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{{Short description|1963 song by the Beatles}}
{{for|the All-American Rejects song|There's a Place (The All-American Rejects song)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = There's a Place
| cover      = File:There's a Place by The Beatles Side-B US vinyl.png
| alt        = Label of the 7" single
| caption    = B-side label of US single "Twist and Shout"
| type       = song
| artist     = [[the Beatles]]
| album      = [[Please Please Me]]
| written    =
| published  =
| released   = {{Start date|1963|03|22|df=y}}
| recorded   = 11 February 1963
| studio     = [[Abbey Road Studios|EMI]], London
| genre      = [[pop music|Pop]],{{sfn|Marshall|2006|p=11}} [[beat music|beat]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eder |first1=Bruce |title=''The Early Beatles'' – The Beatles |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-early-beatles-mw0000312863 |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201234718/https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-early-beatles-mw0000312863 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> [[rock and roll]]{{sfn|Connolly|2018|p=151}}
| length     = 1:49
| label      = [[Parlophone]]
| writer     = [[Lennon–McCartney|McCartney–Lennon]]
| producer   = [[George Martin]]
| chronology  = [[The Beatles]] US
| prev_title  = [[Please Please Me (song)|Please Please Me]]
| prev_year   = 1964
| title      = [[Twist and Shout#The Beatles version|Twist and Shout]]
| title2     = There's a Place
| year       = 1964
| next_title  = [[Can't Buy Me Love]]
| next_year   = 1964
}}

"'''There's a Place'''" is a song by the English [[Rock music|rock]] band [[the Beatles]] from their debut album, ''[[Please Please Me]]'', released in March 1963. It was written primarily by [[John Lennon]] and credited to [[Lennon–McCartney|McCartney–Lennon]]. In the United States, the song was released in July 1963 on the group's first US LP, ''[[Introducing... The Beatles]]'', later reissued in January 1964 as [[Beatlemania]] surged there. It was also issued as a non-album single in the US, in March 1964, as the [[B-side]] to "[[Twist and Shout#The Beatles version|Twist and Shout]]", reaching number 74 in the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].

Lennon said that "There's a Place" was his attempt at writing a song in the [[Motown]] style. According to [[Paul McCartney]], the song's title phrase originated from "[[Somewhere (song)|There's a Place for Us]]", from the [[West Side Story (1961 soundtrack)|soundtrack album]] to the 1961 film ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]''. The song's lyrics relate to the singer's ability to overcome his loneliness by retreating into the haven of his mind.

"There's a Place" has received a favourable response from several [[music journalism|music critics]]. Some reviewers admire its harmonies and recognise the lyrics as exhibiting a depth not found in contemporaneous pop songs. Some have seen it as anticipating the later introspection of the Beatles and Lennon in particular, heard in songs like "[[I'm Only Sleeping]]" and "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]".

==Background==

{{quote box|quote= "There's a Place" was my attempt at a sort of [[Motown]], black thing. It says the usual Lennon things: "In my mind there's no sorrow ..." It's all in your mind.<ref name="GqE">{{harvnb|Sheff|1981|p=196}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Everett|2001|p=143}}.</ref> |source=– [[John Lennon]], 1980|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

Among [[the Beatles|Beatles]] biographers and historians, [[Mark Lewisohn]], [[Walter Everett (musicologist)|Walter Everett]], [[Tim Riley (music critic)|Tim Riley]] and [[Mark Hertsgaard]] credit [[John Lennon]] as the main writer of "There's a Place".<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2000|pp=353, 364}}; {{harvnb|Everett|2001|p=143}}; {{harvnb|Riley|2002|p=56}}; {{harvnb|Hertsgaard|1995|p=32}}.</ref> In a 1971 interview, Lennon identifies the song as having been written by himself.{{sfn|Smith|1972}} He recalled in 1980 that he was attempting to write a "[[Motown]], black thing", with the lyrics saying "the usual Lennon things".<ref name="GqE" /> Music critic [[Ian MacDonald]] speculates that he was referring to [[the Isley Brothers]], but comments that this influence is not readily apparent on the final recording.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=65}} Everett also does not consider the song to be especially Motown-influenced, but draws a comparison between [[Soul music|soul]] singer [[Arthur Alexander]] and [[the Marvelettes]]' 1961 version of "[[I Want a Guy]]".{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=145}}

