“THERE’S A PLACE”

(Paul McCartney – John Lennon)

There are an untold number of stories about popular recording artists releasing songs that they felt very strongly would be big hits, only to wind up instead as much lesser known achievements. Not too many of us could probably name the b-sides of such huge hits as “I Got You Babe,” “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” or Rod Stewart's hit “Maggie May.” Amazingly, all of these #1 hits were intended to be the throwaway b-sides while the other side of these records were thought to be the ones that would make the big impact. In the recording industry, one can never know. 

This was the case with the newly written “There’s A Place.” As The Beatles excitedly entered the EMI Studio Two on February 11th, 1963 to record their very first album, it was their priority to record this song first. They had high expectations that this serious, well-constructed song would have an impact on their career.

But this was not to be. It actually ended up in a very unflattering position on the album; next to last on side two. It was released as a single in America, but only as the b-side to the amazingly successful “Twist And Shout.” And at a time when US disc jockeys were even playing the b-sides of singles in order to find more Beatles product to play on the air, this song was hardly noticed. In addition, after October of 1964, it was not on any US album until 1980, which gave it the reputation of being one of a few "lost Beatles tracks."   

It seems that the excitement about this song waned shortly after it was recorded, although, upon further listening and the passing of time, it can be assessed that this was truly a unique, well-crafted slice of Beatles music which shouldn’t be forgotten. “There’s A Place” has truly found a place in the hearts of Beatles fans throughout the years.

Songwriting History

‘”There’s A Place’ was my attempt at a sort of Motown black thing,” John Lennon remembered in 1980, “but it says the usual Lennon things: ‘In my mind there’s no sorrow.’ It’s all in your mind.”

From this quote you would assume that John wrote the entire song himself and that both the melody and lyrics were inspired by his love for Motown music. Most authors have felt this for years but, while Lennon probably was the major catalyst for the song, McCartney apparently played a vital role as well. Paul owned a copy of the soundtrack album to Leonard Bernstein’s 1957 musical “West Side Story,” which contained the song “Somewhere.” The lyrics begin with “There’s a place for us,” which became the original inspiration for the song. "Other than 'West Side Story,' John hated musicals," Paul wrote in his book "The Lyrics." "'West Side Story' we went to see together - a touring production in Liverpool. We saw the film, of course, with that famous opening shot of New York from a helicopter. We liked that and thought it was ballsy enough for us."

Not only is "There's A Place" described by author Barry Miles, in his book “Many Years From Now,” as “co-written,” he even suggests that there’s “a bias towards being Paul’s original idea since he was the owner of the soundtrack album…'West Side Story.'” While this may be a stretch, Paul’s quote from the above book does appear to confirm his involvement in the song's writing:

"But 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." It's interesting to note that it wasn't until three-and-a-half years later that The Beatles, in particular Lennon, began to delve deeper into "the mind" in his lyrics, such as with "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "I'm Only Sleeping."

As for John's crediting his inspiration to Motown, "There's A Place" has a striking similarity to The Marvalettes' song "I Want A Guy," which was the 1961 b-side to their hit "Twistin' Postman" on Motown's Tamla label. While both songs contain a similar tempo and structure, The Beatles purposely mimic The Marvalettes' song in particular by stopping at the beginning of each verse and singing an identical five-note acapella melody line (such as on the word "The-e-e-e-ere").

The song is included among the many that were written in the front room of McCartney’s Forthlin Road home. Since it was so fresh in their minds and they were so eager to spring it out for their first album, it is estimated that it was written in early February 1963 just before their recording session on the 11th of that month.

Recording History

Upon entering Studio Two of EMI studios on February 11th, 1963 to record their first album, The Beatles chose to record this newly written song first. Although nearly half of the songs on this first British album were cover songs, emphasis was first given to original material through the encouragement of their manager Brian Epstein. With the exception of “A Taste Of Honey,” all of the cover songs recorded for the album were done at the very end in order to fill the allotted 14 tracks on the album before the day was over.

