Please, Please, Please

"Please, Please, Please" is an R&B song written by James Brown and Johnny Terry and recorded by Brown and The Flames. Released in 1956 as a single on the Cincinnati, Ohio-based label Federal Records (a division of King Records), it was Brown's first professional recording and his first hit, eventually selling over a million copies.^[1] It became Brown's signature song and a staple of his live act, usually performed as part of his cape routine.

Heavily rooted in a southern gospel music sensibility, "Please, Please, Please" features the 22-year-old Brown as a heartbroken man begging his woman not to leave him. The Famous Flames back up Brown's impassioned lament with smooth vocal harmonies.

"Please, Please, Please" reached number six^[2] on the R&B singles chart, but did not sell well to pop audiences, and peaked at #105 on the pop singles chart. An album named for the song was released in late 1958 after Brown scored a second R&B hit with "Try Me".

A 1964 reissue of "Please, Please, Please" on King Records featuring overdubbed audience noise meant to mimic a live recording (and capitalize on the success of Brown's hit Live at the Apollo album) reached #95 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, "Please, Please, Please" was ranked number 142 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Personnel

• James Brown - lead vocal

with The (Famous) Flames:

• Bobby Byrd - vocals
• Johnny Terry - vocals
• Sylvester Keels - vocals
• Nash Knox - vocals
• Nafloyd Scott - guitar

plus:

• Wilbert "Lee Diamond" Smith - tenor saxophone
• Ray Felder - tenor saxophone
• Lucas "Fats" Gonder - piano
• Clarence Mack - bass
• Edison Gore - drums

Filmed performances

• Brown and The Famous Flames perform "Please, Please, Please" as part their set in The T.A.M.I. Show.
• In the movie Blues Brothers 2000 Brown performs the song after the closing credits, trying (and ultimately failing) to persuade a woman to come back to him.
• In Barry Levinson's Liberty Heights, an actor in the role of Brown performs the song in a theater along Baltimore's Pennsylvania Avenue.

Cover versions

"Please, Please, Please" has been covered by many performers, including Tina Turner, The Residents and the British rock group The Who on their 1965 debut album My Generation.

Brown also re-recorded the song several times later in his career. On 1972's Get on the Good Foot, he did a 12:15-long upbeat version; on 1974's Hell, a salsa version was included which featured Brown speaking in Spanish.

References in other media

In the Jimmy Neutron special The League of Villains, when Tee begs Jimmy to save his bandit friends he gets down on his knees and pleads into a microphone, "Please! Please!" Please!" Sheen walks over and lays a blanket on Tee's back as he leans forward in despair.

Citations

References

• Leeds, Alan M., and Harry Weinger (1991). Star Time: Song by Song. In Star Time (pp. 46-53) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.
• White, Cliff (1991). Discography. In Star Time (pp. 54-59) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.