Please Please Me / Ask Me Why

Matrix Information
Side 1: (mono) 7XCE17127 7AXPA514
Side 2: (mono) 7XCE17218 7AXPA515

16 June 1982
Side 1: (stereo) A8080A AP
Side 2: (stereo) A8080B AP

Overview
Australia, like America, got off to a somewhat slow start with The Beatles. 'Love Me Do', a British top 20 hit in October 1962, was passed over for local release. It was not until 'Please Please Me' became a British hit in early 1963 that Australia received its first Fab Four record. Despite the excitement building in Britain, the single initially made little impact here. Their first substantial Australian hit was their third British single, 'From Me To You', released locally on 9 May 1963. Australians eventually caught up with the first two British hits: 'Love Me Do' became their fifth Australian single and reached No. 1, while 'Please Please Me' led the EP The Beatles Hits, which entered the charts in February 1964.

The formal arrangement for Leeds Music to be the local Northern Songs and Jaep representative did not commence until August 1963. Leeds Music did, however, secure the rights to the Dick James Music-controlled 'Please Please Me' and 'Ask Me Why' (along with Gerry and The Pacemakers' 'How Do You Do It' and 'I Like It') through separate deals struck with Dick James in March 1963, mere weeks after the release of this single. Thus, initial copies carry an 'MCPS Sydney' royalty stamp on both sides (MCPS Sydney was the Australian branch of the UK-based Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Ltd), as MCPS Sydney collected the royalties from EMI (Australia) and paid direct to MCPS UK, who in turn distributed to Dick James Music.

Although Parlophone, Columbia and HMV in the UK had forsaken their early identifiable red, green and blue singles labels for a generic black design back in January 1963, it would not be until October before Australia fell into line, hence this single, and the following two, first appearing with pink labels.

Following its February 1963 release, the single went out of print before being reissued a year later in the wake of the success of 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'. It then re-entered the charts in several cities—and finally entered the Sydney charts!

Deleted in December 1967, the single would not be reissued until 1982, when on 16 June it was recut from PARLO 392 (the stereo Please Please Me side 1 cassette production master tape) at Studios 301 by Allan Parsons for inclusion in The Australian 20th Anniversary Singles Collection. It subsequently went out of print again before returning on 7 December 1987.

An unusual release appeared during that intervening period. In 1969, EMI (Australia)'s custom service pressed a series of singles for a radio segment titled Dial A Memory, featuring music otherwise out of print in the single format. One included 'Please Please Me' on the A-side, with a Peter Dawson track on the flipside. The song was introduced with a 25-second narrative by renowned Australian voice-over artist Kevin Golsby. Afterwards, Kevin spoke for 30 seconds about the group's success, followed by a short promo for EMI (Australia): "Whenever there's success, there's EMI to record it yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" The intro and outro can be heard below.

Chart Performance

	Brisbane (QLD)	Sydney (NSW)	Melbourne (VIC)	Hobart (TAS)	Adelaide (SA)	Perth (WA)
Chart Entry	17-Mar-63	08-May-64	13-Apr-63	10-Mar-63	23-Mar-63	-
Highest Position	26	44	29	21	13
Weeks In	6	3	6	8	11

Brisbane

(QLD)

Sydney

(NSW)

Melbourne

(VIC)

Hobart

(TAS)

Adelaide

(SA)

Perth

(WA)

Chart Entry

17-Mar-63

08-May-64

13-Apr-63

10-Mar-63

23-Mar-63

Highest Position

Weeks In

Listed as "Please Please Me"

Chart Re-entry	02-May-64	-	22-Feb-64	21-Feb-64	29-Feb-64	-
Highest Position	27		22	2	8
Weeks In	3		12	12	13

Listed as "Please Please Me"

Chart Entry	23-May-64	-	-	-	-	-
Highest Position	26
Weeks In	2

Listed as "Ask Me Why"