Starting at 10 am, "take one" was a complete rendition of the song and with all the exact nuances already in place, except for the harmonica riff which appears to have been an afterthought. George Harrison played what we know as the harmonica riff as his lead guitar part. This take was flawless except for two things: George flubbed his introductory guitar riff and Paul’s vocals were recorded louder than John’s. Being that all the vocals were recorded onto the same track, this deemed the take unusable.

Concerning the vocal parts, Paul relates: "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 have to actually decide where the melody was till later when they boringly had to write it down for sheet music."

"Take two" corrected these two elements and was a complete run-through of the song. Upon listening, the only explanation as to why this wasn’t the finished version was that producer George Martin thought it could be improved upon somehow.

"Take three" was stopped immediately after the introductory guitar riff no doubt because George Harrison’s timing was a little late. "Take four" was complete but, even though it was early in the session, you can hear John’s voice sounding a little strained already as he had a bad cold that day, witnessed by much sniffing and coughing by him and Paul throughout the day as caught on tape. They also experimented with some staccato rhythm guitar playing in the final verse, which may also have influenced George Martin to have them take another stab at the song.

Before "take five" began, the session tape caught George Harrison practicing his introductory guitar riff, which was played in octaves just like he had done for “Please Please Me.” In fact, he actually plays the “Please Please Me” riff here just to get himself acclimated to playing in this style. We also hear John instructing Paul on how to keep good timing during their a cappella line “the-e-e-e-ere.” John explains to Paul, “you gotta think the beat.” However, Paul himself stops "take five" after a few seconds because George was late on his guitar riff again.

"Take six" was also complete and nearly flawness. "Take seven" also started off well, but George Martin called it to a halt after George Harrison was late again with his riff at the end of the first verse. "Take eight" was also complete but, with Ringo’s fire-cracker-like drum fill before the bridge and George’s staccato rhythm guitar work in the final verse, this wasn’t good enough either.

"Take nine" was also complete, but this time you could hear Paul’s higher harmonies getting a little shaky. This and a very noticeable guitar flub in the final verse had them try it all one more time. "Take ten," as it turned out, was nearly perfect and, with it being 11:30 already and a lot on the agenda that day, they deemed this as “best.”

However, at about 4:15 pm in the afternoon, a decision was made to return to the song to improve upon it. It was decided that John should overdub three harmonica riffs, played using the exact notes that George Harrison originally played for his lead guitar riffs. Therefore, one can barely hear these lead guitar parts in the finished song. These overdub attempts were made by copying the two-track tape of "take ten" onto another tape machine while John simultaneously recorded his harmonica parts onto the new tape. The first attempt at this overdub, "take 11," saw John’s harmonica work a little shaky, and "take 12" didn’t get past the first few seconds because they accidentally didn’t have the harmonica volume up loud enough. However, "take 13" was the keeper and therefore comprised the final completed version of the song. The harmonica riffs that John added were heard during the introduction, at the end of the first verse, and then throughout the last 10 seconds. By 4:30 pm, the song was complete.

The mono and stereo mixes of "There's A Place" were done by George Martin, assisted by Norman Smith and A.B. Lincoln, on February 25th, 1963 in the control room of EMI Studio One. This mixing session was used to create both the mono and stereo masters for nearly all of the tracks contained on their first album, as well as editing the songs “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Please Please Me.” George Martin made sure to add a good amount of reverb to John's harmonica on both the mono and stereo mixes of "There's A Place." The fade out at the end of the song was also accomplished at this mixing session.

The Beatles did bring "There's A Place" to a recording studio three more times, all of these being specifically for BBC radio. On July 2nd, 1963, they recorded the song in Studio Five of Maida Vale Studios in London between 6:30 and 9:30 pm for the fifth edition of their radio show "Pop Go The Beatles," which was produced by Terry Henebery and broadcast on July 16th between 5 and 5:29 pm. On July 17th, they recorded it at Playhouse Theatre in London between 8:45 and 9:45 pm for the radio show “Easy Beat,” which was produced by Ron Belchier and broadcast on July 21st of that year between 10:31 and 11:30 am. The song's final BBC radio performance took place on August 1st, 1963 at Playhouse Theatre in Manchester between 4 and 6 pm for the twelfth edition of  “Pop Go The Beatles,” which was produced by Ian Grant and broadcast on September 3rd between 5 and 5:29 pm. This was the last known performance of "There's A Place."