In his 1997 authorised biography, ''[[Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now|Many Years from Now]]'', [[Paul McCartney]] instead recalls co-writing the song with Lennon in the front room of his childhood home, [[20 Forthlin Road]], "but with a bias towards being [his] original idea".{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=95}} Explaining that he owned a copy of the [[West Side Story (1961 soundtrack)|soundtrack album]] to the 1961 film ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]'', composed by [[Leonard Bernstein]] and [[Stephen Sondheim]], McCartney says that he drew the phrase "There's a Place" from the soundtrack's song "[[Somewhere (song)|There's a Place for Us]]". The songs diverged in that while "There's a Place for Us" refers to a place "round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle", the Beatles' song refers to "the mind".{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=95}}

==Composition==

"There's a Place" is in the key of [[E major]] and in 4/4 time. Unusually short for the Beatles, the song features only one [[Bridge (music)|bridge]].<ref name=pollack>{{cite web|last=Pollack|first=Alan W.|author-link=Alan W. Pollack|url=https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/tap.shtml|title=Notes on 'There's a Place'|year=1996|publisher=soundscapes.info|access-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130235742/https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/tap.shtml|archive-date=30 November 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Everett writes that it borrows aspects from the band's earlier songs. For example, he writes it takes "two-[[bar (music)|bar]] groupings that [[Ornament (music)|embellish]] I with an alternating IV" from the chorus of "[[Love Me Do]]" and adds it to the song's first verse. From "[[Please Please Me (song)|Please Please Me]]", it uses the same octave spanning lines of [[George Harrison]] on guitar and Lennon on harmonica.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=143}} The song's opening bass note,{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=143}} hitting a [[Natural (music)|natural]] [[B (musical note)|B]],<ref name=pollack /> is "nearly identical" to that of "Please Please Me".{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=143}} Like many of the band's early singles, the song features a harmonica, playing with the vocals of the [[Bridge (music)|bridge]] like is heard on "[[Ask Me Why]]".{{sfn|Everett|2001|pp=116, 127}}{{refn|group=note|One or both sides of the Beatles' first four UK singles feature a harmonica,{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=116}} including: "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "[[From Me To You]]", "[[Thank You Girl]]" and "[[I'll Get You]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Womack|2009|p=286}}: first four singles; {{harvnb|MacDonald|2007|pp=58, 62, 77, 80, 85}}: harmonica.</ref>}}

{{quote box|quote= We both sang it. I took the high harmony, John took the lower harmony or melody. This was a nice thing because we didn't actually have to decide where the melody was till later when they boringly had to write it down for sheet music.{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=95}} |source=– [[Paul McCartney]], 1997|width=25%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Lennon and McCartney sing the song as a two-part [[harmony]] in [[Perfect fourth|fourths]] and [[Perfect fifth|fifths]], with Lennon singing the low part and McCartney the high.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=66}} McCartney's high vocal stops at the end of the first and third [[Verse–chorus form|verse]]s, leaving Lennon momentarily alone on lead vocal, adding what musicologist [[Alan W. Pollack]] calls "[[Trill (music)|trill]]-like ornaments".<ref name=pollack /> [[George Harrison]] provides a backing vocal,{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=65}} singing with McCartney while Lennon sings the lead during the variant verse following the first verse.<ref name=pollack />

The song's lyrics are written in the form of a first-person narrative.{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=56}} The singer declares his self-sufficiency,{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=65}} being able to transcend loneliness by retreating into his mind.<ref name="CDqR">{{harvnb|Cott|Doudna|1982|pp=249–250}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Riley|2002|p=56}}.</ref> Rather than having different verses, the lyrics repeat the verse line, serving to emphasize the song's theme.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=49}} Pollack describes the song as "paradoxically quite tense", with the confident message of the lyrics playing against the "hard-hitting, unique sonority of the E-[[Major seventh chord]]".<ref name=pollack /> Everett similarly describes the song as "an unusual mix of happiness and [[melancholia]]".{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=145}} Riley writes that its fadeout provides a liberating effect through its [[major key]], suggesting the singer has achieved respite, though the "rhythmic tension" hints at "an uneasiness below the surface that remains unresolved".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=57}}

