From Me to You
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "From Me to You" | ||
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| Single by The Beatles | ||
| Released | 11 April 1963 (UK) 6 May 1963 (US) |
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| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | 5 March 1963 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 1:56 | |
| Label | Parlophone (UK) Vee-Jay (US) |
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| Writer(s) | McCartney-Lennon | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| The Beatles singles chronology | ||
| "Please Please Me" (1963) |
'From Me to You' (1963) |
"She Loves You" (1963) |
| Music sample | ||
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"From Me to You" (file info) |
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"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 release. It was one of the very last songs to be credited "McCartney/Lennon; soon afterwards their songs began appearing credited to "Lennon/McCartney".
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[edit] Composition
Lennon and McCartney began writing "From Me to You" while on a coach heading to Shrewsbury as part of the Beatles' tour with Helen Shapiro. They had been reading the New Musical Express and noticed the letters section of the magazine: From You to Us. McCartney noted that their early songs tended to include the words I, me, or you in them, as a way of making them "very direct and personal".[1]
In his 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon recalled writing the song:
- We were writing it in a car I think, and I think the first line was mine. I mean I know it was mine. [Hums melody of first line.] And then after that we took it from there. It was far bluesier than that when we wrote it. The notes—today you could rearrange it pretty funky. We were just writing the next single after 'She Loves You'."[2][3]
McCartney also talked about rearranging the song in 1964:
- "From Me to You"—it could be done as an old ragtime tune—especially the middle eight—and so we're not writing the tunes in any particular idiom. In five years time we may arrange the tunes differently. But we'll probably write the same old rubbish![4]
McCartney was not the only one on the bus who called it rubbish—singer Kenny Lynch, upon hearing The Beatles singing "ooh", remarked "You can't do that. You'll sound like a bunch of fucking fairies!" Soon afterwards he stormed off, declaring the Beatles didn't know anything about songwriting.[5] Roger Greenway recounted the story:
- John and Paul were sitting at the back of the coach and Kenny Lynch, who at this time fancied himself as a songwriter, sauntered up to the back of the coach and Kenny Lynch ... decided he would help them write a song. After a period of about half-an-hour had elapsed and nothing seemed to be coming from the back, Kenny rushed to the front and shouted, 'Well, that's it. I am not going to write any more of that bloody rubbish with those idiots. They don't know music from their backsides. That's it! No more help from me!'"[5]
Regardless, the song was regarded by the Beatles as innovative and catchy enough to be released a single. This was one Lennon/McCartney song that the duo truly co-wrote; McCartney described it as "very much co-written".[6]
[edit] Recording and release
The recording on 5 March 1963 at Abbey Road Studios went without a hitch and on 11 April Parlophone Records released "From Me to You" in Britain as a single, with "Thank You Girl" on the B-side.[7] Nine days later, it kicked off a twenty-one week run in the British charts, culminating with reaching number one on 4 May, a position it would retain for seven weeks.
"From Me to You" was the first song to reach number one in in Britain and is widely considered to be their first chart-topping song, for although "Please Please Me" reached the summit on almost every chart, it was only number two on Record Retailer's chart, generally considered to be the most authoritative for the time. "From Me to You" would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by the Beatles.
"From Me to You" replaced Gerry and the Pacemakers' "How Do You Do It", a song that had been offered to the Beatles but rejected by them in favour of "Please Please Me".[8] Gerry and the Pacemakers, who also hailed from Liverpool, were very much rivals of the Beatles in their early days—Gerry and the Pacemakers attained the first number one ("How Do You Do It") before the Beatles, and also claimed their second and third number ones before the Beatles did, slowly losing steam afterwards as Beatlemania launched and the Beatles dominated music worldwide in 1964.
In America, "From Me to You", backed with "Thank You Girl", was released on 6 May by Vee-Jay Records, a record label that would later be noted for taking advantage of Beatlemania by releasing misleading albums. Although the outlook beforehand had been bright, with Cash Box magazine naming "From Me to You" its "Pick of the Week", Del Shannon had released his cover version before Vee-Jay got the Beatles' single out, leading to Shannon's version getting the lion's share of publicity and airplay. Shannon's version was the first time an American artist had covered an original Beatles song. The Beatles' recording did manage, however, to chart, peaking at 116 during its three week run, the Beatles' first time in the American charts. Shannon's went a step further and peaked at seventy-seven.