Song Structure and Style

As with the majority of songs on their first album, “There’s A Place” is written in the aaba format, which consists of 'verse /verse /bridge /verse,' but there is more to its structure than meets the eye. Much more.

To start out, a five measure introduction begins the proceedings, which consists of the song's melodic riff repeated twice by Lennon’s harmonica and, if you listen carefully, Harrison’s lead guitar. At the beginning of the fourth measure, The Beatles trademark ‘break’ occurs and lasts for one and a half measures while the reverb of the last chord rings out. In the ensuing silence, John and Paul perform a harmonized five note descending and then ascending performance of the word “there,” which acts as a clever anticipatory introduction to the first verse.   

The 15 measure first verse is sung in harmony throughout, John taking the lower melody while Paul takes the usual higher harmony. The eighth measure includes a triplet performed in unison by the whole group which acts as a transition into the second half of the verse. The 13th measure repeats the melodic harmonica/guitar riff once, which again leads us into a one and a half measure break, where John and Paul repeat their harmonized five-note run, but this time on the word “I.”

The second verse is different from the first in a few different respects. For one thing, it’s only twelve measures long and does not include the ‘group triplet,’ the break, or the harmonized five-note run. In order to create a proper transition from the verse to the bridge, an alteration of the verse structure was deemed necessary by the song's writers. Therefore, after the first seven measures of the second verse, which are identical in structure to the first verse, a complete change occurs during the words “like I love only you.” The new chord pattern presented here allows for a more natural progression into the bridge. (An altered second verse occurs periodically in Lennon / McCartney compositions, such as in “I Should Have Known Better.”)  

The ten measure bridge creates a reflective mood which temporarily relieves the tension created in the song. This is achieved by Lennon singing two of the four lines solo for the first time in the song, alternating them with octave harmonies (Paul taking the higher harmony as usual) which also occur only during the bridge. With Lennon’s solo lines “In my mind there’s no sorrow” and “there’ll be no sad tomorrows,” we’re allowed to see the intended gist of the lyrics, as if the fog has lifted and we now know the moral of the story.

And then, once again, the final two measures of the bridge repeat the break and the harmonized five-note run on the word “there” identical to what was heard in the introduction. This naturally takes us to the final verse, which is nearly identical to the first verse, lyrics and all. Identical, that is, except that it is only 14 measures instead of 15. The difference being that there is no harmonized five-note run. (Three times in a two minute song is clearly enough; a fourth would have been a little much, as the writers or George Martin must have realized.) Therefore, the ‘break’ is only half a measure long, which then propels us into a conclusion to create a note of finality. The conclusion consists of a continually harmonized repetition of the song's title alternating with the harmonica / guitar riff as the song fades out.  

A side note may be necessary here to explain why there was a need for a conclusion to be tacked on to the end of this song. Usually, Lennon / McCartney songs that have an aaba structure have verses that end with the title, such as “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Love Me Do” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” Verses such as in these three examples were written with a note of finality ‘built in,’ so to speak, which didn’t need a conclusion tacked on at the end to make it sound complete. To understand this, imagine if “There’s A Place” ended directly after the final verse with the words “when I’m alone.” Since the end of the verse was not on the signature chord of the song, in this case “F,” standard practice at the time usually required the signature chord to be returned to in order to create a ‘resolve.’ Therefore, a separate conclusion needed to be added at the end of “There’s A Place.”

As for musicianship, both Lennon and Harrison basically play rhythm guitar throughout, with the exception of George’s hardly noticeable lead work on the signature riff. Since there was no solo section written into this song, its musical highlight is Lennon's harmonica riff which occurs periodically. The only other contribution from Harrison is backing vocals, which occur during the vocal line "love only you" in the second verse.  

