Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 11 February 1963
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 22 March 1963 (UK), 10 January 1964 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums
Available on:
Please Please Me
On Air – Live At The BBC Volume 2
The first song to be recorded at the 11 February 1963 session for the Please Please Me album, There's A Place was completed in 10 takes, apart from a harmonica overdub later that afternoon.
There's A Place was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing. It says the usual Lennon things: 'In my mind there's no sorrow…' It's all in your mind.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
The song was co-written by Lennon and McCartney in the latter's home at 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool. It was based loosely upon the song Somewhere from the West Side Story soundtrack album, a copy of which McCartney owned.
In our case the place was in the mind, rather than round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle. This was the difference with what we were writing: we were getting a bit more cerebral. We both sang it. I took the high harmony, John took the lower harmony or melody. This was a nice thing because we didn't actually have to decide where the melody was till later when they boringly had to write it down for sheet music.
Many Years from Now, Barry Miles
There's A Place encapsulates the drive and hunger of The Beatles in 1963. The song is full of the energy familiar to those who saw them live in Liverpool or Hamburg, and a sense of urgency and desire for success pervades the recording.
In the studio
The song was first recorded with another Lennon-McCartney composition – I Saw Her Standing There – on 11 February 1963, during the 10am-1pm morning session for Please Please Me. Recording took place in Studio Two at EMI Studios in Abbey Road, London.
The song was mostly completed in 10 takes. In the afternoon session, from 2.30-6pm, John Lennon overdubbed a harmonica part onto take 10. This addition was recorded in three attempts, with the final version becoming known as take 13.
There’s a lot of playing to their strengths here, the dual lead is McCartney singing high with Lennon almost just talking along with him until he breaks out & takes over the lead & Paul falls back into the harmony with George. The harmonica is extra on this song, and doesn’t have a real defining purpose in this song, but Ringo’s drumming is especially strong throughout.
Fully agree with with your comment on how strong Ringo’s drums are; constantly changing, based on where in the song they are.
But, can’t agree that the harmonica is extra; A drum thwack starts the song then it has this trumpet-like blast of harp wailing through the reverb- I think this a strong clarion-call that grabs your attention and sets you up for the haunting melody that follows…
Quotes from John in both 1972 and 1980 indicate that he wrote the song. It sounds like a Lennon song. The reference to West Side Story is specious.
I totally agree. I’ve always felt this song as John’s, it has got so much of him on it. One of the top 3 for me on Please Please Me album.
I think it sounds like them both, compare with Baby’s In Black for example, very similar touches, like the relative minor (John), wide melody (Paul), elaborate chords (Paul) and unusual section lengths (John)
+1
I love this song. It was the B-side of the Twist and Shout single in the US (on Tollie Records). I always loved the harmonies on the verses.
The middle eight sounds a little Motown-y to me but the verses sound like John and Paul.
like it too. still have tht old 45
Its a special recording, alright…I love it…
I remember the first time I heard it – 1st grade. Someone brought in the single (Tollie!)
and the teacher played both sides during recess. I’d heard “…Shout” on the radio before, but this one really caught my ear.
Still on of my favorites.
“Specious” means superficially plausible but ultimately untrue. So what your basically saying is that McCartney is wrong about being influenced by the song “Somewhere.” I have to ask you if you have any legitimate proof to back up your claim.
If your only relying on Lennon’s quotes alone, I guarantee you’re not going to convince everyone here that your opinion is as close to the truth as can be got to.
