There’s A Place: Introduction
“There’s A Place” is a Beatles’ song from their first album, Please Please Me. In fact, it was their first recording on that momentous day in the studios.
In Detail
- Released: March 22, 1963 (UK), January 10, 1964 (US)
- Recorded: February 11, 1963
- Studio: EMI Studios, London
- Genre: Merseybeat, rock and roll
- Track Duration: 1:49
- Record Label: Parlophone
- Songwriters: McCartney-Lennon
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Norman Smith
Performers
- John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar; also the harmonica
- Paul McCartney: vocals, also the bass guitar
- George Harrison: lead guitar, as well as backing vocals
- Ringo Starr: drums
Where To Find “There’s A Place”
You can still buy this song because it is on the following albums:
**If your budget is tight, buy the 1963 album for the original song.
There’s A Place: Background
In the early sixties, Paul McCartney owned the “West Side Story” soundtrack album, and the last song on side two is “Somewhere.” That song starts with the line, “There’s a place for us.” This inspired him and John Lennon to write the song at his childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool.
The Beatles were still in their infancy, and pop music was in need of modernization. The Fab Four certainly brought a new dimension to please the song-hungry teenagers of the day.
“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.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years from Now, Barry Miles
The Lennon-McCartney partnership was also in its infancy but their songwriting creativity was developing fast.
“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.”
John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
The song was important to the Fab Four in 1963 as it was a part of the band’s stage repertoire. Together with the two-part harmonies and its major seventh harmonica intro, the song helped to bring a unique sound that only The Beatles could capture.
Recording Studio
In Studio 2 at the EMI Studios in London on February 11, 1963, The Beatles began recording their first album, Please Please Me. “There’s A Place” was one of the first songs that they recorded that morning.
The band recorded ten takes, with the last one being the one they chose to add the harmonica to during the afternoon sessions. There were three attempts at overdubbing John Lennon’s harmonica piece, and so the final take became take 13.
The Beatles also recorded a version of this song for their early BBC radio appearances. The version they recorded for “Pop Go The Beatles,” which aired on September 3, 1963, is on their “On Air: Live At The BBC, Volume 2” album.
Take A Listen
Finally, let us listen to the song again. Once you do, let us know your thoughts about it. For example, could they have performed it another way, or was it an “album filler”?
