Worst Beatles song on Please Please Me

I've created a monster

Related threads:
Worst Beatles Single
worst beatles song

I'm inclined to vote Love Me Do cuz I hate that song but I have not actually listened to this entire album. All the early Beatles stuff I have is on weirdly assembled American label compilations (the Beatles' "Second Album"! etc.)

Voted "Ask Me Why". Its main competition was "A Taste of Honey", which is a decent song but doesn't fit with the band's style.

if anyone even thinks about voting for "there is a place" i'll kill 'em.

also shouldn't covers have been excluded from this? like, what if the winner of THE WORST BEATLES SONG OF ALL TIME is a tune they didn't even write? just a thought.

Yeah, "Ask me Why" was the only one I couldn't hum off the top of my head.

I don't like "Chains" much, but "Ask Me Why" is worse.

"A Taste of Honey," no second thought.

if anyone votes "misery" lmk itt so i can sb you.

this is my favourite beatles album.

Ringo's going to suffer badly in these polls.

I voted for "Do You Want To Know A Secret" over "P.S. I Love You". The former has George's worst vocal, nasal and choppy.

so, prediction for once its all over: mr moonlight

I love Mr Moonlight!

there's always one

actually john's vocal on that is pretty cool

"A Taste of Honey," no second thought.

― if I don't see more dissent, I'm going to have to check myself in (Matos W.K.), Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:40 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark

"A Taste Of Honey" is (about) the 5th best song on here! I love Paul's mournful vocal on the "I will return" part. And the chorus was made for serenading, or at least I use it that way all the time.

"Love Me Do", the second-worst single of their career and, I believe, the only track recorded in 1962. Nice harmonica but not much else.

I enjoy every one of the covers to some extent, even the ones that are better in their originals.

I strongly dislike "Boys".

"Love Me Do", the second-worst single of their career and, I believe, the only track recorded in 1962.

"PS I Love You" was also released in 1962, and as such, logically, it was recorded that year. :)

Well, quite!

Actually, even that version of "Love Me Do" on the album wasn't the original version. So, that was probably recorded in 1963 anyway!

Actually, no I take it back: That was drummed by Andy White, so 1962 it was...

I love Mr Moonlight!

― nate woolls, Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:08 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^John's vocal is so ridiculously passionate you can almost believe he's actually singing about something. song sucks; performance is awe-inspiring.

I've SB'ed everyone who said "Ask Me Why," which is fucking great. And I voted "P.S. I Love You," which to me is the very definition of phoning it in.

I mean, they blanched at recording and releasing "Besame Mucho," but went with "P.S. I Love You?" Bleah.

Anyone who goes for a Lennon/McCartney penned song as the worst on any of the first five albums is crazy.

(Well, OK, I guess the worst track on "A Hard Day's Night" has to be Lennon/McCartney penned) ;)

pretty obviously A Taste of Honey. I can't imagine anyone voting for There's A Place; along with Not A Second Time, these are like, the pinnacles of songwriting from the first two records.

I really like Ask Me Why too.

The middle 8 of Honey is fine, but the rest of it is very 'olde-time' so, that one.

Actually, you could call that middle 8 ska, just about...

This is a good thread..

Hmm, wonder if one of the albums' worst track winners will be the same as the 'best track' as voted previously?

I wonder.....

i kinda like 'a taste of honey' despite its blahness because it reminds me of my favorite film ever (which very fortunately does not include the song).

i don't like the version of 'love me do' on this album as much as the version on past masters, so that.

Damn, they DID record more than the one song in '62. That's the 2nd factual error I posted today - might have to start lugging all my reference books to the office each day if I continue like that...

xxxxxxxxxxpost

http://indra.com/~cliffcan/SongsofPPM.htm

"Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" too...

There's a Place>I Saw Her Standing There>Twist and Shout>Please Please Me>Anna>Misery>Baby It's You>Ask Me Why>Do You Want to Know a Secret?>Chains>P.S. I Love You>Love Me Do>Boys>A Taste of Honey

I love this album fwiw...

Their "Baby It's You" is pretty dull but I'm voting "PS I Love You" for no reason other than I've just never liked it very much.

Best: "There's A Place," "Chains," "Misery," "Twist and Shout," and the title track.

oh and mister moonlight is FUCKING GREAT, but we can discuss that when we get there...

fu Taste of Honey haters. I think Love Me Do is horribly square-wheeled and might be their worst song.

'P.S. I Love You' is probably the least remarkable song here.

But I love the way Paul sings "you, you, yoooou"

Love Me Do is like a blueprint for the early Beatles Merseybeat rock and roll. It's a simplictic song with especially bad lyrics but with a lot of the qualities that would feature in early peaks like She Loves You and I Want To hold Your Hand, albeit within the bounds of a mediocre song.

Honey is what I would define as Bad Paul. Overly dramatic and eager to please, kind of like the way his persona has become (or always was).

Love Me Do is like a blueprint for the early Beatles Merseybeat rock and roll.

I wouldn't really say so. "Love Me Do" is largely a bluesy rocker. It wasn't until "Please Please Me"'s AABA-form and diatonic melody that the combination of "black" rawness and "white" melody/harmony that was Merseybeat really was merged together. "Love Me Do" largely has the former, and very little of the latter.