I agree, Richard. Not necessarily wishing to paint present company with this brush, but there really is a certain kind of cool Lennon acolyte who would love to be able to airbrush McCartney entirely from Beatles history and we see the pattern very often. Personally I find it fascinating to observe in a ghastly sort of way and wonder what the psychological root of it is. It is a sort of wilful blinkering of vision, a self-destructive sickness really.There should be syndrome to name it by 😉
Anyway, in the case of There’s a Place, I find it very plausible that it owed something to Bernstein/Sondheim’s phrase “there’s a place for us” both lyrically and musically. I can very easily accept that Paul owned West Side Story and admired it (I am less sure that John would have done, and in later years Paul singled out Sondheim as an admired writer). The rising figure “[there] is a place” bears comparison to “there’s a place [for us]”, in my opinion, and I can easily imagine Paul playing with this phrase and the two of them saying “what place? where do they go?” and John (probably) snapping his fingers and saying, “In his mind! They’re not really going anywhere, are they?” “Yeah! That’s it!” and away they go…
Well put Martin! My initial thoughts about the writing process of this song were almost exactly the same as yours!
I’ve always thought this one had a kind of grand larger than life feel to it. In my top ten. Love it.
Is there a live version of this anywhere? Did Paul ever perform this live in recent years? He has performed a great number of earlier Beatle tunes in recent years.
I love it. I agree it’s john’s song: lyrics and suond are typically lennon’s
I cant hear Georges backing vocals. I need evidence.
You can hear George singing a lower “aaah” harmony in the bridge; “don’t you know that it’s so” in octave with Paul; and the ending singing in three part harmony with John and Paul.
This is definitely co-written. John himself admitted to lying in many interviews, He contradicted himself constantly. He is not credible. He would admit Paul had been involved in writing a song in 1965 for example and by the early 70’s Paul’s participation according to John would have magically disappeared and be zero lol. It would be amusing that people place so much store in John’s quotes if they weren’t so in earnest.
The song was written at Paul’s house, they were writing together. It is from the period when they ‘wrote up each others noses’. The song is inspired by one of Paul’s favorites from Westside Story a favorite musical which he owned.
To suggest, the song was based on something special to Paul, written at Paul’s house, with Paul present, during a period when they were writing together but that he didn’t participate… now that is specious.
Hmmm, I think you’re being unfair there.
John wasn’t the only one who contradicted himself and I don’t think he was a liar.
I think many of Paul’s remarks on how he contributed to John’s song are vague and confusing…
If I Fell, for instance, he said that’s an example that John could write good ballads… Then he said they wrote it together… Then later he said he wrote it(!).
Another one… John said he contributed to the middle eight in “And I Love Her”. Paul disagreed… But music publisher Dick James agreed with John that they both wrote it together.
I don’t favour John nor Paul but they recorded a lot of songs, they did a lot of drugs etc. I’m sure they firmly believe on whatever they claim, but you can’t fully rely on the recollections of either one of them as there are obviously going to be mistakes.
I don’t think John wrote Eleanor Rigby. I don’t think Paul wrote If I Fell.
Was this co-written? We’ll likely never know, up to anyone to believe what they want. Or just accept they were two talented musicians and that in the end it doesn’t really matter!
Not saying Paul has a perfect memory but it’s definitely more consistent than John’s. I’m skeptical of the examples you used to discredit Paul’s memory and consistency. With And I Love Her, Paul has only said John didn’t write the middle by himself. I remember his exact quote being “he probably helped but he can’t say ‘it’s mine'”. To your second point, I’ve never seen McCartney anywhere say he wrote If I Fell alone. Please direct me to a link if that actually exists.
…I’ve noticed a strong trend of indignant people crying about Paul taking credit for songs. They often twist his words and/or claim he’s said things I’ve never heard before without citing anything. Then when I go to look it up, I find nothing.
The middle eight on this song is fabulous. I love their middle eights to bits and pieces. “Don’t you know that it’s so?” Ringo’s drumming is great, too. There’s a guy on YouTube who does Ringo covers really, really well, and it’s astonishing to see how much is going on back there. Ringo didn’t get enough credit simply because his playing serves the song so wonderfully – it always blends in perfectly and is never obtrusive or drawing attention to itself. (His name is “batmankozyy” if you want to look him up.)
