Before becoming a global icon with The Beatles, John Lennon’s formative years in Liverpool were shaped by the music of legendary vocalists, including Roy Orbison and Bing Crosby. While Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly were major influences, it was the vocal stylings and songcraft of Crosby and Orbison that helped Lennon develop his own songwriting voice.
One of The Beatles’ earliest hits, “Please Please Me,” released on January 11, 1963, owes much of its creation to these two musical giants. The song was a pivotal moment in the band’s rise to fame, following the success of their debut single “Love Me Do” in 1962. But it was “Please Please Me” that marked their first major chart breakthrough, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and hitting number one in the NME charts.
Lennon later reflected on how Crosby and Orbison had influenced the song’s creation. He recalled hearing Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” on the radio at his aunt’s house on Menlove Avenue, and being fascinated by the emotional depth of the song. Lennon was also struck by Bing Crosby’s 1933 track “Please,” which featured a repeated use of the word “please” in its lyrics.
In a 1980 interview, Lennon revealed: “Please Please Me is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it? I wrote it in the bedroom of my auntie’s house.”
While “Please Please Me” is credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership, Lennon consistently claimed that the song was entirely his own work. His admiration for Crosby only deepened as the years went on. In the late 1960s, his wife Yoko Ono gifted him an old-fashioned jukebox, which Lennon filled with Crosby’s records rather than rock and roll classics. He particularly enjoyed Crosby’s 1950s jazz quartet sessions, playing songs like “Whispering,” “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter,” and “Dream a Little Dream of Me” on repeat.
George Harrison, too, was a fan of Crosby. In an interview in the 1980s, Harrison said, “Bing Crosby was someone I discovered during my gardening period. He had a lovely voice and a presence that seemed to crackle.”
Ultimately, Crosby’s and Orbison’s influence on Lennon shows how the foundations of The Beatles’ music were shaped by a wide range of musical influences, many of which were drawn from an earlier generation of singers whose songs resonated deeply with the young Lennon.