Legendary classic rock producer George Martin predicted that one of The Beatles’ songs would hit No. 1. He was wrong multiple times over. However, he still worked on many other Beatles songs and one of Paul McCartney’s most famous solo hits.
1 of The Beatles’ songs originally sounded like a Roy Orbison ballad
During a 2020 interview with Uncut, Martin discussed the impact Martin had on The Beatles. “‘Please, Please Me,’ originally we brought to him as a very slow [Roy] Orbison-esque ballad,” he recalled. “‘Last night I said these words … Come on — joojoo — come on — joojoo’ — you can imagine Roy Orbison doing it.
“George said, ‘It might be good a bit faster,’” he said. “We go, ‘No.’ He used this skill of persuasion and he got us. ‘Oh, go on then, we’ll try it.’ So we did, ‘Last night I said.‘ He goes, ‘There’s your first No 1.’”
‘Please Please Me’ didn’t become one of the Fab Four’s biggest songs
While Martin’s musical instincts were great, he was categorically wrong about the commercial appeal of “Please Please Me.” The tune only hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 13 weeks. The tune’s parent album, Please Please Me, merely hit No. 155 on the Billboard 200 for a week.
According to The Official Charts Company, “Please Please Me” only peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom and stayed on the chart for 18 weeks. Later, the track recharted at No. 29 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for four weeks. Meanwhile, the album Please Please Me climbed to No. 1 for 30 of its 70 initial weeks on the chart. Subsequently, the record hit No. 32 and stayed on the chart for six weeks.
After The Beatles’ breakup, Paul McCartney and George Martin made a James Bond hit
Regardless of the false prediction, Paul told Uncut that Martin knew what he was doing. “He was like a doctor when you’re ill,” he remembered. “They have a way of not getting you angry. ‘Sure, let me just take your temperature.’ George was like that.
“I’d disagree with one of his ideas, and they were often very good ideas, and instead of having a barney, he’d say, ‘Maybe we could just try it and if you don’t like it, we’ll lose it,’” he said. “Then I’d go, ‘Oh, OK.’ He was clever that way. He’d get you to try things.”
Martin produced most of The Beatles’ music and he would continue to work with Paul after The Beatles’ breakup. The pair’s most well-remembered post-Beatles tune was probably Wings’ “Live and Let Die.” That track was the theme of the Roger Moore 007 movie of the same name. Today, Martin is remembered as one of the most talented producers in music history and is often dubbed “the Fifth Beatle.”
While “Please Please Me” remains one of The Beatles’ most beloved early songs, it never managed to hit No. 1 in the U.S. or the U.K.
