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Read the original blog post12.49pm
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1 May 2011
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Reading the introduction to the 2014 ebook update of ‘The Unreleased Beatles’ by Richie Unterberger where he writes… “i’ve come across new information … as when Peter Doggett, another author of Beatles books, told me about a pre-Please Please Me recording of ‘Misery ‘ at a non-EMI studio in early 1963.“
Does anyone know or heard anything about this?
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Joe"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
11.30pm
31 March 2008
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I’ve no idea about that. It’s intriguing and confusing, and I’d love to know more.
The story goes that the song was written on the Helen Shapiro tour. They started composing it in Stoke-on-Trent on 26 January 1963, and finished it off in Liverpool. They then recorded it for PPM on 11 February, two weeks later.
26: Live: King’s Hall, Stoke-on-Trent
27: Live: Three Coins Club, Manchester
28: Live: Majestic Ballroom, Newcastle
30: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
31: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
31: Live: Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead
February 1963
01: Live: Maney Hall, Sutton Coldfield
01: Live: Assembly Rooms, Tamworth
02: Live: Gaumont Cinema, Bradford
03: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
04: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
05: Live: Gaumont Cinema, Doncaster
06: Live: Granada Cinema, Bedford
07: Live: ABC Cinema, Wakefield
08: Live: ABC Cinema, Carlisle
09: Live: Empire Theatre, Sunderland
11: Recording: Please Please Me album
There were no radio or TV sessions between those dates, though a few took place after PPM was recorded. They were pretty solidly on tour in early 1963 so wouldn’t have had much opportunity to go into studios, EMI or otherwise, but maybe there’s a booking that isn’t generally known. The Liverpool dates would be possible contenders, but they went nowhere near London where most of the studios were located.
Kenny Lynch, who was also on the tour, did his own cover of Misery in 1963, becoming the first non-Beatle to record a Lennon-McCartney song. I can’t find the date he recorded or released it, but I suppose it’s possible that it took place prior to the PPM session, and that The Beatles dropped by and did their own (demo?) version while he was there. That’s all guesswork though.
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11.42pm
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1 May 2011
Offline @Joe, dont know if you visit the Bootleg Zone forum as i posted the question there and got a few replies. Someone posted a link to Beatles Source and pictures of the Beatles rehearsing in the Cavern at the end of January 1963 as well as taping ‘Misery ‘. Additionally that recording still exists as well as there being another two songs recorded at the time.
Conversation is ongoing.
Admittedly its not a studio but it would fit.
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12.01am
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17 December 2012
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It would make sense that they’d want to work out a band arrangement of the song before going into Abbey Road for the album session. Given the outtakes from the session, they seem to have the arrangement in place from take 1.
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12.51pm
31 March 2008
Offline Thanks. I don’t use the BZ forums so I hadn’t seen that thread. So it sounds like it’s not a proper studio recording after all, which makes sense.
I wonder what those other songs might be. My guess is more original songs which weren’t stage-tested long enough for them to have worked out proper arrangements. Possibilities would include I Saw Her Standing There , Do You Want To Know A Secret and There’s A Place .
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1.18pm
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1 May 2011
Offline Yeah the Cavern would make sense as I cant see Brian risking annoying EMI by going into a rival’s studio and recording anything.
The arrangement of ‘I Saw Her Standing There ‘ was in place at the end of 1962 as documented by the available Star Club recordings (we can hear them running thru an early slower arrangement of the song with added harmonica on an earlier 1962 rehearsal tape along with ‘One After 909 ‘ and ‘Catwalk’) but there is no reason they weren’t running thru that and a handful of other songs for the upcoming recording sessions for the ‘Please Please Me ‘ album.
I’m trying to think what other original Lennon/McCartney numbers were in the running. ‘Hold Me Tight ‘ was around then and they did record it for the album before it got dropped so thats a possibility as well.
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9.54pm
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1 May 2011
Offline @Joe, @Ron Nasty
A poster called ‘Black Cake’ has posted the following on what the other two songs are along with an addition detail on ‘Misery ‘.
I’ve heard the recordings but I’m not supposed to tell you who owns them – it’s certainly not me. As mentioned before Misery is sung in a female point of view (“without him I will be in misery”). The other tracks are Love Of The Loved and What Goes On . Apart from the chorus the latter has no resemblance to the Rubber Soul version at all. Love Of The Loved isn’t much different from the Decca version – only with Ringo on drums.
‘What Goes On ‘ would be the most desirable to hear as its vastly different to the ’65 recording and might be the only surviving recording of it from this time.
