Genesis
Initially called “Get You in the End,” “I’ll Get You” was one of the rare songs to be written at John’s place, in the house of his Aunt Mimi on Menlove Avenue, in Liverpool. The inspiration for the refrain, It’s not like me to pretend, comes from “All My Trials,” a protest song by Joan Baez, from the early sixties, copied from a traditional chant from the Bahamas. Passing from the D major chord into A minor was an effect that John really liked. “I liked that slightly faggy way we sang ‘Oh yeah, oh yeah,’ which was very distinctive, very Beatles,”1 he said. “I’ll Get You,” a song written just before “She Loves You,” ended up as side B of their fourth single, whereas it was originally supposed to be on side A. Yet it remained one of Paul’s favorites.
Production
Just as for “She Loves You,” the studio sheets disappeared forever. There was no known stereo version. Along with “Love Me Do,” “She Loves You,” and “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” it was one of the four songs from the entire Beatles catalogue that was never mixed in stereo. (“She Loves You” received only a “mock stereo” mix.) Geoff Emerick noted that the session was relatively long, despite the apparent simplicity of the song. It can be imagined that John’s harmonica (a diatonic in sol) was overdubbed, as Norman Smith had been doing since the beginnings of the group. The mono mix was completed at the same time as “She Loves You.”
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
In 1963, the Beatles were not famous enough to have studios available day and night. Being short of time, George Martin, who was in charge of the production budget, sometimes let certain errors slip through in recordings, hoping nobody would notice them. But with the precision of CDs, you can hear around 1:13 John singing When I’m gonna make you mine, whereas Paul was singing When I’ll make you change your mind!
I Want to Hold Your Hand / This Boy
1963
SINGLE
RELEASED AS A SINGLE
Great Britain: November 29, 1963 / No. 1 on December 12, 1963
United States: December 26, 1963 / No. 1 on February 1, 1964
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Lennon-McCartney / 2:25
1963
SONGWRITERS
John and Paul
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar, hand claps
Paul: vocal, bass, hand claps
George: lead guitar, hand claps
Ringo: drums, hand claps
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 17, 1963 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 17
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 21, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineer: Geoff Emerick
KOMM, GIB MIR DEINE HAND (German version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand”)
Recorded: October 17, 1963 (Abbey Road, Studio Two) / January 29, 1964 (EMI Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France)
Number of Takes: 11
Mixed: March 10 and 12, 1964 (Abbey Road, Studio Three control room)
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineer: (Oct. 17) Geoff Emerick, (Jan. 29) Jacques Esmenjaud
Released: March 5, 1964
The Song That Gave Birth to Beatlemania
This vinyl record had a peculiar fate, since it helped launch Beatlemania in the United States. Right from the beginning, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” seemed destined for an exceptional future. In Great Britain, the reaction to this new single exceeded all expectations. When it came out, on Friday, November 29, 1963, prior sales had already reached a million copies. This had never been seen before! It surpassed “She Loves You” at the top of the charts as early as December 12. In the United States, despite the reluctance of Capitol Records, the American branch of EMI, it definitely knocked open the door of the New World and was heard on all American radio stations because of the Washington disc jockey Carroll James, who got a copy of the British single, at the insistent request of a female listener. After its first broadcast, the public’s response was so enthusiastic that all radio stations followed suit.
Seeing this wave of success, Capitol Records finally realized the size of the phenomenon and decided to produce the single. They even moved up the date of its release from January 13, 1964, to December 26, 1963. By January 10, sales had already gone beyond a million copies! Every radio station played “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “I Saw Her Standing There,” which was on side B of the American single. During the night of January 16, 1964, George Martin, who was in Paris with the group at the Olympia, was awakened by a phone call. It was Brian Epstein: “George, I’m sorry to wake you up, but I just had to tell you the news. We’re number one in America on next week’s charts.”1 Brian Epstein organized their first American tour in February 1964. He landed an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the most popular variety show on the west side of the Atlantic. Their TV performance on February 9 was watched by no less than 73 million spectators! It was estimated that in New York alone, nearly 10,000 copies of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” were sold every hour. By March, more than 3 million singles had been sold and later, the incredible number of 5 million copies was reached!
“It just seemed ridiculous—I mean, the idea of having a hit record over there. It was just something you could never do.”2 These few words summed up the feelings of John Lennon when contemplating the uncertainty of success in the United States. Nevertheless, it was the Beatles who made it possible for the British Invasion to infiltrate the impenetrable Yankee fortress. No other artist from the Old World had ever managed to keep a hit at the top of the U.S. charts. The Tornadoes had landed a minor hit in December 1962 with “Telstar.” But the Beatles reigned for several years in a row.
