Beatles FAQ

  Country soul pioneer “If the Beatles wanted a sound, it was R&B. That’s what we used to listen to and what we wanted to be like. Black, that was basically it. Arthur Alexander.”  Paul McCartney, quoted in  Lewisohn,   Mark (2013).  The Beatles: All These Years Arthur Alexander was a relatively obscure singer songwriter from Alabama and an exact contemporary of The Beatles. They covered his song Anna (Go to Him) and his most successful single, You Better Move On was also an early hit for the Rolling Stones.  Yet despite being the only songwriter to be covered on studio recordings by The Beatles, The Stones and Bob Dylan, Alexander failed to follow-up early success. By the end of the 1960s he had effectively left the music industry and was driving a bus Full story (5 minute free read)

'a combination of Roy Orbison and Bing Crosby' with improvements via George Martin

Was Please Please Me The Beatles first UK Number One? At the end of the lengthy recording session for the single version of Please Please Me  George Martin turned to The Beatles and said, 'Gentlemen, you have your first Number One!' George was rarely wrong about anything but in this case the jury is still out. 

The Beatles first recording contract Despite their local success in Liverpool and Hamburg - and Brian Epstein's best efforts -  The Beatles struggled to get their first recording deal.

George Martin was initially unconvinced that Lennon & McCartney could consistently write hit songs. For their second single John Lennon put forward Please Please Me - his attempt to channel Roy Orbison. Again the verdict was a resounding thumbs down: I listened to it and I said: 'Do you know that's too boring for words? It's a dirge. At twice the speed it might sound reasonable.' They took me at my word. I was joking and they came back and played it to me sped up and put a harmonica on it. Impressed by the dramatic improvement, George Martin agreed to give the song a second chance. He was not to regret his decision:  We worked for ages on their new version of 'Please Please Me', and I said: 'Gentlemen, you're going to have your first #1. Source: Interview with George Martin, The Observer Music Monthly, 2006