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Ahhh Girl"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
10.02am
31 March 2008
Offline Ooh that’s interesting @meanmistermustard. My guesses were way off then. I’d really love to hear those recordings, especially What Goes On . It’d be a shame if they remained in private hands and we never got to hear them. I tend to think people should have a duty of care to humanity and release as many Beatles recordings as possible.
I wonder who owns the tape(s). If it’s not Apple or a former Beatle they’re a bit stuck, since the recording would be out of copyright in the EU – ie as soon as they put it on sale anyone else could release it too. Apple would be at a commercial advantage as they could bundle it with other outtakes and it’d do well regardless as an official release.
They nearly recorded What Goes On on 5 March 1963, but didn’t have time. I wonder if there are any rehearsal recordings in the EMI vaults, as they’d presumably be the original arrangement, but my guess is we’re just as unlikely to hear those.
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3.40pm
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20 August 2013
Offline This is such a tiny thing in the scheme of things, but it was big for me, and I want a record of it. Laugh and shake your heads all you want at me. I don’t care.
I was listening to On Air Live At The BBC Vol. 2 this morning. While they were singing the line “I’ll remember all the little things we’ve done” I thought “I don’t think they would have a piano on the BBC show so how will the music sound after that line”.
This is a breakthrough moment for me. Listening to an other-than-studio version by myself and knowing the difference in the two songs. I didn’t read the difference on the forum first. I did it by myself.
Have I graduated from Beatles Kindergarten to 1st grade yet?
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4.09pm
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14 April 2010
Offline You know @Ahhh Girl is a hardcore Beatles fan when…
Hope to see you in the next class picture.
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4.28pm
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20 August 2013
Offline Zig said
You know @Ahhh Girl is a hardcore Beatles fan when…
Hope to see you in the next class picture.
They’d never let me stand by him. 
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5.40pm
28 March 2014
Offline meanmistermustard said
Someone posted a link to Beatles Source and pictures of the Beatles rehearsing in the Cavern at the end of January 1963
Thanks for the link to those pics @meanmistermustard 
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8.16pm
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14 April 2010
Offline The first 8 posts of this thread are a perfect example of why I spend so much time on this site. The excitement over any newly discovered Beatles history makes my skin tingle.
@meanmistermustard @Joe @Ron Nasty
Thanks, mates.
@Ahhh Girl
Thanks for reviving it. I feel your excitement over your discovery.
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12.57pm
25 November 2024
Offline Good morning! Here’s my second daily song review. I’m on the East Coast U.S. so I’ll prob post these each morning.
2/213: Misery from Please Please Me .
This song is very simple, but not in a bad way! It’s got simple but highly effective instrumentation and basic but evocative lyrics. I think one of the most interesting parts of the song is the intro. It sounds a lot different from the rest of the song, which is a neat trick. It’s like a mini prologue before the song.
I really love the vocals on this song. It’s a classic Paul and John harmonized duet, and their harmonies on the core word of the song (“misery”) sound amazing. In general, I prefer Paul’s vocals on softer songs like this but in this one I think John steals the show. I do love the little ad-lib of “Wah Wah wah” at the end of the song. It’s very cute.
As for the instrumentation of the song, there’s two main standouts for me. The first is that I think Ringo’s drumming is great. In fact, while I think his best drumming is later in their career, the best showcase of his talent is the early albums because, percentage wise, he makes up a greater percentage of the quality of the songs, if that makes sense. The second standout is George Martin stepping in to play piano. I think the little piano intro and then the few later riffs sound great. If I have one nitpick though, I wish the piano riffs later in the song were less loud.
Favorite cover of the song: “Misery” by Peter Lipa. It’s a jazz song!
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vonbontee, Richard, Rube, meanmistermustardThere will be an answer; let it be.
1.15am
30 August 2021
Offline I think there’s a bit of Buddy Holly inspiration going on here, too.
From the lyric to Raining in My Heart:
Oh, misery, misery
What’s gonna become of me?
(And the opening lines “The sun is out, the sky is blue” appear in Dear Prudence )
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9.56am
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1 May 2011
Offline The piano touches are the kind of subtle additions that the Beatles added in various ways throughout the catalogue which made songs more interesting. Same as John signing “only one, lonely one” the second time around, a similar thing he did in ‘Anna (Go To Him)’.
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Mr. Moonlight, sir walter raleigh, Timothy"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
9.43am
26 January 2017
Offline This makes an early statement on Please Please Me . Everybody knows I Saw Her Standing There , and it is an incredible opener, and then Misery has so many great moments; its just a really good song. It doesn’t take long to realize that they are off to a hot start. Misery is a harbinger of the rest of the awesome lesser known album cuts that riddle their discography, and the album continues to get better and better as you go along.
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12.59pm
14 June 2016
Offline I dig how it also sets the scene for John’s personality and chosen tone straight away.
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