The Beatles' Hits

The fourth UK single She Loves You b/w I'll Get You had just taken the country by storm when this record was released on September 6th, 1963.  This was only the second EP from the group and, perhaps surprisingly, instead of being more tracks from the album Please Please Me, it was a collection made up entirely from singles.  The lineup was the same as listed on the cover pictured above.

SIDE ONE

From Me to You
Thank You Girl

SIDE TWO

Please Please Me
Love Me Do

Once again the back cover featured some hype by Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow.  More than a year before their next press officer Derek Taylor wrote his oft-quoted liner notes for the LP Beatles for Sale, Barrow penned a very similar bit of conjecture, challenging fans to pull out this record ten years into the future and betting them that people would still be talking about the Lennon and McCartney Songbook.  In both cases, it was either amazing foresight or great PR - or simply a combination of the two.

Side one of the EP contained both sides of the third single - From Me to You and its B-side Thank You Girl.  Both are true Lennon-McCartney collaborations (although all songs were still listed as McCartney-Lennon at this point in time), and are equally strong tracks demonstrating the rapidly growing pop craftsmanship of that songwriting partnership.

Side two moved backwards through time giving fans just the A-sides of the first two singles.  Lennon's Please Please Me was the breakout hit which had topped all but one of the British charts and made the group a national sensation.  And McCartney's Love Me Do was, of course, the simple, raw tune that had started all the buzz in late '62.  The original single had featured the version with Ringo on drums but for this release, as on the LP Please Please Me, the remake with session man Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine was used.

The Record Retailer had a separate chart for EPs in the early 60's and, despite the fact that all of these songs had previously been available as singles, this disc went to number one, just as the first EP Twist and Shout had done.  (Coincidentally, it was the Record Retailer's singles chart on which Please Please Me had stalled at number two.)