Please Mr. Postman

Time comes into the words ('Waiting a long, long time'), and the lyric deals in the motifs of letter and loneliness too, which the Beatles used more in 1964 than in any other year. A curiosity, the line "A long long time" turns up in 4 Beatles songs, among them 'Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!', 'The Long and Winding Road' and 'Your Mother Should Know'.

Written in A major and taken at about 123 BPM, 'Please Mr. Postman' is a merseybeat and doo-wop piece. The tune carries call and response, the lead singer answered by the backing vocals (lead vs backing vocal exchange), 1963 being the year it turns up most. Also, listen for the defining riff, driving guitar/bass pattern, and the record features yeah vocals (repeated 'oh yeah' interjections).

Cut in nine takes at Abbey Road during a marathon With The Beatles session, with all four Beatles clapping on the backing track. Lennon reached for the Rickenbacker 325, his guitar. The session was set up with the Ludwig Downbeat, heard on 17 songs that year. Double tracked vocal was used in making the record, which they used more in 1964 than in any other year. Four songs came off that day's tapes, the 23rd to the 26th of the career.

Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman wrote it, and Lennon sings lead. It sticks to the roles they usually take, with Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on lead guitar and Starr on drums, which they used more in 1965 than in any other year.

Out November 22, 1963 with With The Beatles. It was never lifted as a single. America got it five months later, on The Beatles' Second Album, put out by Capitol. This song was the 23rd of the 32 records they released in that year, and the 25th in the order they were recorded.