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Ask Me Why

Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
(c. March 1962) 1

Table of Contents

Pete Best Version

Recording Details

EMI Recording Studios, London – Studio 2
Recorded: 6 Jun 1962

John: vocals, guitar
Paul: vocals, bass
George: vocals, guitar
Pete: drums

Little is known about the Pete Best version of Ask Me Why but the original session tape box 2 (first publicised in 2020) reveals that only one take was recorded. The following extract from Lewisohn shows that those who were there were in agreement about the recordings.

“P.S. I Love You and Ask Me Why aren’t available for study, but [Ron] Richards would remember being little impressed by either. His view of the former was that he wouldn’t consider it for an A-side because it shared the title of a well-known song. Norman Smith’s interesting last analysis of the recordings was that ‘it was twenty minutes of torture – they made a dreadful sound! – and then they came up to the control room’” 3

Instruments

John Lennon

Likely 1958 Rickenbacker 325 Capri with Bigsby vibrato 4

George Harrison

Likely 1957 Gretsch PX6128 Duo Jet with Gretsch Bigsby vibrato 4

Paul McCartney

1961 Höfner 500/1 5

Pete Best

1960 Premier Marine Pearl (14″ x 22″ bass drum/ 8″ x 12″ rack tom/ 16″ x 16″ floor tom/ 5.5″ x 14″ “Super Ace” snare); Zyn cymbals (16″ crash/ 18″ custom “sizzle” ride)/ Zildjian cymbals (18″ crash/ 14″ hi-hats) 6

Releases Overview

As of April 2026, this version of Ask Me Why with Pete Best remains unreleased and unbootlegged. Remarkably, after Geoff Emerick’s death in 2018, his estate discovered the 6 June 1962 session tape in his possession. It was ordered destroyed in the 60s but Emerick had managed to hang on to it all these years.7 There is currently an ongoing legal dispute as to whether the tape is rightfully owned by the Emerick estate or by Universal Music Group. Hopefully something can be worked out and we’ll finally get to hear Ask Me Why from this session one day. Perhaps on a Please Please Me Special Edition…

Ringo Starr Version

Recording Details

EMI Recording Studios, London – Studio 2
Recorded: 26 Nov 1962
Delta-Mono Single Mix: 26 Nov 1962
EMI Recording Studios – Studio 1 (control room)
Stereo Mix: 25 Feb 1963
Mono LP Mix: 25 Feb 1963

John: lead vocal, guitar
Paul: backing vocal (higher harmony), bass
George: backing vocal (lower harmony), guitar
Ringo: drums

After completing the recording of Please Please Me (and a well-earned tea break) The Beatles turned their attention next to the B-side, Ask Me Why. Recording was comparatively easier than for Please Please Me and was recorded by Take 68 with no overdubs required.9

Instruments

John Lennon

1962 Gibson J-160E plugged into an amp 10

George Harrison

1957 Gretsch PX6128 Duo Jet with Gretsch Bigsby vibrato 11

Paul McCartney

1961 Höfner 500/1 12

Ringo Starr

1960 Premier Mahogany Duroplastic (17″ x 20″ bass drum/ 8″ x 12″ rack tom/ 16″ x 16″ floor tom/ 4″ x 14″ “Royal Ace” snare); 20″ Paiste Stambul or Ajax ride/ 18″ Zyn Sizzle crash (4 rivets removed)/ 14″ hi-hats 13

Releases Overview

Mono/Stereo?

Release
Year

Remaster
Year

Format

Release(s)

Recommended
Listening?

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(Delta-Mono “Dry Mix”)

Mono

1963

Vinyl

UK Single (B-Side)

✅14

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(RS from Twin-Track)

Stereo
  • 1963
  • 1964

Vinyl
  • Please Please Me LP (Stereo)
  • Die Beatles LP (Germany)

🟡

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(Mono fold-down from RS)

Mono
  • 1963
  • 1964

Vinyl
  • Please Please Me LP (Mono)
  • All My Loving EP

✅

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(Mono fold-down from RS)

Mono

1987

1987

CD

Please Please Me

🟡15

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(RS from Twin-Track)

Stereo

1988

1988

CD

The Best of Dick James Music Vol. 1 Promo CD 16

🟡

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(Mono fold-down from RS)

Mono

1992

1992

CD

All My Loving EP

✅17

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(RS from Twin-Track)

Stereo

2009/2012

2009

CD/Vinyl/Streaming

Please Please Me (Stereo)

🟡

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(Mono fold-down from RS)

Mono

2009/2014

2009/2014

CD/Vinyl


Please Please Me (Mono)

✅

Ask Me Why
(Take 6)
(Mono fold-down from RS) 18

Mono

2019

2019

Vinyl

The Singles Collection

✅

References:

  1. Lewisohn, Mark, 2013, Tune In (p. 608) ↩︎
  2. The Daily Beatle (Archived) via the-paulmccartney-project.com ↩︎
  3. Lewisohn, Mark, 2013, Tune In (p. 670) ↩︎
  4. These two electric guitars were the only electric guitars used by the band during 1962. Additionally the Gibson J-160E electric acoustics were not used until the 11 September 1962 session and we know unknown acoustic guitars were used before this point. So the available options are: Rickenbacker, Gretsch, unknown acoustics and here I have made an educated guess based on Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 36) and Lewisohn, Mark, 2013, Tune In (p. 667) ↩︎
  5. Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 36) ↩︎
  6. Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 236) ↩︎
  7. Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 238) ↩︎
  8. See footnote 2 from 26 Nov 1962. It’s possible this day’s recording began with Take 2 ↩︎
  9. Lewisohn, Mark, 1988, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (p. 23)
    Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 246) ↩︎
  10. Lewisohn, Mark, 2013, Tune In (p. 809) ↩︎
  11. Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 245) ↩︎
  12. Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (p. 245) ↩︎
  13. Astridge, Gary, 2006. Ringo’s Beatles-Era Drum Kits ↩︎
  14. The only UK release featuring the delta-mono “Dry Mix” is the original single. Pressings of the Please Please Me/Ask Me Why single up to and including 1976 used the delta-mono mix but unfortunately after this the album mix has been used. According to Maul’s The Beatles The Complete Studio & Home Recordings pdf there are also several US releases featuring the “Dry Mix”. These are the US Please Please Me/Ask Me Why single on Vee-Jay, the second version of the Introducing The Beatles LP also on Vee-Jay, and the Souvenir Of Their Visit To America EP ↩︎
  15. There is no shortage of threads on the Steve Hoffman forums regarding the sound quality of the original 1987-88 Beatles CDs. In a nutshell, the mono master tapes for the first 4 albums were badly transferred using a stereo tape machine. To my ears this version of Ask Me Why isn’t actually as awful as some of the other Please Please Me LP tracks but there’s still something slightly off about it ↩︎
  16. I have to admit I had never heard of this release before making this table but the story behind it is very interesting. Users Bruce Eder and lukpac on the Steve Hoffman forums have some great insights, notably that this track was likely sourced from the master tape for the US The Early Beatles LP ↩︎
  17. The Beatles EP Collection was released on CD in 1992 and for this project, transfers were made from the EP master tapes. These were done using the correct equipment (unlike the 1987 transfers of the first 4 albums) and despite the EP master tapes being a generation lower than the album master tapes, many listeners swear by the sound quality of this set ↩︎
  18. Unfortunately, the 2019 Singles Collection box set incorrectly used the LP mix for Ask Me Why rather than the original single mix (Parlogram, 2023, The Story Behind Song [sic] That Broke The Beatles in the UK https://youtu.be/YBcAiL8n6ik?t=1066) ↩︎