She Loves You
Encyclopedia
"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon
and Paul McCartney
based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles
for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom
charts, and set a record in the United States
by being one of the five Beatles songs which held the top five positions in the American charts simultaneously. It is The Beatles' best-selling single in the United Kingdom, and was the best selling single in Britain in 1963.
"She Loves You" was credited to "Lennon/McCartney
" as were all subsequent songs written by the pair and released during the remainder of the band's tenure. With the exception of the single version of "Love Me Do
" and "P.S. I Love You
", all prior songs were credited as "McCartney/Lennon". The sequence was a source of controversy when McCartney changed it to "McCartney/Lennon" for some live versions released later in his career.
This was the first song by The Beatles to be heard by a substantial number of Americans; the only United States release by The Beatles that had even charted before that was "From Me to You
", which lasted three weeks in August 1963, never going higher than number 116.
In November 2004, Rolling Stone
ranked "She Loves You" as the 64th Greatest Song of All Time. In October 2005, Uncut
magazine named "She Loves You" as the third biggest song that changed the world, behind Elvis Presley
's "Heartbreak Hotel
" and Bob Dylan
's "Like a Rolling Stone
".
In August 2009, at the end of its "Beatles Weekend", BBC Radio 2 announced that "She Loves You" was The Beatles' all-time best-selling single in the UK based on information compiled by The Official Charts Company.
as part of their tour with Roy Orbison
and Gerry & The Pacemakers
. They began writing the song on the tour bus, and continued it later that night at their hotel in Newcastle. In 2003, plans to install a plaque
at the hotel were stalled after it turned out neither Paul McCartney
nor Ringo Starr
, the surviving Beatles, could recall whether it was the Imperial Hotel or the Royal Turk's Head where the group had stayed.
The other circumstances under which the song was written are generally agreed upon. In 2000 McCartney said: "There was a Bobby Rydell
song out at the time "Forget Him
" and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another. We were in a van up in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I'd planned an 'answering song' where a couple of us would sing 'she loves you' and the other ones would answer 'yeah yeah'. We decided that was a crummy idea but at least we then had the idea of a song called 'She Loves You'. So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it — John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars." It was completed the following day at McCartney's family home at Forthlin Road, Liverpool
. Unusually for a love song, the lyrics were not written in the first person
. Instead, the narrator functions as a helpful go-between for the estranged lovers. This idea was attributed by Lennon to McCartney in 1980: "It was Paul's idea: instead of singing 'I love you' again, we’d have a third party. That kind of little detail is still in his work. He will write a story about someone. I'm more inclined to write about myself".
The British establishment at that time found the refrain "yeah, yeah, yeah" controversial. National radio in the form of the BBC
broadcast the single and "in some quarters it was seen to hail the collapse of civilised society". Lennon, being mindful of Elvis Presley
's "All Shook Up
", wanted something equally as stirring: "I don't know where the 'yeah yeah yeah' came from [but] I remember when Elvis did 'All Shook Up' it was the first time in my life that I had heard 'uh huh', 'oh yeah', and 'yeah yeah' all sung in the same song". "The 'wooooo' was taken from The Isley Brothers
' 'Twist And Shout'. We stuck it in everything". McCartney recalls them playing the finished song on acoustic guitars to his father at home immediately after the song was completed: "We went into the living room [and said] 'Dad, listen to this. What do you think? And he said 'That's very nice son, but there's enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing 'She loves you, yes, yes, yes!'. At which point we collapsed in a heap and said 'No, Dad, you don't quite get it!'".
George Martin
, The Beatles' producer, questioned the validity of the major sixth
chord that ends the song, an idea suggested by George Harrison
"They sort of finished on this curious singing chord which was a major sixth, with George [Harrison] doing the sixth and the others doing the third and fifth in the chord. It was just like a Glenn Miller
arrangement". McCartney later reflected: "We took it to George Martin and sang 'She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeeeeeaah…' and that tight little sixth cluster we had at the end. George [Martin] said: 'It's very corny, I would never end on a sixth'. But we said 'It's such a great sound, it doesn't matter'".
) master tape used to press records. This was the fate of two Beatles singles (four songs): "Love Me Do
", "P.S. I Love You
", "She Loves You", and "I'll Get You". These tracks only exist as a mono master, although several mock-stereo remixes have been made by EMI affiliates worldwide, including a few made in 1966 by Abbey Road engineer Geoff Emerick
.