McCartney’s bass work is proficient at best, but since it was performed simultaneously with his spot-on high harmonies throughout the song, “proficient” is definitely worth recognition. Ringo performs his trademark “beat” style drumming, which appears as an identical but slower version of both “Boys” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” He gets to add his flams, his accents and his ‘awkward-but-lovable’ left handed drum fills, which results in his putting in a noteworthy performance.

Lennon’s vocal delivery is timidly but effectively performed, including his warbly-but-classy accents in the verses, such as on the words “place,” “go” and “low” in the first verse. Motown artists, such as the influential Smokey Robinson, were no doubt the catalyst to this vocal gimmick, which Lennon performed flawlessly throughout this song.

It has been noted that The Beatles only wrote about love (and/or relationships) throughout their early career, and that the first appearance of a song outside of this topic didn’t occur until 1966. Although this is debatable (or, should I say, incorrect, because “Nowhere Man” originally appeared in December of 1965…but if you say that it appeared first in the US in 1966, then I stand corrected), there are a few Beatles songs written before 1966 that only hint at a relationship. “One After 909” comes to mind. “There’s A Place” is another.  

Although it has been said that Lennon didn’t write about himself in his early work with The Beatles before “Help!,” we see here an example that blows that theory out of the water. This appears to be his first piece of self-analysis, which pre-dates the similar topic of the Beach Boys’ hit, “In My Room,” by a few months. In the book "In My Life: John Lennon Remembered," authors Mark Lewisohn and Kevin Howlett write that the song shows John's "early fascination with self-discovery and the fulfillment such knowledge can bring."

After the first verse informs us that the place that the singer can go to cheer himself up is his mind, it’s the second verse that tells of a relationship. In his mind he thinks of the things that his ‘significant other’ does, such us her saying that she loves only him. But the general theme here is stated in the bridge. When he is alone, he thinks about when there is “no sorrow” and about a happy future. This topic is returned to and refined much later in his solo work “Imagine.”

American Releases

The first release of “There’s A Place” on US shores was on the legendary Vee-Jay album “Introducing…The Beatles,” released on January 10th, 1964. The next US release was on a single, as the b-side to “Twist And Shout,” which wasn't released in Britain at the time. This single was released on the newly formed Vee-Jay subsidiary Tollie Records in late February of 1964 as a way to capitalize on The Beatles performing “Twist And Shout” on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 23rd, 1964. Although its a-side reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, “There’s A Place” charted at #74 for the week of April 11th, 1964.

The next US release of the song occurred in August of 1964 with the re-release of the Tollie single on the Vee-Jay “Oldies 45” label. Then came the Vee-Jay double album “The Beatles vs. The Four Seasons” released on October 1st, 1964, which coupled the “Introducing…The Beatles” album with “The Golden Hits of the Four Seasons.” This was followed less than two weeks later by another repackage of the Vee-Jay album under the name “Songs, Pictures And Stories Of The Fabulous Beatles,” which was released on October 12th, 1964.

Unfortunately, Capitol decided to omit the song from its “The Early Beatles” album that was released in March of 1965. This omission meant that the song was not available in album form for the next 16 years. It also meant that the excellent stereo mix of the song was not available during this long duration. The only available version of the song during the remaining '60s, as well as the entire '70s, was on its next release, which was as a Capitol single. Released on October 11th, 1965, Capitol’s budget Starline label made the original mono “Twist And Shout” single, with “There’s A Place” as its b-side, available for a while. Capitol switched the songwriting credit for the first time to "Lennon / McCartney" to make it uniform with the rest of their catalog, something they maintained whenever they released the song in the future.

On March 24th, 1980, Capitol released the American version of the album “Rarities,” which contained the original stereo version of “There’s A Place.” A stereo version of the song hadn't been available since the Vee-Jay albums of 1964 went out of print, so the "Rarities" album was quite the revelation for its time.

