With the Beatles (1963) – The Complete Deep Dive

Release Date: 22 November 1963

Label: Parlophone (PMC 1206)

Producer: George Martin

UK Chart Performance: #1 (21 weeks)

Notable Tracks: All My Loving, Till There Was You, Please Mister Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, It Won't Be Long

When With the Beatles was released on 22 November 1963, it did something remarkable: it knocked Please Please Me off the top of the UK album charts. The album that replaced it was by the same band. Beatlemania was no longer a phenomenon — it was a fact of life.

Released on the same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, With the Beatles arrived into a world that was about to change irrevocably. In Britain, it sold 500,000 advance copies before a single review had been written.

Background: The Pressure of the Second Album

A Band at Full Stretch

By mid-1963, The Beatles were the biggest act in Britain. Recording sessions took place between 18 July and 3 October 1963 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road.

The Robert Freeman Cover

Photographer Robert Freeman shot the four Beatles in half-shadow against a black background — a stark, moody image that was a world away from the grinning pop group of the debut. The same photograph, slightly reframed, was used for the US release Meet the Beatles!

Track-by-Track Guide

Side One

It Won't Be Long — Lennon's energetic opener, built on a call-and-response structure. The word "yeah" appears 22 times.

All I've Got to Do — A quieter, more intimate Lennon composition, influenced by Smokey Robinson's conversational style.

All My Loving — McCartney's masterpiece and one of the great Beatles songs of the early period. Written on a tour bus. It opened their first Ed Sullivan Show performance in February 1964.

Don't Bother Me — George Harrison's first solo songwriting credit on a Beatles album. Written while ill in a hotel room in Bournemouth.

Little Child — A Lennon-McCartney rocker featuring harmonica, written as a vehicle for Ringo Starr to sing. He declined; Lennon sang it instead.

Till There Was You — McCartney's showcase ballad, drawn from the 1957 musical The Music Man. He performed it on The Ed Sullivan Show to demonstrate the band's range to American audiences.

Please Mister Postman — The Marvelettes' 1961 Motown classic, given a driving, urgent reading by Lennon.

Side Two

Roll Over Beethoven — Chuck Berry's 1956 rock and roll anthem, sung by George Harrison.

Hold Me Tight — A McCartney composition originally attempted during the Please Please Me sessions and abandoned.

You Really Got a Hold on Me — Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' 1962 soul ballad, given a deeply felt reading by Lennon.

I Wanna Be Your Man — Ringo Starr's showcase, a Lennon-McCartney composition famously given to the Rolling Stones before The Beatles recorded their own version.

Devil in Her Heart — A cover of the Donays' 1962 original, sung by George Harrison.

Not a Second Time — A Lennon composition that prompted music critic William Mann of The Times to compare its harmonic structure to Mahler.

Money (That's What I Want) — Barrett Strong's 1959 Motown original, delivered by Lennon with ferocious intensity. One of the great album closers of the era.

Recording: Key Facts

Sessions took place across 18 July, 30 July, 6 August, 3 September, and 3 October 1963 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. George Martin produced all sessions; Norman Smith engineered. Seven of the fourteen tracks are covers.

Chart Performance

With the Beatles entered the UK charts at #1 on 7 December 1963, displacing Please Please Me. It remained at #1 for 21 weeks. Advance orders of 500,000 copies made it one of the fastest-selling albums in UK history at that point.

Cultural Impact and Legacy

With the Beatles confirmed that Please Please Me was no fluke. The album also marked the emergence of George Harrison as a songwriter. Robert Freeman's cover photograph remains one of the defining images of the 1960s.

Shop With the Beatles Merchandise

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