The German
division of EMI
(the parent of The Beatles' British record label, Parlophone Records) decided that the only way to sell Beatles records in Germany
would be to re-record them in German. The Beatles thought it unnecessary, but were asked by George Martin to comply, recording "Sie Liebt Dich" on 29 January 1964, along with "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand", at the Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris
. The Beatles recorded new vocals over the original backing track to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" but "She Loves You" required them to record a new rhythm track as the original two track recording had been scrapped.
" as the B-side. The single set several British sales records, starting with becoming the biggest-selling single, up to that point. It entered the charts on 31 August and remained in the charts for thirty-one consecutive weeks, eighteen of those weeks in the top three. During that period, it claimed the ranking of number one on 14 September, stayed number one for four weeks, dropped back to the top three, then regained the top spot for two weeks starting on 30 November. It made its way back into the charts for two weeks on 11 April 1964, peaking at forty-two.
It was the best-selling single of 1963, and remains the best-selling Beatles single in Britain today. It was the best-selling single in the United Kingdom for fourteen years until it was surpassed by "Mull of Kintyre
" by Wings
(written by McCartney and Denny Laine
).
The song's gigantic success posed an ever-bigger puzzlement for The Beatles' producer, George Martin, and manager, Brian Epstein
: why were The Beatles running up hit after hit in Britain, but utterly flopping on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean
? Martin, who was angered by Capitol Records
' stubbornness in turning down The Beatles, and a chance to become their record label
in America, later recalled: "I said, for God's sake, do something about this. These boys are breaking it, and they're going to be fantastic throughout the world. So for heaven's sake latch onto them." This did not take long for Capitol of Canada, for "She Loves You" was a chart-topping hit there.
Before Capitol came along, The Beatles had been with Vee-Jay Records
, until Vee-Jay failed to pay the royalties
on time. Transglobal Music, an affiliate of EMI
, held the licenses to The Beatles' output in America, and promptly ordered Vee-Jay to halt their manufacturing and distribution of Beatles records. Epstein, who needed a record label to release "She Loves You" in the United States, asked Transglobal to find another record label for him, and Transglobal came up with Swan Records
. To avoid potential disagreements and lawsuits, the contract signed with Swan licensed to them only "She Loves You" and "I'll Get You", enough only for the A- and B-sides of a single — and only for two years. Even four songs would be enough to abuse the contract — in 1964, Vee-Jay released an album in America entitled Jolly What! England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage, which in reality consisted of the only four Beatles songs that had been licensed to them, the rest of the album made up of performances by Frank Ifield
.
When "She Loves You" came out as a single in America on 16 September 1963, nobody paid attention to it. Three months later, The Beatles released "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which climbed all the way to number one, launching the British invasion
of the American music scene, paving the way for more Beatles records, and releases by other British artists. Swan re-released the "She Loves You" single, which began a fifteen-week run on the American charts on 25 January 1964, two of those weeks at number one. On 21 March, Beatlemania
had landed in America, spurred by The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show
in February, where they performed, among other songs, "She Loves You". During its fifteen-week run in the American charts, "She Loves You" was joined by four other Beatles songs at the top five in the American charts.
New York City
deejay
Murray the K
later recounted: "In late '63 they brought a record to me and mentioned the possibility that The Beatles might be coming to America, so I said, 'Okay,' and I put it on air. I had a record review contest on WINS at the time, where I'd play five new records each day. The audience would then vote on which records they liked best, and the winners of each week would be played next Saturday. And when I ran The Beatles in a contest with their record 'She Loves You', it came third out of five. But I still continued to play it for two or three weeks. But nothing happened. I mean, really no reaction. Absolutely nothing! Two months later I received an urgent call from my station manager in New York telling me 'The Beatles are coming!' 'Fine,' I said, 'Get an exterminator.'"
When Beatlemania reached the US, the record labels holding rights to Beatle songs rereleased them in various combinations. Swan claimed to own the rights to "Sie liebt dich", the German version of "She Loves You", although they did not. After buying and playing a copy of the German single, on 21 May 1964, "Sie liebt dich" was released by Swan in America, featuring "I'll Get You" on the B-side, just like the English-sung single. American consumers bought the single as well, leading to a one-week run in the charts at 97th on 27 June.
"She Loves You" was included on the US album, The Beatles' Second Album, which overtook Meet the Beatles!
on 2 May 1964, reaching the top spot in the album charts. It was the first time an artist had taken over from themselves in the American album charts, and provided a hint of the successes The Beatles would continue to achieve.
