"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 Stoneranked "She Loves You" as the 64th Greatest
Song of All Time. In October 2005,
Uncutmagazine 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.
"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).
McCartney and Lennon started composing "She Loves You" after
a concert at the Majestic Ballroom in Newcastle 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 concerned 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 written in the third person. 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 music establishment at that time found the
phrase "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. 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 Glen 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
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'".
The recording of the song on 1 July 1963 was done on a
two-track recording machine. Standard procedure at Abbey Road
Studios at the time was to erase the original two-track session
tape for
singlesonce they had been "mixed down" to the (usually
monaural) 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. The
Beatles then embarked on a new song, "Can't Buy Me Love". Other
than the earlier sessions backing Tony Sheridan (recorded in
Hamburg), Can't Buy Me love (recorded in Paris) , "Free as a
Bird" and "Real Love" (recorded at McCartney's Scotland farm
over demos recorded by Lennon in New York City), it was the
only time in their career that The Beatles recorded outside
London. The track was a big hit in Germany, but today the
English versions are much better known in Germany (The Beatles'
Red and Blue albums still feature the English hits on the
German pressings).
On 23 August 1963, the "She Loves You" single was released
in the United Kingdom with "I'll Get 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" by Wings.
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 Showin 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 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, 1and in the 2004 CD release
The Capitol Albums, Volume 1. It was also included on
the American promotional version of the
Raritiesalbum, 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, U2s 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".
The Beatles sang the chorus of "She Loves You" in the long
fade-out of "All You Need Is Love".
In
Raffi on Broadway, Raffi sang this part during the end
of "All I Really Need (Reprise)".
"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 Europe, they became known as
the Yeah-Yeahs.