"Please, Please, Please" | ||||
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Single by James Brown and the Famous Flames | ||||
from the album Please Please Please | ||||
B-side | "Why Do You Do Me" | |||
Released | February 26, 1956 | |||
Recorded | February 4, 1956 | |||
Studio | King, Cincinnati, Ohio | |||
Genre | Rhythm and blues | |||
Length | 2:43 | |||
Label | Federal | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Ralph Bass | |||
James Brown and the Famous Flames singles chronology | ||||
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Audio video | ||||
"Please, Please, Please" on YouTube |
"Please, Please, Please" is a rhythm and blues song performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames. Written by Brown and Johnny Terry and released as a single on Federal Records in 1956, it reached No. 6 on the R&B charts. The group's debut recording and first chart hit, it has come to be recognized as their signature song.
In 1952, James Brown was released from a youth detention center in Toccoa, Georgia after Bobby Byrd and his family sponsored him. [1] Brown's warden agreed to the release on the condition that Brown not return to Augusta. After his release, Brown briefly pursued a career in sports before starting his musical career as a gospel vocalist with the group the Ever-Ready Gospel Singers. [2] When a member of Bobby Byrd's vocal group, the Avons, died in 1954, Byrd asked Brown to join his group. A year later, after performing as the Five Royals, they became the Flames, playing all over Georgia and South Carolina. [1] [3]
According to Etta James, Brown and his group came up with the idea for their first song, because Brown "used to carry around an old tattered napkin with him, because Little Richard had written the words, 'please, please, please' on it and James was determined to make a song out of it". [4]
"Please, Please, Please" was released on February 26, 1956. Though it sold slowly at first, the record reached the top ten of the R&B charts by late summer, eventually peaking at No. 6, selling between one and three million copies. [5] [6]
In 2001, the 1956 version by James Brown and the Famous Flames on Federal Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. [7]
The song was ranked number 272 among the greatest singles ever made in Dave Marsh's 1989 book The Heart of Rock & Soul. [8] In 2011, "Please, Please, Please" was ranked No. 143 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". [9]
The initial performances of the song were subpar though the group itself was received well. It took a number of years until the Flames developed a routine for the performance. Starting in 1959, Brown would perform the song to the point of feigned exhaustion, when he would drop to his knees and collapse on the stage. Meanwhile, a fellow Flame (sometimes Bobby Byrd and at other times Bobby Bennett) would drop either a blanket or big towel around Brown's back and help him offstage. Before completely exiting, Brown would rip the towel off and return to his microphone, adding to the excitement of his audience. [10]
Influenced by Little Richard and professional wrestler Gorgeous George, who both wore capes, Brown began wearing capes in his act. [11]
with the Flames:
plus:
"Please, Please, Please" | ||||
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Single by Ike & Tina Turner | ||||
from the album Ike & Tina Turner Revue Live | ||||
B-side | "Am I a Fool in Love" | |||
Released | November 1964 | |||
Venue | Club Imperial, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | |||
Genre | R&B | |||
Length | 2:40 | |||
Label | Kent | |||
Songwriter(s) | Brown, Terry | |||
Ike & Tina Turner singles chronology | ||||
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In 1964, during a contract dispute between Brown and King Records head Syd Nathan, the label reissued the original 1956 performance of "Please, Please, Please" with overdubbed crowd noise in an attempt to pass it off as a live recording. The reissue reached No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100. [14]
Brown also re-recorded the song several times later in his career. On his 1972 album Get on the Good Foot , he did an upbeat long version, which lasted over twelve minutes. 1974's Hell included a salsa version of the song that featured Brown speaking in Spanish. For Brown's 1976 album Hot, he recorded a more solemn, ballad rendition, which featured male background vocalists in the quiet storm style of Barry White's music.
Ike & Tina Turner released a live version of "Please, Please, Please" as single on Kent Records, which was included on their 1964 album Ike & Tina Turner Revue Live . [15] They also performed the song on The Big T.N.T Show in 1965. After their resurgence on the charts, Kent reissued the single in 1970. It reached No. 45 on Record World's R&B chart. [16]
The song was covered by The Who on their 1965 debut album My Generation . [10] [17]
In February 1967, Swedish band the Maniacs, featuring a young Tommy Körberg, recorded the song as a single. [18] Released as a single in March of that year, backed by Paul Ferris "Visions", [19] it became the group's breakthrough hit, reaching No. 5 on Tio i Topp and No. 12 on sales chart Kvällstoppen that year. [20] [21]
The song was covered by The Residents on their 1984 tribute album George & James. [22]
"I'll Be Doggone" is a 1965 song recorded by the American soul singer Marvin Gaye and released on the Tamla label. The song talks about how a man tells his woman that he'll be "doggone" about simple things but if she did him wrong that he'd be "long gone". The song was written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore and Marv Tarplin, initially for The Temptations, who rejected the song.
Live at the Apollo is the first live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in October 1962 and released in May 1963 by King Records. Capturing Brown's popular stage show for the first time on record, the album was a major commercial and critical success and cemented his status as a leading R&B star.
Bobby Howard Byrd was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader, and talent dedicated. He played a part in the development of soul and funk music in association with James Brown.
The Famous Flames were an American rhythm and blues, soul vocal group founded in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1953 by Bobby Byrd. James Brown first began his career as a member of the Famous Flames, emerging as the lead singer by the time of their first appearance in a professional recording, "Please, Please, Please", in 1956.
