Comments on: Ask Me Why

By: Mike Piesik

Mike Piesik — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 19:47:38 +0000

No. He’s found “true love” and he can’t believe he finally found it. With it, he can’t conceive of being unhappy any longer.
You have to listen to ALL the words.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 20:19:38 +0000

Obviously Pete Best can’t be the drummer on the flip side of Please Please Me as he was fired before Love Me Do!

By: Slipper of the Yard

Slipper of the Yard — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 19:30:57 +0000

Can’t believe no one has picked up on the lyrics on this song. Its not a love song its a cry for help. Lennon , even at this stage feels trapped in a relationship. ‘I can’t conceive, anymore misery’. but ‘Ask me why and I’ll say I love you and I’m always thinking of you’ He lies.

By: JFrench

JFrench — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 13:26:30 +0000

That’s the reason I looked it up in Beatles Bible….it keeps popping into my head and I couldn’t remember the title, I kept looking up I Love you and Tell me Why!!

By: Steve O

Steve O — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 20:24:49 +0000

here is a live version recorded in Germany as well…..was it The Star Club?

By: Randy Frid

Randy Frid — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 08:09:27 +0000

Lennon’s vocal control grabs you and keeps you. Brilliant. There are so many subtleties in this song that I consider this a true masterpiece in every way. I must have listened to this one song thousands of times. Their harmonies literally add three more perfect instruments to the band.

By: IDLERACER (@IDLERACER)

IDLERACER (@IDLERACER) — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 08:59:56 +0000

That augmented chord that leads into the bridge could very well have been inspired by Bacharach’s “Make It Easy On Yourself” which had been a hit for Jerry Butler earlier in 1962.

By: David Reynolds

David Reynolds — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 11:40:23 +0000

I would like to say that I have completely changed my opinion of this song. I find these days when I think of a Beatles song, it just pops into my head. To answer a previous critic, I am a muso.

By: kirbygene

kirbygene — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 21:28:59 +0000

Good ears!

By: Johan cavalli

Johan cavalli — Sat, 09 May 2015 18:00:33 +0000

Typical Lennon with three long wonderful notes “…ask me why…”. Wonderful is even the start of the middle part with a +chord, just before “…I can´t believe…”

By: Oh!

Oh! — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 17:42:29 +0000

It’s sad that the original was destroyed, but there is a BBC version out there that was recorded less than two weeks after that original June 1962 session. It’s pretty similar to the single release, except that here, George hits the tremolo a bit more. I really like this version – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbUoSKC5xjk

By: johnlennonsrhythmguitar

johnlennonsrhythmguitar — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 05:06:41 +0000

I agree that One After 909 would have been a good fit here. However, not at the expense of Ask Me Why. My vote would go to A Taste Of Honey, it’s so awfully out of place it isn’t funny. Ask Me Why is one of the best songs on this album

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 19:57:25 +0000

I have always loved this song. One of the first Beatles songs I learned how to play.
John’s usage of his falsetto range is awesome. As with most of his songs, he controls the emotion and intensity of his voice so well.

You can certainly hear how the Beatles evolved from this song. The guitar rhythm, harmony phrases, and stop and go breaks which were expanded upon and perfected on later songs.

I also love how the last resolving chord is played!

By: James Ferrell

James Ferrell — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:05:21 +0000

Although I was around for the start of Beatlemania in the US, I never heard this song until much later because the original Please Please Me/Ask Me Why single didn’t sell, and the version of the PPM single that finally did sell had From Me to You as its B side. It wasn’t on Vee Jay’s “Introducing the Beatles” either, which I owned (although it was on Capitol’s near-equivalent “The Early Beatles”). I don’t think I ever even heard AMW until I bought the 2009 box set and finally had a copy of the British Please Please Me CD.

Paul tries a walking bass line in the middle 8 of this one, and in middle 8 of “A Taste of Honey” as well. I don’t find it very effective in either of these songs, but man he sure uses the same idea to great effect later on “All My Loving” and “Eight Days a Week”.

By: gkargreen

gkargreen — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 22:43:25 +0000

one of my favorites, a jazzy and fairly complex pop song, well done Beatles! Really David? Wow, must not be a musician…

By: Gilbert

Gilbert — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 20:27:46 +0000

What you are hearing is the same guitar: John’s Gibson Acoustic-Electric. On the left channel is the sound of the guitar plugged to an amplifier, while on the right channel the sound of the plectrum strumming across the strings leaked into John’s vocal microphone. It’s a nice, if unintended, stereo effect.

By: David Reynolds

David Reynolds — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 13:37:56 +0000

Another horror. I love youuuuuuuuuu whoohoowhoohoo. Yuck. The original version of the One after 909 should have made the cut.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 24 May 2014 13:15:37 +0000

I hear two rhythm guitars and a lead. I hear an electric rhythm and an acoustic rhythm. Both John perhaps?

By: Hendrik

Hendrik — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 08:21:12 +0000

As John often used to say when a new song was needed: “How do we go from here”, Ask Me Why begins where P.S. I Love You ends. The ending of P.S. I Love You is the beginning of Ask Me Why. To me the feel of the song reminds me of German popmusic of that time. It is one of my favorites.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 14:22:57 +0000

Listening to the 2009 track tonight I heard two rhythm guitars, one in each channel. One must have been overdubbed.