==Recording==
{{listen|pos=left|filename="There's_a_Place"_by_the_Beatles_1963.ogg|title="There's a Place"|description=The characteristic bounce from McCartney's bass and Lennon's rhythm guitar is not present on early takes of the song, being added while working in the studio.<ref name=pollack />}}

The Beatles recorded most of their debut [[LP record|LP]] ''[[Please Please Me]]'' on 11 February 1963, split across three sessions in twelve hours and forty-five minutes. Recorded in [[Abbey Road Studios|EMI]]'s Studio Two, [[George Martin]] [[Record producer|produced]], supported by [[Mixing engineer|balance engineer]] [[Norman Smith (record producer)|Norman Smith]].{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} Throughout the sessions, Lennon and McCartney are heard sniffling and coughing,{{sfn|Winn|2008|p=29}} with Lennon faring a heavy cold.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} The band began with ten takes of "There's a Place",{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} reworking the [[rhythm guitar|rhythm]] and [[bass guitar]] parts between attempts.<ref name=pollack /> After their lunch break, Lennon finished the song by [[overdubbing]] a harmonica onto take ten.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} His three attempts, two complete and one a false start, were marked as takes eleven through thirteen, with take thirteen marked "best".{{sfn|Winn|2008|p=32}}

On 25 February, Martin, again assisted by Smith, returned to EMI to edit and mix the album in Studio One. They mixed "There's a Place" for [[Monaural|mono]] and [[Stereophonic sound|stereo]] from take thirteen,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=28}} adding heavy [[reverberation]] to Lennon's harmonica overdub.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=123}} As was typical for the time, none of the Beatles were present for mixing.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|pp=23, 28}}
{{clear}}

==Release and reception==

EMI's [[Parlophone]] label released ''Please Please Me'' in the UK on 22 March 1963, with "There's a Place" sequenced as the penultimate track, between "[[A Taste of Honey (song)#The Beatles|A Taste of Honey]]" and "[[Twist and Shout#The Beatles version|Twist and Shout]]".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=32}} The song is credited to McCartney–Lennon, since the [[Lennon–McCartney]] designation was not used until August that year.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|pp=23–24}} In a contemporary review of the album for the ''[[Record Mirror]]'', Norman Jopling describes the song as "wistful" with "a definite beat on the backing." He concludes it is "a typical number{{nbsp}}... [n]ot a standout track but one with plenty of appeal."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Jopling|first=Norman|title=Guess What!|magazine=[[Record Mirror]]|date=30 March 1963|page=12}}</ref> [[Vee-Jay Records|Vee-Jay]] released the first US Beatles album, ''[[Introducing... The Beatles]]'', on 22 July 1963, with "There's a Place" sequenced as the twelfth track between "A Taste of Honey" and "Twist and Shout".{{sfn|Womack|2009|p=290}} The initial US release attracted little attention, [[Beatlemania]] not reaching America until December 1963.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=212–213}} As the Beatles' popularity surged, record labels rushed to re-release material,{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=213}} with Vee-Jay reissuing the album on 27 January 1964.{{sfn|Womack|2009|pp=290–291}}{{refn|group=note|The reissue includes an altered track listing, although the sequencing of "There's a Place" remains the same.{{sfn|Womack|2009|pp=290–291}}}} [[Tollie Records|Tollie]] released "There's a Place" in the US as the [[B-side]] to "Twist and Shout" on 2 March 1964.{{sfn|Womack|2009|p=289}}{{refn|group=note|Lewisohn, Everett and [[Kenneth Womack]] provide the 2 March 1964 release date.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|1988|p=200}}; {{harvnb|Everett|2001|p=214}}; {{harvnb|Womack|2009|p=289}}.</ref> John C. Winn, however, writes it was 20 February 1964.{{sfn|Winn|2008|p=106}}}} "Twist and Shout" peaked at number two on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] in April 1964,{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=65}} while "There's a Place" made it on the chart for one week, reaching number 74.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=208}}