"Get Up Sex Machine" is a funk song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Try Me", titled "Try Me (I Need You)" in its original release, is a song recorded by James Brown and the Famous Flames in 1958. It was a #1 R&B hit and charted #48 Pop—the group's first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Brown and the Flames' second charting single, ending a two-year dry spell after the success of "Please, Please, Please".
"Think" is a rhythm and blues song written by Lowman Pauling and originally recorded by his group the "5" Royales. Released as a single on King Records in 1957, it was a national hit and reached number nine on the U.S. R&B chart.
"Lost Someone" is a song recorded by James Brown in 1961. It was written by Brown and Famous Flames members Bobby Byrd and Baby Lloyd Stallworth. Like "Please, Please, Please" before it, the song's lyrics combine a lament for lost love with a plea for forgiveness. The single was a #2 R&B hit and reached #48 on the pop chart. According to Brown, "Lost Someone" is based on the chord changes of the Conway Twitty song "It's Only Make Believe". Although Brown's vocal group, The Famous Flames did not actually sing on this tune, two of them, Bobby Byrd, and "Baby Lloyd " Stallworth, co-wrote it with Brown, and Byrd plays organ on the record, making it, in effect, a James Brown/Famous Flames recording.
"Out of Sight" is a funk song recorded by James Brown in 1964. A twelve-bar blues written by Brown under the pseudonym "Ted Wright", the stuttering, staccato dance rhythms and blasting horn section riffs of its instrumental arrangement were an important evolutionary step in the development of funk music.
Over the course of his career James Brown owned and operated several different record labels, which he used primarily to release his own productions of artists associated with his revue.
"Shout and Shimmy" is an R&B song written by James Brown, and recorded by him and The Famous Flames. It rose to #16 on the R&B chart and #61 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Please Please Please is the debut studio album by the Famous Flames under the billing "James Brown and His Famous Flames", featuring the first album of recordings during Brown's long career. It includes the group's first two hit singles, the title track and "Try Me", along with all the non-charting singles and b-sides he had recorded up to the time of the album's release. The album was reissued in 2003 by Polydor on a Japanese 24-bit remastered import CD packaged in a miniature LP sleeve.
"Oh Baby Don't You Weep" is a song recorded in 1964 by James Brown and The Famous Flames. Based upon the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep", it was recorded as an extended-length track and released as the first two-part single of Brown's recording career. It peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #4 on the Cash Box R&B Chart.. It was the last original song featuring the Famous Flames to chart, not counting the 1964 re-release of "Please, Please, Please" and the 1966 B-side release of the Live at the Apollo performance of "I'll Go Crazy".
"I'll Go Crazy" is a rhythm and blues song recorded by James Brown and The Famous Flames. Released as a single in 1960, it was Brown's fourth R&B hit, charting at #15. Brown and the Flames also performed it as the first song on their 1963 album Live at the Apollo.
Pure Dynamite! Live At The Royal is a 1964 live album by James Brown and The Famous Flames. Originally issued on King Records, it was the live follow-up to Brown's 1963 Live at the Apollo LP, and like that album, reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Pop album charts, peaking at #10. It was recorded live at the Royal Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, a popular venue for R&B artists of the day. The album takes its title from Brown's most famous nickname at the time, "Mr. Dynamite".
Robert J. Bennett was an American singer, songwriter, choreographer, comedian, and musician, noted for being a member of the vocal group The Famous Flames from 1958 to 1968. During his time in the group, he served as a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, comedian, emcee and dancer in the James Brown Revue. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Famous Flames in 2012.
"Maybe the Last Time" is a song written by James Brown and recorded by Brown and the Famous Flames in 1964. It was released as the B-side of "Out of Sight" and was also included on the Out of Sight album. Brown described it as "a heavy gospel-based number, all about appreciating friends and everything while you can because each time you see somebody may be the last time, you don't know." It was the last studio recording Brown made with the Famous Flames, although the singing group continued to perform live with him for several more years.
Live at the Garden is a 1967 live album by James Brown and The Famous Flames. It was recorded on January 14, 1967 in the middle of a ten-day engagement at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey - Brown's first at an upscale nightclub. Like most of Brown's live albums, overdubbed crowd noise was added to the original recording for its LP release. It included one new song, "Let Yourself Go", which was recorded after hours at the casino; it appeared on the album disguised as a live recording. Although Live at the Garden peaked at #41 on the Billboard album chart, it came to be overshadowed in Brown's catalog by his next live album, Live at the Apollo, Volume II, recorded later the same year and released in 1968.
"I Guess I'll Have to Cry, Cry, Cry" is a song written and performed by James Brown. Released as a single in 1968, it charted #15 R&B and #55 Pop.
Tom & Mick were a Swedish band formed in 1965 in Enköping, Sweden. They were only active for three years though managed to release an album and a handful of singles, of which "Please, Please, Please" became their first hit. During their last two active years, they were fronted by Tommy Körberg (Tom) and Michael Johansson (Mick), one of the first dual-vocalist pop groups in Sweden at the time Retrospectively, they are best known for their single "Somebody's Taken Maria Away" which topped the Swedish charts, and for starting the career of Körberg, who would go on to become one of the most well known musicians in Sweden.