The first time the original British "Please Please Me" album was made available in the US was the "Original Master Recording" vinyl edition released through Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in January of 1987. This album included "There's A Place" and was prepared utilizing half-speed mastering technology from the original master tape on loan from EMI. This version of the album was only available for a short time and is quite collectible today.

The original British "Please Please Me" album was released on compact disc for the first time on February 26th, 1987 and on vinyl on July 21st, 1987, although it was only in mono at the time. The remastered stereo version of the album was finally released on CD on September 9th, 2009 and on vinyl on November 13th, 2012. 

On June 30th, 1992, Capitol released the box set “Compact Disc EP Collection,” which contained “There’s A Place” due to its inclusion on the original British “Twist And Shout” EP of 1963.

The box set “The Beatles In Mono,” which came out on September 9th, 2009, also contains the song in its pristine remastered mono condition.

On November 11th, 2013, the album "On Air - Live At The BBC Volume 2" was released, which featured a long lost version of "There's A Place" as recorded on August 1st, 1963 for the radio program "Pop Go The Beatles." Notice George's guitar runs making up for the absence of the harmonica on this version, as well as the flawless harmonies of John and Paul.

On December 17th, 2013, iTunes released a 59 track compilation album entitled "Bootleg Recordings 1963" only available on their downloading platform, studio takes 5 - 6, and 8 - 9 of "There's A Place" from the group's February 11th, 1963 EMI recording session included therein. The purpose of this release was to extend the copyright of these recordings under European Union law from 50 years (which would have expired at the end of 2013) to 70 years (until 2033), this being considered an official release. This compilation album was only available in the US on that date to those in the know for a number of hours for $39.99 in its entirety or to be purchased as individual tracks, but was later made available for purchase as well.

Live Performances

Although they felt strongly about it at the time of its recording, they apparently lost interest in the song quickly thereafter. They did not perform it during any of their national tours of 1963, nor is there any documentation of them performing it at any other live performance of 1963. Since it has been stated that it was part of their live act in 1963, one would have to assume that its performance life was limited at best. They preferred to continue to perform the cover songs recorded for the first album, such as "Baby It's You," "Chains" and "A Taste Of Honey," probably because of how uncomplicated these were in comparison to "There's A Place."

Conclusion

Lennon had stated many times that he never paid that much attention to lyrics and that, in the early years with The Beatles, lyrics were not much of a consideration for him. It was only when Bob Dylan suggested to him that he should use his songs to express his views and feelings that Lennon adjusted his approach. Listening to The Beatles catalog through to mid 1965, you can see that this must have been Lennon’s viewpoint, since the main focus of all of these lyrics tends to be love or relationships. He even succumbed to re-using topics of songs, such as with “All I’ve Got To Do” and “Any Time At All.”

This fact makes it all the more interesting that, this early in the songwriting history of Lennon / McCartney, we find an introspective lyric that suggests exploring the mind, although in a more innocent way than “Tomorrow Never Knows” would suggest three years later. This solidifies the notion that The Beatles were truly ahead of their time… even of their own time!

Song Summary

"There’s A Place”

Written by:  Paul McCartney / John Lennon

• Song Written: February, 1963
• Song Recorded: February 11, 1963
• First US Release Date: January 6, 1964
• First US Album Release: Vee Jay #VJLP 1062 “Introducing…The Beatles”
• US Single Release: Tollie #9001 (B-side to “Twist And Shout”)
• Highest Chart Position: #74
• British Album Release: Parlophone #PCS3042 “Please Please Me”
• Length: 1:49
• Key: F major
• Producer: George Martin
• Engineers: Norman Smith, Richard Langham

Instrumentation (most likely):

• John Lennon - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar (1958 Rickenbacker 325), Harmonica (Hohner Chromatic)
• Paul McCartney -  Bass Guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1), Harmony Vocals
• George Harrison – Lead Guitar (1957 Gretsch Duo Jet), Background Vocals
• Ringo Starr – Drums (1960 Premier 58/54 Mahogany)  

Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski 

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