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"Anna (Go to Him)", or simply "Anna", is a song written and originally recorded by Arthur Alexander. His version was released as a single by Dot Records on September 17, 1962. A cover version was performed by English rock group The Beatles and included on their 1963 debut album Please Please Me.
According to Richie Unterberger, music critic for Allmusic:
'Anna' was one of the great early soul ballads, even if its loping groove was closer to a mid-tempo song than a slow ballad. Like several of Alexander's songs, it would come to be more famous in its cover version than through its original release. And it was actually a small hit when it first came out in 1962, getting to #68 in the pop charts and #10 in the R&B listings.
Critic Dave Marsh rates Alexander's "Anna (Go to Him)" as one of the top 1001 singles of all time. He praises the "gently swinging rhythm," the tough, syncopated drumming, and Alexander's vocal, particularly at the beginning of the refrain, suggesting that John Lennon may have learned to sing ballads like "In My Life" by listening to Alexander's performance.
A personal favorite of John Lennon, it became part of the Beatles' early repertoire and was consequently recorded by them for their 1963 début album, Please Please Me. It is the first song released by the group which specifically names a girl. In the U.S., Vee Jay Records released it on Introducing... The Beatles (January 10, 1964) and Capitol Records re-released it on The Early Beatles (March 22, 1965). Vee Jay also released "Anna (Go to Him)" on the EP Souvenir of Their Visit: The Beatles in the US
The band recorded the song on February 11, 1963 in three takes; Take 3 was the master. It was remixed on February 25. George Harrison played the distinctive phrase on guitar; Floyd Cramer played it on piano for the original.
Unterberger praised the Beatles' version in his review, saying:
Ringo Starr faithfully [replicates] the unusual drum rhythm and hi-hat crunches. Lennon's vocal, however, added a tortured pain not present in Alexander's model, particularly when he wailed in his upper register at the conclusion of the bridges. The Beatles' backup harmony vocals, in addition, were superb, and more effective [than on Alexander's version].
On a chilly February day in 1964, a crowd of more than three thousand young people, mostly young women, stood on the upper arcade of the International Arrivals Building at New York, Kennedy Airport, awaiting the arrival of a Pan American Airways flight from London carrying the Beatles (and a small entourage that included Phil Spector) on their first trip across the Atlantic. As the plane approached the gate, the sounds of whistling, screaming, and singing arose from the crowd, and signs were held aloft that read "Beatles, we love you," and "WELCOME." "An official at Kennedy Airport," the New York Times reported, "shook his head and said, 'We've never seen anything like this here before. Never. Not even for kings and queens.'"
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