Keith Richards’ favourite song by The Beatles
The rivalry between The Rolling Stones and The Beatles is perhaps the greatest in rock history. Both bands grew up in the same era, but to the press of the 1960s, the two groups were polar opposites and were quickly set up as counterpoints to one another. Whereas The Beatles were regarded as soft, friendly, and warm, The Rolling Stones were edgy, gritty, and the archetype of hot-blooded rock n roll.
Of course, this is pretty ironic considering The Beatles grew up in the far grittier environment of Liverpool’s working-class suburbs, while The Rolling Stones benefited from a comparatively soft upbringing in the London suburbs. As Lemmy would famously declare, “The Rolling Stones were the mummy’s boys,” the Motörhead rocker reckons, ridiculing their image in his memoir, White Line Fever.
He added with no small degree of irony, “The Beatles were hard men. [Manager] Brian Epstein cleaned them up for mass consumption, but they were anything but sissies.” Needless to say, should Richards ever pick up a copy of White Line Fever, he would undoubtedly fire off a retort.
Despite what Lemmy and the newspapers may have said, it has since been established that The Stones and The Beatles were neither rivals nor competitors. They each followed distinct trajectories and respected each other’s work greatly. For Keith Richards, the legendary guitarist of The Rolling Stones, there were a great number of Beatles songs he treasured. But one stood out more than all the rest.
What was Keith Richards’ favourite Beatles song?
Responding to queries about his favourite Beatles song, Richards said: “I’ve always told McCartney, ‘Please Please Me.’ I just love the chimes, and I was there at the time and it was beautiful. Mind you, there’s plenty of others, but if I’ve got to pick one, ‘Please Please Me’…oh, yeah!”
‘Please Please Me’ was The Beatles’ second single in the UK and their very first in the US. Following the modest success of ‘Love Me Do’, the band needed a song that would gain them recognition beyond Liverpool and Hamburg. ‘Please Please Me’ was not the original choice, however.
Initially, George Martin wanted the boys to release their cover of ‘How Do You Do It?’ by Mitch Murray. But, at that point, The Beatles were clear on the fact that, unlike the Stones and just about everybody else on the scene, they only wanted to release their own material. Originality was at the core of their outlook, instilled by the late, great Buddy Holly.
Ringo Starr later commented: “I remember us all being ready to stand up for the principle of, ‘We have written these songs and we want to do them'”. Thankfully, Martin was sympathetic and released ‘Please Please Me’ instead. The group figured that it was just about catchy enough for them to make a mark on the mainstream.
Lennon wrote an early version of the track after hearing Roy Orbison on the radio, doing ‘Only The Lonely’. It started out as a slow blues-infused riff, but with the help of George Martin, who described that early draft as “rather dreary”, the track was transformed into an upbeat pop hit, rich with layers of harmony.
Of the original version, Martin said: “It was obvious to me that it badly needed pepping up. I told them to bring it in next time and we’d have another go at it.” Martin suggested increasing the tempo as well as the inclusion of a harmonica line to bring out the energy. In some way, maybe this more aggressive pace had something to do with the edgier sounds emerging from London, where Richards’ gang were causing a stir.
The song was released in January 1963, at a time when Britain was experiencing one of the worst winters in British history. Luckily for The Beatles, most of the population was snowed in, leading millions of people to tune in to the Fab Four’s performance of the song on national television. Today, ‘Please Please Me’ is regarded as a classic of The Beatles’ early recordings. As is expected from someone as contrarian as Richards, he found a few faults to pick thereafter, sullying their live act and Sgt Pepper among a few other notable swipes.
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