Genesis
The song that propelled the Beatles to the top of the charts and sales worldwide was composed in one evening, the night before it was recorded. During the evening of October 16, John joined Paul in the little music room that the Asher family had made available for them, at 57 Wimpole Street, in London. John said in 1970: “I like ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand.’ It’s a beautiful melody.” Then he told Playboy in 1980: “I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher’s house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had Oh, you-u-u … got that something … And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘Do that again!’ In those days we really used to absolutely write like that—both playing into each other’s noses.”3 Paul confirmed this: “‘Eyeball to eyeball’ is a very good description of it. That’s exactly how it was. ‘I want to Hold Your Hand’ was very cowritten.”4
Production
Curiously, the production of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was relatively simple compared to the impact that the song had on the group’s career. According to Geoff Emerick, they had no doubt prepared it well beforehand. He did not know that the song had been written the night before. Needless to say, the Beatles, who had mastered their art, had become pros in the studio. It was their first song to be recorded on a four-track tape recorder. It took them seventeen takes to complete the song on that Thursday, October 17. After recording the rhythm on the first track, John and Paul concentrated on the vocals. Then George, under the admiring eye of the team, added his guitar work. Geoff Emerick claimed, “George Harrison really impressed us all that day, too. I felt that those little answering guitar licks he played in each verse provided the song’s definitive hook.”5 Finally, gathered around the same mic, they closed the recording with hand claps, in a joyful atmosphere. In the control room, George Martin and Norman Smith “were thinking that ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ might be even bigger than ‘She Loves You.’”6 The mono and stereo mixes were done on October 21.
An American Sound
Said Brian Epstein: “Moving around New York I found that there was withou
t question an American ‘sound’ on disc, which appealed to the American public—a certain American feeling. This feeling, I was certain, existed in ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand.’”7
Technical Details
For the first time since their very first session on June 6, 1962, the Beatles crossed an important technological milestone: they could now record their songs on four-track tape recorders, on Telefunken T9u and M10. These tape recorders gave them a recording comfort that was until then unequaled. There were no more systematic overdubs, which forced George Martin and Norman Smith go to extremes to avoid degrading the sound. This new era led the Beatles to greater research and innovation in the studio. However, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “This Boy” would be the only songs recorded on four-track tape recorder in 1963.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
When the Beatles performed “I Want to Hold Your Hand” during The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, John’s microphone was barely turned on, and only Paul’s voice could be heard! In front of 73 million TV viewers!
This Boy
Lennon-McCartney / 2:15
1963
SONGWRITER
John and Paul
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: vocal, bass
George: vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 17, 1963 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 17
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 21, 1963 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Genesis
“This Boy” was a superb song and one of only a few Beatles songs, including “Because” and “Yes It Is,” that was written for a vocal trio. The most surprising thing was that the main writer of these three songs was John: “I think of some of my own songs—‘In My Life’—‘This Boy’, I was writing melody with the best of them.”1 This is how he justified himself in 1980 to counter his image as a tough rocker. One of the influences on “This Boy” was probably the Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ song, “I’ve Been Good to You,” which came out on December 14, 1961, on side B of “What’s So Good about Goodbye.” John said: “Just my attempt at writing one of those three-part harmony Smokey Robinson songs. Nothing in the lyrics; just a sound and harmony.”2
Paul remembered collaborating on this song: “It was very cowritten. We wanted to do a close-harmony thing. We liked harmonies and we were quite good at them. We used to do a close-harmony version of the Teddy Bears’ ‘To Know Her Is to Love Her.’”3 He specified that they worked on it in the same type of hotel as the one where they wrote “She Loves You,” on twin beds, in a typically British olive green and orange room, “the colors of vomit!”
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
A Collection of Beatles Oldies was the first Beatles compilation. It came out on December 9, 1966 in the United Kingdom to appease fans during the lengthy delay between Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. “Bad Boy,” a song that had only been released in the United States on the June 1965 album, Beatles VI, was supposed to appear on Collection in stereo. However, during the establishment of the track listing, the staff of Abbey Road read “This Boy” instead of “Bad Boy.” Being disciplined employees, they promptly pulled out the master tapes for “This Boy,” dated from 1963. Luckily, the mistake was caught in time!
Production
Paul was saying: “‘Don’t be nervous, John. Don’t be nervous.’ And John said: ‘I’m not!’” This conversation, preceding the recording of the twelfth take, revealed the friendship and intimacy that united John and Paul. On October 17, the Beatles worked on “This Boy” right after “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Written for side B of the single, this song emphasized their creative power. It took fifteen takes and two overdubs before they were satisfied. Geoff Emerick pointed out that “the most impressive thing about the recording of ‘This Boy’ was that the three Beatles sang it impeccably, in perfect three-part harmony, almost every time, from first take to last.4 Unfortunately, George Martin felt that Harrison’s guitar solo during the bridge was uninspired. So Martin decided to replace it with John’s powerful vocal. Paul acknowledged: “Nice middle, John sang that great.”5 Despite uncertain editing at 1:28, the mono and stereo mixes were completed on October 21.