Author [[Greil Marcus]] writes that "There's a Place" is "incandescent", with an arrangement built around drumming from [[Ringo Starr]] that "could take your breath away". He asserts that its musical qualities and lyricism provided a template for the success of the Beatles' later music.{{sfn|Marcus|1980|pp=186–187}} Howard Kramer of the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] writes that the song illustrates the band's earliest influences, joining [[The Everly Brothers|Everly Brothers]]-style harmonies with [[Brill Building (genre)|Brill Building]]-type songwriting.{{sfn|Kramer|2009|p=68}} Hertsgaard recognises "There's a Place" and "[[Misery (Beatles song)|Misery]]" as the two "sleeping beauties" of ''Please Please Me'' that are often overlooked.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1995|p=32}} Riley offers similar sentiments, writing that the song exhibits more maturity than "[[teenybopper]]" tracks like "Ask Me Why" or "[[Do You Want to Know a Secret]]".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=56}} Hertsgaard, Chris Ingham and Ian Marshall each write that the song's lyrics are deeper than those of the album's other tracks and that they anticipate the more introspective compositions of the later Beatles, especially Lennon.<ref>{{harvnb|Hertsgaard|1995|pp=32–33}}; {{harvnb|Ingham|2009|pp=21–22}}; {{harvnb|Marshall|2006|p=11}}.</ref> Kevin Howlett and Lewisohn write the song shows Lennon's "early fascination with self-discovery and the fulfilment such knowledge can bring".{{sfn|Howlett|Lewisohn|1990|p=104}} Hertsgaard contends that the song's "free-thinking sensibility" was later expanded upon in Lennon's 1966 songs "[[I'm Only Sleeping]]" and "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]".{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1995|pp=32–33}} In his 2007 book ''[[Can't Buy Me Love (book)|Can't Buy Me Love]]'', Jonathan Gould dismisses the track as an awkward rewrite of "[[Please Please Me (song)|Please Please Me]]". He views the lyrics as "dreadful" and says that those who see the song as anticipating the later introspection of the Beatles' lyrics are being overly generous.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=148}}

Several writers have compared "There's a Place" to [[the Beach Boys]]' 1963 song "[[In My Room]]".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=56}} Riley considers the Beatles' song "much better",{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=56}} as do critics [[Robert Christgau]] and John Piccarella, who say that "Lennon has better places to go but his room, and better ways to get there than [[Brian Wilson]]."<ref name="CDqR" /> Comparing the Beatles' harmonies to the Beach Boys', Riley writes that Lennon and McCartney "[double] the effect" of any similar attempt by the Beach Boys.{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=56}} Hertsgaard similarly praises the vocals, calling the harmonies in the song's opening "sublime".{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1995|p=32}} Less impressed, [[Ian MacDonald]] says that the two-part harmony shows "that Lennon had a heavy cold", although he adds that Lennon and McCartney's passionate singing "cuts through".{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=66}}

==Personnel==
According to [[Ian MacDonald]]:{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=65}}

*[[John Lennon]]{{spaced ndash}} vocal, harmonica, rhythm guitar
*[[Paul McCartney]]{{spaced ndash}} vocal, bass
*[[George Harrison]]{{spaced ndash}} backing vocal, lead guitar
*[[Ringo Starr]]{{spaced ndash}} drums

==Chart performance==
===Weekly charts===
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+1964 weekly chart performance
!Chart (1964)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|74|artist=The Beatles|access-date=13 May 2021|refname=Billboard}}
|-
|}

