?

# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Anna

# Just one more thing, girl

# You give back your ring to me

# And I will set you free

# Go with him

# Go with him

# You can go with him, girl

# Go with him. #

For some performers, the Beatles aren't just part of pop history.

They were mates they shared a stage with.

We've assembled five musicians from four different bands

who also learned their trade at The Cavern in Liverpool.

When the record came out, the first Beatles album,

what was the feeling amongst other bands in Liverpool?

Was it, great, one of us is making it?

Or was there a bit of, you've got there first, type of thing?

I think we knew they had something.

I mean, they were good-looking.

They were talented. What else can you say?

There was something about the blend of their voices as well.

Other bands had harmonies,

but their voices seemed to blend together in a very special way.

Tell us a bit about 'Boys', the song. How did you approach it?

What kind of song is it?

It was a B-side on one of my favourite records, actually,

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.

It was always a B-side

until all the Liverpool bands started doing it really.

We actually liked that they gave us that song

because we loved it that much because the association with the Shirelles.

For the Merseybeats, our first record was a Shirelles song,

It's Love That Really Counts. We were always mad on the Shirelles.

-They were wonderful.

-What was it with Mersey bands and the Shirelles?

You did it, the Beatles did two Shirelles covers on the first album.

-They were good-looking girls.

-Loads of bands did it.

-The sets were almost the same, you know.

-That's interesting.

They would all be playing the same tunes.

Was that because you all had the same tunes in your collection

or because you'd go and see each other and go, "that's a good one, we'll do that".

-Probably a mixture of both.

-These would come and see my band and then they'd copy!

The way we found these songs, all the bands did from Liverpool,

we'd all do to a lunchtime session at The Cavern.

Then we'd go around the corner to Nems and we'd go in a booth

and listen to all the imports that would come in.

Then we'd all rush back to try and learn them.

Whoever learned them first, people would say, "No, that's their song."

# I been told when a boy kiss a girl

# That she takes a trip Around the world

# Hey, Hey (Bop-shuop)

# Hey, Hey (Bop-shuop)

# Hey, Hey (Bop-shuop)

# Say you do (Bop-shuop)

# My girl says when I kiss her lips

# She gets a thrill Through her fingertips

# Hey, hey (Bop-shuop)

# Hey, hey (Bop-shuop)

# Hey, hey (Bop-shuop)

# Say you do (Bop-shuop)

# Well, I talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# What a bundle of joy (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# What a bundle of joy (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# What a bundle of joy (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Don't you know I mean boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# Well, I'm talking about boys (Yeah, yeah, boys)

# What a bundle of joy (Yeah, yeah, boys). #

By 9:00pm, the Beatles were really having to speed up to get the album done in a day.

They stayed in a girl group vibe with a version of 'Chains',

a 1962 hit for The Cookies.

Performing live on Radio Two with their version is I Am Kloot.

# Chains

# My baby's got me Wrapped up in chains

# But they ain't the kind

# That you can see

# These chains of love

# Got a hold on me

# Chains

# My baby's got me Wrapped up in chains

# But they're not the kind

# That you can see

# These chains of love

# They're all over me

# I want to tell you pretty baby

# That you're looking fine

# You're clever, clever In your leather

# These chains are round my mind

# I'm in chains

# You've got me wrapped up in chains

# They're not the kind

# That you can see

# These chains of love

# They're all over me

# I want to tell you pretty baby

# That you look divine

# Clever, clever in your leather

# Tethered to my mind

# There are chains

# Chains

# Chains

# There are chains. #

# Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la. #

At 9:30pm, the Beatles started rehearsing the second Shirelles number that day.

The Burt Bacharach song, Baby, It's You.

Half a century later, Graham Coxon from Blur is doing the same thing.

Meanwhile, down the corridor, Jo Whiley is live on Radio Two,

talking on the phone to Mr Bacharach himself.

-Hi, how are you?

-'Happy celebration.'

It is a celebration. Thank you. That was absolutely spot-on.

When were you first aware of the Beatles covering 'Baby It's You'?

Do you remember how you felt about their interpretation of it?

'I went while knowing that they had recorded it.

'I can be funny like that.

'In the sense that I'm almost afraid to listen to it

'because maybe it won't come up to what I'm hoping for.

'When I did get to it, there was nothing to be concerned about!

'Nothing to worry about. It was an absolute joy.'

Baby, It's You by Burt Bacharach. That's a big ask, isn't it?

A Burt Bacharach song, performed by the Shirelles, covered by the Beatles.

It is, actually. I didn't realise it was going to be.

I just thought, it's a little-known Beatles track.

But I'll research it and I'll have a little look

and I listened to the Shirelles one. That was very nice.

Then I was like, "Burt Bacharach, oh, crikey!"

Because, you know, being a creaky voiced indie boy,

I suppose the idea of what's pretty much a soul song,

a girl group soul song thing, is kind of scary.

Did you have the Beatles in common in Blur? Were you all Beatles fans?

Not really. I think I seemed to be the fanatic.

-You were the fanatic, weren't you?

-Yes.

The others don't seem to really mention the Beatles at all. I never really thought about that.