First Encounter, First Joint
When they met Bob Dylan for the first time, in August 1964, he offered them a joint. The Beatles, who were surprised, admitted they had never smoked marijuana. Surprised, in turn, Dylan asked them, “But what about the song [“I Want to Hold Your Hand,” side A of “This Boy”]—the one about getting high?” “Which song?” John managed to ask. “You know… And when I touch you, I get high, I get high, I get high.” Embarrassed, John answered him: “Those aren’t the words. The words are, ‘I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide…’ ”6
With the Beatles:
The Confirmation
1963
It Won’t Be Long
All I’ve Got to Do
All My Loving
Don’t Bother Me
Little Child
Till There Was You
Please Mister Postman
Roll Over Beethoven
Hold Me Tight
You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me
I Wanna Be Your Man
Devil in Her Heart
Not a Second Time
Money (That’s What I Want)
ALBUM
RELEASED
Great Britain: November 22, 1963 / No. 1 for 21 weeks
United States: January 20, 1964, released in the States under the title Meet the Beatles / No. 1 for 11 weeks; April 10, 1964, released under the title The Beatles’ Second Album
The number of songs and hits that the Beatles produced during 1963 is simply incredible: they recorded around thirty songs, including two albums and three singles that were number one “Please Please Me”, “From Me to You,” “She Loves You,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”! This was done on a rush schedule, in a whirlwind of increasing madness that culminated in the beginning of 1964 with the conquest of America. Within one year, they sold nearly three million records. Hard to imagine, but Dick Rowe (from Decca) had rejected Brian Epstein the previous year, telling him that guitar groups had no future.
Just four months after the release of their first album, they returned to the studio to produce a second one. Although most of Please Please Me was created in one day, With the Beatles required around thirty hours spread over a period of three and a half months. During that period, they produced their fifth single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” for which preorders reached a million copies.
During this period, the Beatles, were mostly on the road. They found time between concerts, often in hotel rooms, to write the material for With the Beatles. Out of fourteen songs, six were remakes. Strangely enough, there is only one Beatles classic on the album, “All My Loving.” In 1963, 33 rpm records did not have any real homogeneity; they mainly consisted of a collection of songs. George Martin confirmed this: “We would record singles, and the ones that weren’t issued as singles would be put onto an album, which is how the second album, With the Beatles, was put together. It was just a collection of their songs.”1 The influence of black American music, girl groups, and Smokey Robinson was predominant. John had a deep admiration for Smokey, which was felt in his own compositions (“All I’ve Got to Do”), as well as his remakes (“You Really Got a Hold on Me”). Paul wrote the best piece on the album (“All My Loving”) and expressed his taste for ballads (“Till There Was You”). George delivered his very first composition (“Don’t Bother Me”), and Ringo let loose on “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
It was George who probably expressed the most realistic appreciation of the record: “The second album was slightly better than the first, inasmuch as we spent more t
ime on it, and there were more original songs.”2 Not more songs, George, there were just as many. Preorders exceeded 270,000 copies. It was the first album by a British group (or by any artist) to reach sales of a million copies.
John asked Robert Freeman, who moved in upstairs from him in London, to take the photo for the cover of With the Beatles. They had met during the group’s first tour on the other side of the English Channel. A former Cambridge student, Freeman began his career as a photographer in the field of jazz. He produced the photos for five Beatles album covers from With the Beatles to Rubber Soul. Said George: “The cover for With the Beatles became one of the most copied designs of the decade. Robert Freeman took the cover picture. We showed him the pictures Astrid [Kirchherr] and Jurgen [Vollmer] had taken in Hamburg and said, ‘Can’t you do it like this?’ We did the photo session in a room with a piece of black background.”3 The Beatles had to struggle long and hard to get the cover approved because EMI management found it gloomy, far from the smiling Beatles they expected. But the Beatles won their case, and this photo became one of the iconic images of the group.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
During preorders of the album, the song “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” was accidentally misspelled “You Really Got a Hold on Me.”
The Instruments
John kept the same equipment. Unfortunately, his Gibson J-160 E was stolen during “The Beatles’ Christmas Show” on December 24, 1963, at the Astoria Cinema in London. Around October, Paul ordered a new left-handed Hofner 500/1 bass. It became his main instrument for years to come. He also changed amplifiers in March and, like John and George, chose a Vox amplifier, that is, a complete Vox T-60. Then in August, he opted for another amplifier head, a Vox AC-30 Super Twin, in order to have more power. Around March, George also acquired a superb Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman, which he used in the studio to record “She Loves You.” He also played a classical guitar for “Till There Was You,” probably a José Ramirez. Finally, Ringo changed drums toward April, when he chose the famous Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl. He used them during the sessions for With the Beatles.
All the Songs Page 6