Ask Me Why (BDJ Remix)
Mar 28, 2011•3 min
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Episode description
"Ask Me Why" was released in the United Kingdom and The US (VJ Records) as the B-side of their single "Please Please Me".
It was also included on the UK album, Please Please Me.
It was recorded on 26 November 1962, in 6 takes. Take 6 was used for both the mono single and the stereo LP mix. No outtakes have surfaced, so there's not a lot to create a remix from....
Apparently, Ask Me Why was always intended as a B-side, and the production is not of the same standard as Please Please Me.
It is a single run-through, no overdubs or double tracking anywhere. Oddly, there's an acoustic guitar on the vocal track, so I suppose Lennon played this acoustic guitar while recording the vocals. The vocal performance is fine as far as timing and phrasing go, but sounds a little unmotivated at times.
Perhaps Lennon's disinterst in the vocals is rooted in the lyrics: they are typical Lennon, although this is one of the earliest Lennon compositions. Unfortunately, it is the earliest example of a Lennon 'schoolboy poet' type, and not of the - much stronger - type where Lennon sings about his own true emotions.
Still, a song that starts with "I Love You' can't be that bad.....
Although not a strong text, it is very much Lennon nonetheless: as usual, we learn nothing about his lover, we just hear about Lennon's own feelings; as we see more often, Lennon expects obedience from his lover (I Love You because you say the words I want to know), which is also the theme in others songs, such as "All I've Got To Do", One After 909 (I said move over once....), "Run For Your Life" and many others.
Musically, the song is more complex than one would think at first hearing (as I found out while remixing it.....). Vocals come in somwehere in the middle of the bar, a verse contains an 'odd' number (13) of bars, and bits and pieces are repeated and strung together.
But he all makes it hang tight into a possible underrated song: there are only 2 cover versions in the BDJ archives, far below the typcial number of covers.
Anyway, well worth a remix to lift it from the left/right stereo soundscape !
It was also included on the UK album, Please Please Me.
It was recorded on 26 November 1962, in 6 takes. Take 6 was used for both the mono single and the stereo LP mix. No outtakes have surfaced, so there's not a lot to create a remix from....
Apparently, Ask Me Why was always intended as a B-side, and the production is not of the same standard as Please Please Me.
It is a single run-through, no overdubs or double tracking anywhere. Oddly, there's an acoustic guitar on the vocal track, so I suppose Lennon played this acoustic guitar while recording the vocals. The vocal performance is fine as far as timing and phrasing go, but sounds a little unmotivated at times.
Perhaps Lennon's disinterst in the vocals is rooted in the lyrics: they are typical Lennon, although this is one of the earliest Lennon compositions. Unfortunately, it is the earliest example of a Lennon 'schoolboy poet' type, and not of the - much stronger - type where Lennon sings about his own true emotions.
Still, a song that starts with "I Love You' can't be that bad.....
Although not a strong text, it is very much Lennon nonetheless: as usual, we learn nothing about his lover, we just hear about Lennon's own feelings; as we see more often, Lennon expects obedience from his lover (I Love You because you say the words I want to know), which is also the theme in others songs, such as "All I've Got To Do", One After 909 (I said move over once....), "Run For Your Life" and many others.
Musically, the song is more complex than one would think at first hearing (as I found out while remixing it.....). Vocals come in somwehere in the middle of the bar, a verse contains an 'odd' number (13) of bars, and bits and pieces are repeated and strung together.
But he all makes it hang tight into a possible underrated song: there are only 2 cover versions in the BDJ archives, far below the typcial number of covers.
Anyway, well worth a remix to lift it from the left/right stereo soundscape !
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android