#20: It Won't Be Long

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: November 22nd, 1963
Appears on: with the beatles
Lead vocal: John 

Well, it doesn't start with a count-in, but with the beatles starts off like a firecracker. "It won't be long...yeah...yeah...it won't be long!" 

Compared to the rest of the originals, "It Won't Be Long" certainly isn't entirely strong, but it still is a great opener. The theme of the song is obvious: It won't be long until you are mine! Maybe the Beatles were still nervous that people weren't taking them seriously or that they were going to be one-hit wonders, so they started off with a song that says, basically, when this record is over, you'll believe in us and you will like us. This song also proves right off the bat that this, again, will be a John dominated album and this will remain true until Revolver. The fact is, although Paul was writing great material at the time, his songs were few and far between. 

Also, with with the beatles, the group was able to expiriment a little more, especially since they had so much more time. The album was recorded on two seperate occasions: a date in July and a date in September. On top of that, George Martin was able to keep his promse of not putting the latest single on the LP, making all the songs actually sound like they all belonged together.  

#19: I'll Get You

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: August 23rd, 1963
Appears on: Past Masters, Vol. 1
Lead vocal: John & Paul

"I'll Get You", the B-Side of "She Loves You", starts off innocent enough with John & Paul harmonizing the "Imagine I'm in love with you/It's easy 'cause it's true..." verse and the track picks up speed whenever it reaches the chorus, where the singer tells the girl that no matter what, "I'll get you/I'll get you in the end!/Yes, I will, I'll get you in the end..."
The best part of the song is the fantastic bridge:

"Well, there's gonna be a time,
Well I'm gonna change your mind.
So you might as well resign yourself to me, oh yeah!"

Besides the fact that John appears to sing "I'm gonna make your mind" while Paul sings "I'm gonna change your mind", there is that one fantastic word that just catapults the Lennon/McCartney team from standard to unique....resign. Who would use that word? Wouldn't it have been easier to say "So you might as well give up yourself to me!"? Maybe I'm making too much out of it, but the fact that these songwriters used this word proves (to me, at least) that they were always trying to reach a higher, more intellectual audience. I don't mean to say that children and teenagers of 1963 would not know what "resign" means, but to go with such a definitive word takes a huge leap. John & Paul are not just asking the girl to give herself up, but basically to sign her rights over to them! This is a fantastic song and definitely one of my favorite early tracks.
next up: with the beatles!

#18: She Loves You

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney 
Released: August 23rd, 1963 
Appears on: Past Masters, Vol. 1 
Lead vocal: John & Paul

This is where Beatlemania starts. It's such a perfect song, with a great hook and all the power that a great #1 single should have. All the pieces of Beatlemania come together on this one song that runs two minutes and fifteen seconds. The "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"s...the harmonies....the musicianship...everything is laid out for all to see.
What is so interesting about the song is the whole "third party" idea. John & Paul, the singers, are not the ones saying "I love you", but saying "Tell her YOU love her." "Go on, you can do it little boy, we're all here for you." To me, as a kid, this was such a bizarre concept. The idea of the song is so simple to me, but when I was like three or four, rockin' out to this song, the thing that grabbed me was the "Yeah"s! I remember thinking what are they saying that can't be bad? Obviusly my concept of love at age three was fairly rudimentary.
This is also one of those songs where you understand immediately why the Beatles are so loved all over the world. This song is relatable to any young boy of any race or color or whatever and it instantly tells a girl how a guy might feel about her.

In the end, the single (again, never released on an LP in the UK until ...Oldies But Goldies) turned out to be the group's first million selling disc and they would never look back.

#17: Thank You Girl

Written by: Paul McCartney & John Lennon
Released: April 12th, 1963
Appears on: Past Masters, Vol. 1
Lead vocal: John & Paul
"From Me To You" is backed by "Thank You Girl", a fun, but rather routine harmony track. The best and most unique aspect of the song is Ringo's long, booming drum fills. It's probably the first track that shows how great a drummer was and how he was only getting better. I've also always thought the "owww....owww" thing was a little weird, but the whole thing comes together for a pretty cool song.

#16: From Me To You

Written by: Paul McCartney & John Lennon
Released: April 12th, 1963
Appears on: Past Masters, Vol. 1
Lead vocal: John & Paul

Paul has talked about this numerous times, so what I am saying here sort of paraphrases what he has said about a lot of the early songs by the Beatles.
If you listen closely to most of these songs, you'll notice that there is always a pronoun directing the song immediately to the listener. This is the best and most unique thing about these songs. "From Me To You"...."P.S. I Love You"..."Thank You Girl"....I could go on. What this does is it allows the listener to become a part of the song, especially since you are directly addressed in the title.