I.e. "Please Please Me" has just as much of Tin Pan Alley, Brill Building and Music Hall in it as it has R&B and rock'n'roll. Thus, "Please Please Me" is the first Merseybeat original.

"Twist and Shout" -- too many wedding receptions.

*snicker* "Love Me Do" is too "black" for Geir. That's awesome.

seriously dreading Geir on the rest of these fuckin threads. At least he stayed off the Beach Boys ones for the most part

beatles nazi!

"Love Me Do' is a fiendishly catchy song which I love and wish I wrote. I love this album, but since you asked, I can do without "Baby It's You."

and is next to "Love you to" in the alphabetical beatles song list.

Anyway, thinking about "PS I love you", and decided it's a "british folk song" in structure and style.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

3 people said 'chains'!

Could someone point me to the final Worst Beach Boys song poll

never mind, found it

i'm pleased see "there is a place" make it through unscathed, amazed to see that anyone voted for "do you want to know a secret."

Such an endearingly "early" vocal. Do you promise not to TAHLLL???

George was like 19 at the time.. Endearing, yes.

Had he sung lead at all prior to this album?

Yah, he's all over the "Decca" audition tapes.

"Sheikh of Araby" for a kickoff.

(Someone do the "worst" on that album?)

yah? Yeah, obv.

duff 'e' key, not I've gone all chelsea!

"Do You Want To Know a Secret" has this very obvious Liverpool tone in the vocals, which is exactly what makes it so great for me. Much better than Billy J. Kramer's version!

11. Do You Want To Know A Secret 2
14. Twist And Shout 2
10. Baby It's You 1
3. Anna (Go To Him) 1

I don't much understand the hate for these. Though Twist & Shout's ubiquity could have counted against it.

I'm really liking Anna (Go to Him) at the moment. A great wounded-Lennon vocal. "Every girl I've EVER had... "

schooling myself on early Beatles (which I've never really dug into with much alacrity) since I'm reading vol 1 of the Lewisohn

man taste of honey really is bad

Doo DOOT EN DOOO!

been doing this myself (that is, going through the early stuff chronologically). can't say i came across a song i straight up hated until "run for your life" on rubber soul. everything else was at least listenable imo.

man taste of honey really is bad

til there was you is worse. taste of honey at least has some moody charm.

Agree. "Taste of Honey"'s okay (Herb Alpert's hit version is good); "Till There Was You" is my pick (and a common pick) for the worst thing they ever did.

8. Love Me Do 10

y'all suck

yeah wth is wrong with people

especially since there are some legit throwaway songs on this record

I like LMD but it's one of a handful of their hits that really feels, with some distance, like a sorta generic Merseybeat song that might not be remembered much at all if it weren't by the Beatles. That Love Me Do.

Eye like both 'A Taste of Honey' and 'Till There Was You'... As 4 what eye would pick as the worst from this album, eye'm kinda stumped. Maybe 'Boys', 'Chains', or if we're talking about their own compositions... 'Love Me Do'

xp It spent 14 weeks as the number one song in the US. And that description strikes me as much more apt for the title song, if anything.

Doctor Casino OTM, while 'Love Me Do' is notable 4 being the debut single by an act that went on 2 do great things, if it had been put out by an act that didn't follow it up with any great deal of success, eye could easily c it being lost 2 the mists 'o' time.

Eye like both 'A Taste of Honey' and 'Till There Was You'... As 4 what eye would pick as the worst from this album, eye'm kinda stumped. Maybe 'Boys', 'Chains', or if we're talking about their own compositions... 'Love Me Do'

― WHERE'S JIM!? (Turrican), Monday, April 25, 2016 1:22 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No way, "Boys" is a total highlight, one of Ringo's best drum performances, and the first appearance of his rampaging "backwards" fills.

Sorry, it was not #1 for 14 weeks.

'Love Me Do' always seemed to me to have a 'folk' edge that they didn't go back to until 'Rubber Soul'

Eye have always found 'Love Me Do' a little bit trite.

Why eye man?

The title track on this album totally rules.

schooling myself on early Beatles (which I've never really dug into with much alacrity) since I'm reading vol 1 of the Lewisohn

If you're interested, I dorked out and made a pretty exhaustive playlist out of all of the non-Beatle music referenced in that book:

https://play.spotify.com/user/darinfabrick/playlist/290CKldsqShkpShOFFxsRk

Lennon's singing on the middle 8 of Anna is incredible

^^^a highlight for sure. i've noticed in my nerdy beatles immersion program that my favorite moments are when the vocals get kinda desperate-sounding.

I put this on last night to check and tbh it sounded pretty solid all throughout. I could probably select two or three that aren't at the same level as the other material/performances but there's nothing that stops me in my tracks with how far beneath the other stuff it is. Very consistent quality of playing and singing, good instincts on the arrangements/overdubs, etc. This blog post offers a helpful recap of Lewisohn's coverage; I'd forgotten (or never knew) that "Hold Me Tight" was attempted for this record and shelved, which I think reflects very well on their instincts at this juncture. It's a peppy number, and I've always liked it, but it would be redundant to the better uptempo stuff here.

John's singing, as everywhere else on the first few records, is just fantastic. It's particularly welcome on the covers, which would be so, so forgettable otherwise. The ache/desperation he throws into "Anna" and "Baby It's You" is just killer.