"She Loves You" would also be featured in the albums A Collection of Beatles Oldies
, 1962–1966, 20 Greatest Hits, 1 and in the 2004 CD release The Capitol Albums, Volume 1. It was also included on the American promotional version of the Rarities album, issued as the bonus disc in the limited edition boxed set The Beatles Collection
, from November 1978.
Although no other act made "She Loves You" into a hit, a number attempted their own versions. American singer Neil Sedaka
recorded it, as did comedians Peter Sellers
and Ted Chippington
. At a number of concerts
, U2
s Bono has snippeted "She Loves You" into the end of "Vertigo" — a song that has a 'Yeah yeah yeah' outro. In 1987, Cher
features the "She loves you/yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus and chord progression in the bridge of the track "Working Girl", from her self-titled album. Avantgarde band The Residents
worked a sample of the "yeah yeah yeah" outro to their Beatles collage "Beyond the Valley of a Day in the Life". Paul McCartney sang "We love you, yeah, yeah, yeah" at the end of his duet with Stevie Wonder
titled "What's That You're Doing?" from
Tug of War. The Beatles sang the chorus of "She Loves You" in the long fade-out of "All You Need Is Love
".
"She Loves You" (as "Sie liebt dich") was one of the two songs rerecorded by The Beatles in German
, the other being "I Want to Hold Your Hand
" (as "Komm gib mir deine Hand"). "Sie liebt dich" was released in Germany and in the US b/w "I'll Get You
" by "Die Beatles" on 21 May 1964, (Swan
4182).
The lyrics were largely unconventional, again contrasting with the simplicity of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Critics panned the song, dismissing the "yeah, yeah, yeah," as an uncouth slang from a fad band. The "yeah"s were to have a great effect on The Beatles' image — in some parts of Europe
, they became known as the Yeah-Yeahs.
, father of the socialist German Democratic Republic
, referenced the song in a famous speech about copying culture from the western world using the term "monotony of the yeah yeah yeah and whatever it is called".
British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home
made a gaffe in February 1964: his speechwriters, trying to make him appear in-touch with popular culture, wrote him the line, "I'm too modest to claim the country loves us, but you know that can't be bad." However, he appeared not to understand the reference, and actually said, "but you know, err, that can't be too bad."
On 10 December 1980, following the murder of John Lennon in Manhattan
two nights previously, British tabloid newspaper The Sun printed the front page headline "They Loved Him Yeah Yeah Yeah".
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
charts, and set a record in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by being one of the five Beatles songs which held the top five positions in the American charts simultaneously. It is The Beatles' best-selling single in the United Kingdom, and was the best selling single in Britain in 1963.
"She Loves You" was credited to "Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...
" as were all subsequent songs written by the pair and released during the remainder of the band's tenure. With the exception of the single version of "Love Me Do
Love Me Do
"Love Me Do" is The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962. When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four...
" and "P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You (The Beatles song)
"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney and recorded by The Beatles. It was released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me...
", all prior songs were credited as "McCartney/Lennon". The sequence was a source of controversy when McCartney changed it to "McCartney/Lennon" for some live versions released later in his career.
This was the first song by The Beatles to be heard by a substantial number of Americans; the only United States release by The Beatles that had even charted before that was "From Me to You
From Me to You
"From Me to You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a single in 1963. The single was the Beatles' first number one in some of the United Kingdom charts, second in others, but failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial...
", which lasted three weeks in August 1963, never going higher than number 116.
In November 2004, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked "She Loves You" as the 64th Greatest Song of All Time. In October 2005, Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
magazine named "She Loves You" as the third biggest song that changed the world, behind Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "Heartbreak Hotel
Heartbreak Hotel
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American rock and roll musician Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. His first number-one pop record, "Heartbreak Hotel" topped Billboards Top 100 chart, became his first...
" and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
".
In August 2009, at the end of its "Beatles Weekend", BBC Radio 2 announced that "She Loves You" was The Beatles' all-time best-selling single in the UK based on information compiled by The Official Charts Company.
Composition
McCartney and Lennon started composing "She Loves You" after a concert at the Majestic Ballroom in NewcastleNewcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
as part of their tour with Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
and Gerry & The Pacemakers
Gerry & the Pacemakers
Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin. They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with...
. They began writing the song on the tour bus, and continued it later that night at their hotel in Newcastle. In 2003, plans to install a plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
at the hotel were stalled after it turned out neither Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
nor Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, the surviving Beatles, could recall whether it was the Imperial Hotel or the Royal Turk's Head where the group had stayed.
