Please, Please, Please
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Please, Please, Please (disambiguation).
| "Please, Please, Please" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by James Brown & the Famous Flames | ||
| From the album Please Please Please | ||
| Single Released | February 1956 | |
| Single Format | vinyl record (7" 45 RPM) | |
| Recorded | Cincinnati, Ohio, 1955 | |
| Genre | Soul | |
| Song Length | 2:45 | |
| Record label | King Records|King 610 |
|
| Producer | Ralph Bass | |
| Chart positions | 105 (US), 5 (R&B) | |
| James Brown single chronology | ||
| N/A | "Please, Please, Please" 1956 |
"Try Me" 1958 |
"Please, Please, Please" is a 1956 single by James Brown & the Famous Flames. The single was the group's first professional recording, and their first hit single. The song was the first result of Brown & the Flames' record contract with Cincinnati, Ohio based King Records.
Heavily rooted in southern gospel music sensibility, "Please, Please, Please", written by James Brown and Johnny Terry, features the 23-year-old Brown as a heartbroken man begging his woman not to leave him. Bobby Byrd and the rest of The Famous Flames backs up Brown's lamenting with vocal harmony that helps support his impassioned performance.
"Please, Please, Please" was a million-selling record, hitting #5 on the R&B singles chart, but did not sell well to pop audiences, and peaked at #105 on the pop singles chart. A Please, Please, Please album was released in late 1958, after Brown scored a second hit single in "Try Me". The song remains one of James Brown's signature songs; the entertainer often refers to himself as "Mr. 'Please, Please, Please'".
His numerous live performances of this song on television are often considered some of the best live performances of all time.
The song was also covered in all of their "Maximum R&B" by the British group The Who on their 1965 The Who Sings My Generation album, and also appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000 after the credits, trying to get a woman to walk back to him.
[edit] Credits
- Lead vocals by James Brown
- Background vocals by The Famous Flames
- Written by James Brown and Johnny Terry
- Produced by Ralph Bass