"From Me To You" is the ultimate mission statement. The Beatles are automatically telling you that this song, and practically everything they will release from this point on, is for you, the listeners. In fact, as The Beatles Live At The BBC! shows us, it was actually "From Us To You". This is probably the reason why the song became their first unquestioned number one record. It becomes obvious that the Beatles are not doing this for themselves, but for their fans...and as soon as they see that making music is not just about filling your pockets for you, you've won them over. Fans could hear (and see) that these four men were making the music for them to enjoy.

The song is easily the best of the first three singles and was never released on an LP in Britain until 1966's A Collection of Beatles Oldies (But Goldies!). The reason why this single, like so many other early ones, was not put on an album was that George Martin and The Beatles didn't want to force record buyers to buy the same song twice. They broke this 'rule' right away with Please Please Me, but they were probably pushed by EMI to do that, since it was their first album. The rule was broken again for A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Revolver, Let It Be and Abbey Road. Still, it is fascinating to see that all of the Beatles' albums are so great, but most of them don't even have a single on it.

#15: Twist And Shout

Written by: Bert Russell & Phil Medley
Released: March 22nd, 1963
Appears on: Please Please Me
Lead vocal: John

The Top Notes.
Ever heard of these guys? No? Well, I didn't think so. They recorded the first version of "Twist And Shout" and it bombed for them. The single was terribly produced by a young Phil Spector, whose "Wall Of Sound" was in its' infancy and hardly perfected.
The Isely Brothers, though, took the song and ran with it, turning it into a party track, like their previous hit, "Shout!". This is the version The Beatles were probably familiar with and they were able to not only top it, but destroy it.
The story of how "Twist And Shout" was recorded is recounted numerous times and every time I hear it, it gets even more unbelievable. After recording nine songs in a row, the group took a break and drank some milk. Either Neil Aspinall or Mal Evans (I think it was Mal, but just to be safe) saw blood in John's cup - as I mentioned in "There's A Place", John was sick during the sessions. John, though, would not be stopped and the group ran in to record two takes of "Twist And Shout". The version that landed on the album was the first take, since by the time the second take was finished, John couldn't even talk.
How perfect a way is this to close the album? Yes, it is a cover, but today, if you tell people that and they have no idea. The vast majority of people know only of this version, propelled by John Hughes' fantastic 1986 film Ferris Beuller's Day Off (oh come on, it's a fun movie), so it seems that the Beatles reign supreme.
The way the boys play the song is the same way they play the rest of the songs on the album. "Twist And Shout" was a regular in the Cavern shows, and it almost seems like destiny that this song had to close out the record. Seriously, nothing could come after it. The moment where Ringo bangs that last drum has to be the point where the needle lifts off the vinyl. This has to be the part where you have to lean back and realize that what you just listened to is a piece of history: the first Beatles album - the first album by the greatest band ever.

Next up: "From Me To You"!

#14: There's A Place

Written by: Paul McCartney & John Lennon
Released: March 22nd, 1963
Appears on: Please Please Me
Lead vocal: John & Paul

There are very few similarities between The Beach Boys and The Beatles in the early going. The Beach Boys were born and raised in a Los Angeles suburb, getting their start as a group of teenagers in 1961. By 1963, they were obviously the biggest group in the United States and were forced to push out four albums by year's end by Capitol. On the other hand, The Beatles were born and raised in the tough neighborhoods of Liverpool, not getting signed by a major record label until a year after the Beach Boys. By 1963, though, they too became the biggest group in their country of origin - but their fates wouldn't collide until 1965.
Anyway, why am I bringing this up now? Well, "There's A Place" is strikingly similar to a Beach Boys track that I'm sure we're all familiar with: "In My Room". Capitol does not release "In My Room" until late 1963, and considering that "There's A Place" does not see release in the US until VeeJay's Introducing...The Beatles in February, 1964, there is no way that Brian Wilson could possibly have been influenced by The Beatles. The Beatles, obviously, as you can see by the release date above, could not have heard The Beach Boys' song at all, since it hadn't even been written yet. (Plus, The Beatles probably hadn't even heard of The Beach Boys, since they didn't break through in the UK until 1965...and any copy of "Surfin' USA" in the UK probably resided in Keith Moon's possession anyway.)
Aside from the theme of withdrawing yourself into your own special place, though, the songs are nothing alike. "There's A Place" is a quick, rocking track, featuring John & Paul harmonizing together. "In My Room", though, features a heartbreaking falsetto performance from Brian and the structure is slow, allowing us to appreciate every little iota of vocal perfection. In "There's A Place" the vocals are hardly perfect. I've always thought John's vocal was off, almost as if you can feel his vocal chords were already about to explode (considering how he was ill).
"There's A Place" is still a song about love though, because the "place" is the girl in this situation. Yet, the song still reveals insecurity and fear - all in a minute and fifty seconds.