The other circumstances under which the song was written are generally agreed upon. In 2000 McCartney said: "There was a Bobby Rydell
Bobby Rydell
Bobby Rydell is an American professional singer, mainly of rock and roll music. In the early 1960s he was considered a so-called "teen idol"...
song out at the time "Forget Him
Forget Him
"Forget Him" is arguably the most widely known Cantonese pop song ever produced. Written by Hong Kong media maverick James Wong, it was originally sung by Teresa Teng and was included in her first Cantonese album, "势不两立" ....
" and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another. We were in a van up in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I'd planned an 'answering song' where a couple of us would sing 'she loves you' and the other ones would answer 'yeah yeah'. We decided that was a crummy idea but at least we then had the idea of a song called 'She Loves You'. So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it — John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars." It was completed the following day at McCartney's family home at Forthlin Road, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Unusually for a love song, the lyrics were not written in the first person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
. Instead, the narrator functions as a helpful go-between for the estranged lovers. This idea was attributed by Lennon to McCartney in 1980: "It was Paul's idea: instead of singing 'I love you' again, we’d have a third party. That kind of little detail is still in his work. He will write a story about someone. I'm more inclined to write about myself".
The British establishment at that time found the refrain "yeah, yeah, yeah" controversial. National radio in the form of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
broadcast the single and "in some quarters it was seen to hail the collapse of civilised society". Lennon, being mindful of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "All Shook Up
All Shook Up
"All Shook Up" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music and composed by Otis Blackwell. Elvis Presley's single topped the U.S. Pop chart on April 13, 1957, staying there for eight weeks. It also topped the R&B chart for four weeks, becoming Presley's second single to...
", wanted something equally as stirring: "I don't know where the 'yeah yeah yeah' came from [but] I remember when Elvis did 'All Shook Up' it was the first time in my life that I had heard 'uh huh', 'oh yeah', and 'yeah yeah' all sung in the same song". "The 'wooooo' was taken from The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...
' 'Twist And Shout'. We stuck it in everything". McCartney recalls them playing the finished song on acoustic guitars to his father at home immediately after the song was completed: "We went into the living room [and said] 'Dad, listen to this. What do you think? And he said 'That's very nice son, but there's enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing 'She loves you, yes, yes, yes!'. At which point we collapsed in a heap and said 'No, Dad, you don't quite get it!'".
George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
, The Beatles' producer, questioned the validity of the major sixth
Major sixth
In classical music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six staff positions , and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two...
chord that ends the song, an idea suggested by George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
"They sort of finished on this curious singing chord which was a major sixth, with George [Harrison] doing the sixth and the others doing the third and fifth in the chord. It was just like a Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
arrangement". McCartney later reflected: "We took it to George Martin and sang 'She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeeeeeaah…' and that tight little sixth cluster we had at the end. George [Martin] said: 'It's very corny, I would never end on a sixth'. But we said 'It's such a great sound, it doesn't matter'".
Recording
The recording of the song on 1 July 1963 was done on a two-track recording machine. Standard procedure at EMI Studios at the time was to erase the original two-track session tape for singles once they had been "mixed down" to the (usually monauralMonaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
) master tape used to press records. This was the fate of two Beatles singles (four songs): "Love Me Do
Love Me Do
"Love Me Do" is The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962. When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom, it peaked at number seventeen; in 1982 it was re-issued and reached number four...
", "P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You (The Beatles song)
"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney and recorded by The Beatles. It was released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me...
", "She Loves You", and "I'll Get You". These tracks only exist as a mono master, although several mock-stereo remixes have been made by EMI affiliates worldwide, including a few made in 1966 by Abbey Road engineer Geoff Emerick
Geoff Emerick
Geoffrey Emerick is an English recording studio audio engineer, who is best known for his work with The Beatles' albums Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road...
.
The German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
division of EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
(the parent of The Beatles' British record label, Parlophone Records) decided that the only way to sell Beatles records in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
would be to re-record them in German. The Beatles thought it unnecessary, but were asked by George Martin to comply, recording "Sie Liebt Dich" on 29 January 1964, along with "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand", at the Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The Beatles recorded new vocals over the original backing track to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" but "She Loves You" required them to record a new rhythm track as the original two track recording had been scrapped.
Release and legacy
On 23 August 1963, the "She Loves You" single was released in the United Kingdom with "I'll Get YouI'll Get You
"I'll Get You" is a song by The Beatles, written by Lennon/McCartney, and released by The Beatles as the B-side of their 1963 single "She Loves You"...