==Notes==
{{notelist|group=note}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|20em}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|indent=yes|35em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Connolly |first1=Ray |author1-link=Ray Connolly |title=Being John Lennon |date=2018 |publisher=[[Orion Publishing Group|Orion]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-4746-0683-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BRVDwAAQBAJ |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cott |first1=Jonathan |last2=Doudna |first2=Christine |title=The Ballad of John and Yoko |date=1982 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-385-17733-X}}
* {{cite book |last1=Everett |first1=Walter |author1-link=Walter Everett (musicologist) |title=The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul |date=2001 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-514105-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gould |first1=Jonathan |title=Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America |title-link=Can't Buy Me Love (book) |date=2007 |publisher=[[Harmony Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-35337-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hertsgaard |first1=Mark |author1-link=Mark Hertsgaard |title=A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles |date=1995 |publisher=[[Dell Publishing|Delacorte Press]] |location=New York |isbn=0-385-31377-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Howlett |first1=Kevin |last2=Lewisohn |first2=Mark |author2-link=Mark Lewisohn |title=In My Life: John Lennon Remembered |date=1990 |publisher=[[BBC Books]] |location=London |isbn=0-563-36105-0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ingham |first1=Chris |title=The Rough Guide to the Beatles |date=2009 |publisher=[[Rough Guides]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-84836-525-4 |edition=3rd}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kramer |first1=Howard |editor1-last=Womack |editor1-first=Kenneth |editor1-link=Kenneth Womack |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles |date=2009 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-68976-2 |pages=65–74 |chapter=Rock and Roll Music}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lewisohn |first1=Mark |author1-link=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |title-link=The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions |date=1988 |publisher=[[Hamlyn (publisher)|Hamlyn]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-600-63561-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lewisohn |first1=Mark |title=The Complete Beatles Chronicle |date=2000 |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |isbn=0-600-60033-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Ian |author1-link=Ian MacDonald |title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |title-link=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |date=2007 |publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]] |location=Chicago |isbn=978-1-55652-733-3 |edition=Third}}
* {{cite book |last1=Marcus |first1=Greil |author1-link=Greil Marcus |year=1980 |chapter=The Beatles |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=Jim |title=The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll |publisher=[[Rolling Stone|Rolling Stone Press]] |edition=Revised |isbn=0-394-51322-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Ian |editor1-last=Womack |editor1-first=Kenneth |editor2-last=Davis |editor2-first=Todd F. |editor1-link=Kenneth Womack |editor2-link=Todd F. Davis |title=Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four |date=2006 |publisher=[[State University of New York|State University of New York Press]] |location=Albany |isbn=0-7914-6716-3 |pages=9–35 |chapter="I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together": Bakhtin and the Beatles}}
* {{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=Barry |author1-link=Barry Miles |title=Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now |title-link=Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now |date=1998 |publisher=[[Henry Holt and Company|Henry Holt]] |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-5249-6}}
* {{cite book |last1=Riley |first1=Tim |author1-link=Tim Riley (music critic) |title=Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After |date=2002 |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-306-81120-3 |edition=Revised and Updated}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sheff |first1=David |author1-link=David Sheff |editor1-last=Golson |editor1-first=G. Barry |editor1-link=Barry Golson |title=The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono |date=1981 |publisher=[[Berkley Books|Berkley]] |location=New York |isbn=0-425-05989-8}}
* {{cite magazine |author-last=Smith |author-first=Alan |date=February 1972 |title=John and Yoko: I Don't Like All This Dribblin' Pop-opera-jazz. I Like POP Records |magazine=[[Hit Parader]] |url=https://archive.org/details/JohnLennonInterview1972HitParaderMagazine/}}
* {{cite book |last1=Winn |first1=John C. |title=Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1957–1965 |date=2008 |publisher=[[Three Rivers Press]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-45157-6}}
* {{cite book |last1=Womack|first1=Kenneth|editor1-last=Womack |editor1-first=Kenneth |author1-link=Kenneth Womack |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-68976-2 |pages=286–293 |chapter=Beatles Discography, 1962–1970}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Please Please Me}}
* [https://www.thebeatles.com/theres-place Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website]

{{Please Please Me}}
{{The Beatles singles}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:The Beatles songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by George Martin]]
[[Category:Songs written by Lennon–McCartney]]
[[Category:1963 songs]]
[[Category:Songs published by Northern Songs]]
[[Category:Tollie Records singles]]
[[Category:Capitol Records singles]]
[[Category:British rock-and-roll songs]]