The Beatles Turned Down Another Hit Song in Favor of ‘Please Please Me’

In the early days of The Beatles, the band was looking to release hit singles that would put them on the map. “Please Please Me” was their second hit, proving that the fab four were not a one-hit-wonder. The song was a risky move for The Beatles as they turned down another song which ended up being a hit for a different act. 

The Beatles needed another hit song after ‘Love Me Do’

“Love Me Do” was The Beatles’ debut single in the U.K. While it was a hit, it only reached No. 17 in the U.K. in 1962. It later became a No. 1 hit in the U.S., but not until 1964. In an interview with Melody Maker, The Beatles’ long-time producer George Martin said he knew the band needed another hit single, but they didn’t have anything else to work with.

“It was after we made ‘Love Me Do’ that I was determined to find a hit song for them. I was scouring the publisher’s office looking for material on our group, which nobody wanted to know about. EMI heard the Beatles, which they thought was a silly name anyway, and they didn’t attach too much importance to it,” Martin said. “We hit number 17 in the chart, which raised eyebrows but only just, so I found them this song by Mitch Murray which I thought was just ideal for them to learn for the next session.”

The Beatles turned down ‘How Do You Do It?’ in favor of ‘Please Please Me’

The Mitch Murray track that Martin found was “How Do You Do It?” Martin believed it could be The Beatles’ next hit song, but the band didn’t agree. John Lennon believed they could do better and urged Martin to allow them to record “Please Please Me”. 

“They actually recorded it but said they’d rather do one of their own numbers. I said that I hadn’t heard anything of theirs that was any good, so they did ‘How Do You Do It?’ John sang the solo, quite well actually, but he came to me and pleaded with me. He said ‘Look, I think we can do better than this. If we write something better can we do it?’ I said yes, but you’re turning down a hit. They quickly came back with ‘Please Please Me’, and I must confess it knocked me out. They’d worked out all the little harmonies and it was super. I said, ‘That’s great, you’ve got your first number one hit.’”

‘How Do You Do It’ was a hit for Gerry and the Pacemakers

Apparently, Martin had genius intuition as both “How Do You Do It?” and “Please Please Me” became hits. After The Beatles declined the song, Martin gave “How Do You Do It?” to Gerry and the Pacemakers, who turned it into a No. 1 hit single in the U.K. While it initially didn’t have an impact in the U.S., it did reach No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon a 1965 reissue. 

There is debate on whether “Please Please Me” was a No. 1 hit, as it did reach that point on the New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts in the U.K., but it peaked at No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart. It was not included on the 1 compilation album, released in 2000.