The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” was a collaboration between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Paul said “Please Please Me” was an example of The Beatles stealing from American artists. “Please Please Me” was a bigger hit in the United Kingdom than it was in the United States.
Paul McCartney said The Beatles‘ “Please Please Me” was inspired by an American rock ‘n’ roll star. Paul said the song was originally slower to mimic that star’s style. Subsequently, The Beatles’ producer had a different vision for the track.In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul revealed “Please Please Me” was inspired by Roy Orbison. “If you imagine it much slower, which is how John wrote it, it’s got everything, the big high notes, all the hallmarks of an Orbison song,” he said. “But in the session, George Martin suggested we lifted the tempo and suddenly there was that fast Beatles spirit.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com