Desert Island Disc Challenge: ‘Please Please Me’

Editor’s note: As part of CMN’s ongoing music journalism program, we asked our team of music writers to take on the age-old challenge of choosing one piece of music they would like to have with them if they were stranded on a deserted island. It’s an absurd notion, but also irresistible. See all the different approaches they took to the challenge right over here.

Being a Beatles fan for a majority of my life, their debut album, Please Please Me, would be the album I would choose as my Desert Island Disc. I would not say that this album will define my potential living situation on a desert island, but no matter what it was, I can always count on Please Please Me to bring me comfort and make feel at home anywhere I go.

This album is quite special to me. I first became a fan of the group when I was about 15, after playing songs from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for marching band, I became very curious about their other albums, and instantly fell in love with Please Please Me the hardest.It also was the first Beatles album I owned as I received it as a birthday present, which became a great start for my own Beatles Memorabilia. 

Please Please Me includes all-time classics like “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Love Me Do” and the title song. There are also versions of songs by artists that inspired them to become musicians, such as “Twist & Shout” by the Isley Brothers, “Baby It’s You,” originally recorded by The Shirelles, and “Boys” by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell.

Each original track introduces their unique sound that took rock and roll to the next level, and all the songs are about love.

And that includes many different types of love: old or new, loves fading away or suddenly returning, or getting through heartbreak. Please Please Me gives several different views of love that anyone can relate to, depending on what love situation they are dealing with. 

I can think of past and current loves I have had in my life when listening to this album —both good and bad. The upbeat sounds of “I Saw Her Standing There”, and “Twist & Shout” when happy in love, or “Misery” and “Anna (Go With Him)” during the sad and rough times. This album will always put me in the right mood and would just be happy listening to it, knowing I will feel better once I do. 

Please Please Me has fueled my love for my favorite music genre, classic rock. Even if all the songs on the album are about love, the vivacious sounds of John and George’s electric guitars, with the low grooving beats of Paul’s bass, and the energetic pounding of Ringo’s drums along with meaningful,empathetic lyrics blend together to make a unique recipe for a rock and roll legend.