On 16 January 1964, Vee-Jay moved to capitalise on the Beatles' newfound success in America, releasing "Please Please Me" backed with "From Me to You" on the B-Side, creating a single out of the A-sides from the Beatles' first two singles. Although Vee-Jay was involved in a court dispute with Capitol Records, the Beatles' new record label, the single managed to sell over a million copies, with "Please Please Me" hitting third in the charts. "From Me to You" was not as successful, but it did attain 41st during its eleven-week run, which began on 14 March.
"From Me to You" was partially hindered in America by a cover version from Del Shannon on the Big Top label, #3152. Del Shannon's version first appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts on 29 June 1963 at #96. The song spent a total of 4 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100. After reaching a high of #77 on 20 July, it failed to get listed the following week. The song appeared again on the Billboard Hot 100 on the "week ending August 3rd" chart, just bubbling under the Hot 100 at #101. Del Shannon's release was given much of the airplay, although The Beatles did manage to sneak in at 125th on August 3rd as well. On the "week ending August 10th" Charts, Del's version was #103, and the Beatles version climbed a few notches, coming in at #116. On the "week ending August 17th" Charts, Del's version was #102, with the Beatles version at #124. Del Shannon's version of "From Me to You" would bubble under the Hot 100 for two more weeks before it fell off the charts altogether.[9][10] After the British Invasion, "From Me to You" was re-released on the B-Side of a single featuring "Please Please Me" on the A-Side, and "From Me to You" reached #41.[11]
A true indication of how successful the Beatles became thanks to "From Me to You" (though it would soon be overshadowed by "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand") was expressed by McCartney: "The first time I thought we'd really made it, was when I was lying in bed one morning, and I heard a milkman whistling 'From Me to You'. Actually, I'm sure that I once heard a bird whistling it as well. I swear I did!"[5]
[edit] Melody and lyrics
"From Me to You" comprises four verses and two intervening bridges. The last half of each verse is a mini-refrain, while the lyrics of the bridges are identical. The verses each consist of a rather short eight measures. The bridge begins on a low note and suddenly jumps to a very different and unexpected key. At the bridge's climax, the chord changes are accompanied by "woo!" Lennon plays prominent harmonica soloes during the beginning, middle and end of the song, as he did with "Love Me Do".
McCartney said of the song:
- The thing I liked about "From Me to You" was it had a very complete middle. It went to a surprising place. The opening chord of the middle section of that song heralded a new batch for me. That was a pivotal song. Our songwriting lifted a little with that song.[4]
The idea of singing the song's opening lick—the "da da da da da dum dum da" part—was suggested by George Martin, the Beatles' producer; this was at the time an unheard-of innovation. "In a way, this made [the Beatles] aware of George's enormous musical sense," EMI producer Ron Richards later said.[12]
In the song, the singer offers his love to the object of his affections—he has "everything that you want". Although the song is based on first-person pronouns, it lacks a lead singer.
[edit] Cover versions
Several different cover versions of the song were used in Christmas-themed TV commercials for the Macy's chain of department stores in the U.S. in late 2006.
[edit] Credits
- John Lennon — lead vocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
- Paul McCartney — lead vocal, bass guitar
- George Harrison — lead guitar, harmony vocal
- Ringo Starr — drums
[edit] Notes
- ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 148. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ Lennon gets the single sequence wrong.
- ^ Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press, 168. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ a b Please Please Me - From Me to You. The Beatles Interview Database. Retrieved on 2004-09-06.
- ^ a b c Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record, 348-349.
- ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, 148.
- ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 28, 32. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 18.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel. Pop Annual, 1955-1994.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel. Joel Whitburn Presents The Billboard Hot 100 Charts, The Sixties.
- ^ Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record, 525.
- ^ Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 387. ISBN 0-316-80352-9.