This song is fab. It’s somewhat surprising to find they were already on the “It’s all in yer mind” kick this early. It’s true that John, especially, was fond of disappearing into his head; just think of “In My Life”, I’M Only Sleeping”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Imagine”…
But I’m not making a case for who wrote it. No, I’m staying out of those heated debates. Let’s just say Lennon AND McCartney wrote it, they’re both geniuses, it’s a good song, and (in a Scouse accent) ‘ave done with it. 😀
Hasn’t anyone noticed that the tempo goes funny all over the place here? (There’s a place/ Where the song goes/… All out of tiiiii-ime…) Especially at the end as it fades out. I suppose, as this was the first recording of the day, they hadn’t warmed up yet. 🙂
@Jennifer: I never paid any attention to drumming ’till I *actually* listened to Ringo’s. It’s groovy stuff. Actually there are a lot of things I never paid attention to till I *actually* listened to the Beatles… 😀
My second favourite song on ‘Please Please Me’, here’s all the takes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6nL_VNLFj0
Just a fantastic song.
I had the Vee-Jay Introducing the Beatles, and here was this song with its McCartney-Lennon credit buried on the second side. Like the song’s message, the song goes to one’s private place and hits its mark. Very personal and close.
There is the Beatles the hit-makers, and there is another group altogether. We can all relate to those hidden songs on albums that reach us beyond the norm: Not a Second Time, I’ll Be Back, Things We Said Today, Yes It Is…. On and on.
Typical Lennon; in the beginning there is three long notes, and the middle part – sung by Lennon – resembles the middle part in It´s Only Love. Yes Baggio, McCartney is often confusing when he talks about songs connected to Lennon (I think McCartney is embarassed by the fact that in the years 1963-1965, or before Yesterday, Lennon was the dominat composer).
Please read Martin’s and Michael’s comments above and reflect on them a little if you are able. And re-read Baggio’s last line or three-he sums up your silly complaint very nicely.
Typical Johan cavalli. Your obvious and consistent bias discredits virtually anything you say,. I notice you never seem to have facts, ACTUAL-CORRECT quotes, or anything else of substance to back your “opinions”
“nuff said.
I wrote a paper on Lennon in college, using lyrics to trace his philosophical/psychological paths, growth, if you will. This was the first and Julia, the last, the “White Album” having been the last Beatles release at the time. I thought this was a haunting song for its time. It has always struck me as more than a lonely teenage tune. I mean, c’mon, “And it’s my mind, and there’s no time when I’m alone” is walking in Paul Simon’s territory. In America, it was the flip side of Twist & Shout. While I loved Twist and Shout, There’s a Place hit me bullseye, the lonely kid who was just discovering poetry beyond the confines of Catholic school.
They never recaptured this sound, this Town Without Pity sort of alley echo aloneness.. It stands alone for what else they were doing at the time.
Back to the paper. I believe what my conclusion said was that Lennon was a seeker, always in his mind, but still looking for his childhood happiness which seems to have eluded him. When Plastic Ono Band came out, and I heard Mother, I got a chill, thinking of that paper I had written. That’s my take on a song that few people seem to play or remember.
I think of you,
The things you do
Go round my head
the things you said
like I love only you……
What great lyrics that one.
A song singled out for special praise by two of the U.S.’s premiere rock critics. In 1975 Greil Marcus cited this and “Money” as two of the most exciting recordings The Beatles ever made. In 1981 Robert Christgau compared it to The Beach Boys’ contemporaneous “In My Room,” contrasting the latter’s relatively prosaic destination of “my room” wedded to descending, anti-climactic chords, with The Beatles’ far more interesting “my mind” lyric combined with a thrilling upward melodic leap.
Does John sing the “in my mind there’s no sorrow…” line? Not 100% sure who takes over as on lead vocals there.
It’s John.
The Pretenders had a minor hit called “Human.” Its intro mirrors “There’s a Place”