" as the B-side. The single set several British sales records, starting with becoming the biggest-selling single, up to that point. It entered the charts on 31 August and remained in the charts for thirty-one consecutive weeks, eighteen of those weeks in the top three. During that period, it claimed the ranking of number one on 14 September, stayed number one for four weeks, dropped back to the top three, then regained the top spot for two weeks starting on 30 November. It made its way back into the charts for two weeks on 11 April 1964, peaking at forty-two.
It was the best-selling single of 1963, and remains the best-selling Beatles single in Britain today. It was the best-selling single in the United Kingdom for fourteen years until it was surpassed by "Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre (song)
"Mull of Kintyre" is a song written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine and performed by Wings. The song was written in tribute to the picturesque Kintyre peninsula in Scotland, where McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966, and its headland or Mull of Kintyre.The song was Wings' biggest hit...
" by Wings
Wings (band)
Wings were a British-American rock group formed in 1971 by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney that remained active until 1981....
(written by McCartney and Denny Laine
Denny Laine
Denny Laine is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, and lead singer of The Moody Blues' 1965 debut album "The Magnificent Moodies"; and, later, best known for his role as co-founder of Wings...
).
The song's gigantic success posed an ever-bigger puzzlement for The Beatles' producer, George Martin, and manager, Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
: why were The Beatles running up hit after hit in Britain, but utterly flopping on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
? Martin, who was angered by Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
' stubbornness in turning down The Beatles, and a chance to become their record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in America, later recalled: "I said, for God's sake, do something about this. These boys are breaking it, and they're going to be fantastic throughout the world. So for heaven's sake latch onto them." This did not take long for Capitol of Canada, for "She Loves You" was a chart-topping hit there.
Before Capitol came along, The Beatles had been with Vee-Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records
Vee-Jay Records is a record label founded in the 1950s, specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. It was owned and operated by African Americans.-History:...
, until Vee-Jay failed to pay the royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
on time. Transglobal Music, an affiliate of EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, held the licenses to The Beatles' output in America, and promptly ordered Vee-Jay to halt their manufacturing and distribution of Beatles records. Epstein, who needed a record label to release "She Loves You" in the United States, asked Transglobal to find another record label for him, and Transglobal came up with Swan Records
Swan Records
Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States based record label, founded in 1957, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records....
. To avoid potential disagreements and lawsuits, the contract signed with Swan licensed to them only "She Loves You" and "I'll Get You", enough only for the A- and B-sides of a single — and only for two years. Even four songs would be enough to abuse the contract — in 1964, Vee-Jay released an album in America entitled Jolly What! England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage, which in reality consisted of the only four Beatles songs that had been licensed to them, the rest of the album made up of performances by Frank Ifield
Frank Ifield
Francis Edward Ifield is an early Australian-English easy listening and country music singer. He achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Chart, where he had four Number 1 hits between 1962 and 1963....
.
When "She Loves You" came out as a single in America on 16 September 1963, nobody paid attention to it. Three months later, The Beatles released "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which climbed all the way to number one, launching the British invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
of the American music scene, paving the way for more Beatles records, and releases by other British artists. Swan re-released the "She Loves You" single, which began a fifteen-week run on the American charts on 25 January 1964, two of those weeks at number one. On 21 March, Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
had landed in America, spurred by The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
in February, where they performed, among other songs, "She Loves You". During its fifteen-week run in the American charts, "She Loves You" was joined by four other Beatles songs at the top five in the American charts.
New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
deejay
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Murray the K
Murray the K
Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...
later recounted: "In late '63 they brought a record to me and mentioned the possibility that The Beatles might be coming to America, so I said, 'Okay,' and I put it on air. I had a record review contest on WINS at the time, where I'd play five new records each day. The audience would then vote on which records they liked best, and the winners of each week would be played next Saturday. And when I ran The Beatles in a contest with their record 'She Loves You', it came third out of five. But I still continued to play it for two or three weeks. But nothing happened. I mean, really no reaction. Absolutely nothing! Two months later I received an urgent call from my station manager in New York telling me 'The Beatles are coming!' 'Fine,' I said, 'Get an exterminator.'"
When Beatlemania reached the US, the record labels holding rights to Beatle songs rereleased them in various combinations. Swan claimed to own the rights to "Sie liebt dich", the German version of "She Loves You", although they did not. After buying and playing a copy of the German single, on 21 May 1964, "Sie liebt dich" was released by Swan in America, featuring "I'll Get You" on the B-side, just like the English-sung single. American consumers bought the single as well, leading to a one-week run in the charts at 97th on 27 June.