-But I do think people who don't like the Beatles are very weird.

-I do too.

I think they're doing it for affectation, don't you?

If you get people who say they don't like the Beatles,

-I think you're just saying that because you think it's going to impress me and it's not.

-No.

It's like if you like literature and you say I don't like Shakespeare,

well that is idiotic, isn't it?

And if you say you like pop music but you don't like the Beatles...

-It is idiotic.

-There you go.

But there are some people that just don't.

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# (Sha-la-la-la-la)

# It's not the way you smile

# That touched my heart

# (Sha-la-la-la-la)

# It's not the way you kiss

# That tears me apart

# Many, many, many nights go by

# I sit alone at home and cry

# Over you

# What can I do

# I can't help myself

# 'Cause baby, it's you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# Baby, it's you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# (Sha-la-la-la-la)

# You should hear what they say

# About you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la)

# They say you'll never, never, ever

# Be true

# (Cheat, cheat)

# Oh, it doesn't matter what they say

# I know I'm going to love you Any old way

# What can I do

# When it's true

# Don't want nobody, nobody

# 'Cause baby, it's you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# Baby, it's you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# Oh, it doesn't matter what they say

# I know I'm going to love you Any old way

# What can I do

# When it's true

# Don't want nobody, nobody

# 'Cause baby, it's you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# Baby, it's you

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# Don't leave me all alone

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# Come on home

# (Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la)

# (Ooooh). #

At 10:00pm on 11 February 1963, the Beatles had ground to a halt.

With 10 songs recorded, they needed one more.

Someone who was there and who would accidentally shape music history

was a young journalist from the NME.

Tell me about that day 50 years ago, Alan.

It was absolute magic.

I arrived at the studio quite late in the day.

I just caught it in time. They were about to do the last track.

But they decided to have a break and I think George Martin suggested,

"Hey, guys, why don't you just go and have a cup of tea?"

How rock 'n' roll can you be!

So we went up to this tiny room that doesn't exist anymore.

Very, very tiny. About a couple of square yards.

We just crowded in there and I think it was George who said,

"What are we going to do for the last number?"

I said, "I thought I heard you do La Bamba a few weeks ago on the radio."

I probably said the wireless!

And Paul McCartney looked a bit blank and said,

"You mean Twist And Shout."

And I said, "Yeah, 'Twist And Shout."

So they looked at each other and said,

"Shall we do Twist And Shout?"

It was a glorious moment. They went down into the studio.

'The last song was a song called Twist And Shout, which nearly killed me.'

-And stripped to the waist.

-Yes.

I think he had taken his shirt off. He had certainly opened it anyway.

I'm never one to show dance movements

but I was actually jumping up and down.

It's an abiding memory and of course, it did quite well.

It did all right, didn't it?!

# Just like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)

# Well, shake it up baby now. #

It's just coming up to 10:30pm on February 11, 1963

and the end of a historic 12 hours

and the most productive 585 minutes in the history of music.

We hope we've captured some of the spirit of that day

and I'm going to leave you with the song that finally did for John Lennon's voice

and did wonders for local sales of cough tablets!

With the task of bringing the day to a close,

one of Britain's finest voices, Miss Beverley Knight.

One, two, three.

# Well, shake it up baby now (Shake it up baby)

# Twist and shout (Twist and shout)

# Come on, come on, come on Come on baby now

# (Come on baby)

# Come on and work it all out (Work it all out)

# Work it all out now, honey (Work it on out)

# You know you look so good (Look so good)

# You know you've got me going now (Got me going)

# Just like I knew you would (Like I knew you would)

# Well, shake it up baby now (Shake it up baby)

# Twist and shout (Twist and shout)

# Come on, come on, come on Come on baby

# (Come on baby)

# Come on and work it all out (Work it all out)

# You know you twist a little girl (Twist little girl)

# You know you twist so fine (Twist so fine)

# Come on and twist a little closer (Twist a little closer)

# And let me know you're mine (Know you're mine)

# Oh, yeah

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Baby (Shake it up baby)

# Twist and shout (Twist and shout)

# Come on, come on baby (Come on baby)

# Come on and work it all out (Work it all out)

# You know you twist a little girl (Twist a little girl)

# You know you twist so fine (Twist so fine)

# Come on and twist a little closer (Twist a little closer)

# And let me know you're mine (Know you're mine)

# Hey

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Shake it up baby (Shake it up baby)

# Come on and twist and shout (Twist and shout)

# Come on, come on baby (Come on baby)

# Come on and work it all out (Work it all out)

# You know you twist a little girl (Twist little girl)

# You know you twist so fine (Twist so fine)

# Come on and twist a little closer (Twist a little closer)

# Better let me know that you're mine (Know you're mine)

# Well, shake it, shake it Shake it baby

# (Shake it up baby)

# Shake it, shake it, shake it baby (Shake it up baby)

# Oh, shake it (Shake it up baby)

# Shake it, shake it, shake it baby (Shake it up baby)

# Shake it, shake it baby (Shake it up baby)

# Shake it, shake it (Shake it up baby)

# Oh, yeah

# Ah

# Ah

# Ah

# Oh, yeah. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd