The Beatles: 13 Tracks To Forget

13. Ask Me Why

"Ask me why, I'll say I love you, and I'm always thinking of you," crooned John Lennon at one point when recording the Beatles' Please Please Me album in 1963. This recording process is well-known in the band's history, taking place entirely on 11 February in a session that lasted over 12 hours.

Based on Lennon's vocals, it shows. The founder of The Beatles' voice is audibly cracking in the background. Though he allegedly had a bad cold that day, Lennon had a knack for singing through his throat rather than his diaphragm and thus thrashed his voice regularly.

Rickety vocals aside, however, Ask Me Why is sappy for The Beatles even by early 1960s standards. The entire song sounds like something Marvin Berry & The Starlighters would have sung in Back To The Future, or maybe a song that middle-aged couples would have danced to at the country club one night.

Yes, it's an album cut that shouldn't be held to the same standard as a single, but Ask Me Why is a sign that The Beatles were capable of so much more even early in their career.