"She Loves You" was included on the US album, The Beatles' Second Album, which overtook Meet the Beatles!
Meet the Beatles!
-External links:*Bruce Spizer's *Bruce Spizer's *...
on 2 May 1964, reaching the top spot in the album charts. It was the first time an artist had taken over from themselves in the American album charts, and provided a hint of the successes The Beatles would continue to achieve.
"She Loves You" would also be featured in the albums A Collection of Beatles Oldies
A Collection of Beatles Oldies
A Collection of Beatles Oldies is a compilation album featuring a selection of songs by The Beatles recorded between 1963 and 1966...
, 1962–1966, 20 Greatest Hits, 1 and in the 2004 CD release The Capitol Albums, Volume 1. It was also included on the American promotional version of the Rarities album, issued as the bonus disc in the limited edition boxed set The Beatles Collection
The Beatles Collection
The Beatles Collection is a box set of vinyl albums released in the United States in November 1978 and the following month in the United Kingdom containing the official catalogue of The Beatles in stereo, and a new compilation called Rarities...
, from November 1978.
Although no other act made "She Loves You" into a hit, a number attempted their own versions. American singer Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
recorded it, as did comedians Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Ted Chippington
Ted Chippington
Ted Chippington is a British stand-up comedian. His act is one in which the conventions of his chosen craft are routinely flouted...
. At a number of concerts
Vertigo Tour
The Vertigo Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the band visited arenas and stadiums from 2005 through 2006. The Vertigo Tour consisted of five legs that alternated between indoor arena shows in...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
s Bono has snippeted "She Loves You" into the end of "Vertigo" — a song that has a 'Yeah yeah yeah' outro. In 1987, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
features the "She loves you/yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus and chord progression in the bridge of the track "Working Girl", from her self-titled album. Avantgarde band The Residents
The Residents
The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....
worked a sample of the "yeah yeah yeah" outro to their Beatles collage "Beyond the Valley of a Day in the Life". Paul McCartney sang "We love you, yeah, yeah, yeah" at the end of his duet with Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
titled "What's That You're Doing?" from
Tug of War. The Beatles sang the chorus of "She Loves You" in the long fade-out of "All You Need Is Love
All You Need Is Love
"All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link. Watched by 400 million in 26 countries, the programme was broadcast via satellite on 25 June 1967...
".
"She Loves You" (as "Sie liebt dich") was one of the two songs rerecorded by The Beatles in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, the other being "I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Want to Hold Your Hand
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment....
" (as "Komm gib mir deine Hand"). "Sie liebt dich" was released in Germany and in the US b/w "I'll Get You
I'll Get You
"I'll Get You" is a song by The Beatles, written by Lennon/McCartney, and released by The Beatles as the B-side of their 1963 single "She Loves You"...
" by "Die Beatles" on 21 May 1964, (Swan
Swan Records
Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States based record label, founded in 1957, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records....
4182).
Melody and lyrics
"She Loves You" avoids the use of a bridge, instead using a refrain to join the various verses. The chords tend to change every two measures, and the harmonic scheme is mostly static.The lyrics were largely unconventional, again contrasting with the simplicity of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Critics panned the song, dismissing the "yeah, yeah, yeah," as an uncouth slang from a fad band. The "yeah"s were to have a great effect on The Beatles' image — in some parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, they became known as the Yeah-Yeahs.
Trivia
Walter UlbrichtWalter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht was a German communist politician. As First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971 , he played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany and later in the early development and...
, father of the socialist German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, referenced the song in a famous speech about copying culture from the western world using the term "monotony of the yeah yeah yeah and whatever it is called".
British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home
Alec Douglas-Home
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC , known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964.He is the last...
made a gaffe in February 1964: his speechwriters, trying to make him appear in-touch with popular culture, wrote him the line, "I'm too modest to claim the country loves us, but you know that can't be bad." However, he appeared not to understand the reference, and actually said, "but you know, err, that can't be too bad."
On 10 December 1980, following the murder of John Lennon in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
two nights previously, British tabloid newspaper The Sun printed the front page headline "They Loved Him Yeah Yeah Yeah".
Personnel
- John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
– vocalLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
– vocal, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
– harmony vocal, lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure... - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - George MartinGeorge MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Norman Smith – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- Personnel per Ian MacDonaldIan MacDonaldIan MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...