P.S. I Love You (The Beatles song)

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For other uses, see P.S. I Love You.
“P.S. I Love You”
Single B-side to "Love Me Do" by The Beatles
Album Please Please Me (1963)
Released 5 October 1962 (single B-side)
22 March 1963 (mono album)
26 April 1963 (stereo album)
Recorded Abbey Road Studios
4 September and 11 September 1962
Genre Beat
Length 2:06
Label Parlophone R4949
Tollie 9008 (USA)
Writer McCartney-Lennon
Producer George Martin
Please Please Me track listing
Side one
  1. "I Saw Her Standing There"
  2. "Misery"
  3. "Anna (Go to Him)"
  4. "Chains"
  5. "Boys"
  6. "Ask Me Why"
  7. "Please Please Me"
Side two
  1. "Love Me Do"
  2. "P.S. I Love You"
  3. "Baby It's You"
  4. "Do You Want to Know a Secret?"
  5. "A Taste of Honey"
  6. "There's a Place"
  7. "Twist and Shout"

"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney[1] credited to McCartney-Lennon, which was first recorded by the The Beatles and released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their "Love Me Do" single. It is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me.

Contents

[edit] Recording

The version featured on the single and album was recorded in ten takes on 11 September 1962 at Abbey Road Studios, London. Session drummer Andy White gave the recording a lightweight cha cha[2] treatment, and consequently it misses the distinctive heavy drum beat that characterised most of their early music. Starr plays maracas.

Martin was not physically present at the session, which was run by Ron Richards in his absence. Richards told the group that the song could not be the A-side of their single, because of the earlier song of the same title, so it was relegated to the B-side[3] (even though other titles have been used for multiple hit songs without legal difficulties).

The Beatles (with Ringo Starr playing drums) also recorded this song at the BBC on 25 October 1962, 27 November 1962, and 17 June 1963 for subsequent broadcast on the BBC radio programmes Here We Go, Talent Spot, and Pop Go the Beatles, respectively.

[edit] Inspiration

Written in 1961, while Paul McCartney was in Hamburg, this song is sometimes considered to be a dedication to his then-girlfriend Dot Rhone.[4] However, McCartney denies this; he described "P.S. I Love You" as

“ a theme song based on a letter... It was pretty much mine. I don't think John had much of a hand in it. There are certain themes that are easier than others to hang a song on, and a letter is one of them... It's not based in reality, nor did I write it to my girlfriend from Hamburg, which some people think.[5] ”

John Lennon said about this song:[citation needed]

“ That's Paul's song. He was trying to write a Soldier Boy like the Shirelles. He wrote that in Germany, or when we were going to and from Hamburg. I might have contributed something. I can't remember anything in particular. It was mainly his song. ”

("Soldier Boy" was a US #1 single for the Shirelles in 1962.)

With a pleasant sounding melody, the verse and chorus could be considered typical McCartney, and its lyrics were popular with female fans.[6] The young Lennon and McCartney would often introduce what might be considered incongruous sounding jazz chords into their very early compositions (almost certainly McCartney's influence, as he was the more advanced musician at this early stage[7]) as is the case here inserting C#7 (on "write") between the chords G and D in its opening chorus.

The Beatles admired Buddy Holly and the Crickets.[citation needed] In addition to the literal content of the song lyrics, writer Jonathan Cott suggested that the "P.S." part of the song was also a subtle reference to "Peggy Sue", from the lyric "I love you, Peggy Sue".[8]

[edit] Re-release

On its twentieth anniversary, Parlophone re-issued "P.S. I Love You" as a picture disc, and shortly afterwards as a 12-inch disc.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Cover versions

"P.S. I Love You" has been covered by:

  • Sonny Curtis in 1964
  • the Italian singer Riki Maiocchi in 1965
  • Peter Lipa on his 2003 album Beatles in Blue(s), which features unusual cover versions of sixteen Beatles songs

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bill Harry The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia P.583
  2. ^ Ian MacDonald Revolution in the Head P.54
  3. ^ Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (London: EMI/Hamlyn, 1988), 20.
  4. ^ Ian MacDonald Revolution in the Head P.54
  5. ^ Paul McCartney Many Years From Now P.37
  6. ^ MacDonald, Ian (1998). Revolution in the Head, 54. 
  7. ^ Paul McCartney & Barry Miles, Many Years From Now, p. 30
  8. ^ (1976) The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Rolling Stone Press Random House, 81. ISBN 0-394-73238-3. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Beatles' singles discography
UK:
(Parlophone,
Apple Records)
1962: "Love Me Do" • 1963: "Please Please Me", "From Me to You", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" • 1964: "Can't Buy Me Love", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Feel Fine" • 1965: "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" • 1966: "Paperback Writer", "Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine" • 1967: "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane", "All You Need Is Love", "Hello Goodbye" • 1968: "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude" • 1969: "Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down", "Ballad of John and Yoko", "Something" / "Come Together" • 1970: "Let It Be" • 1976: "Yesterday", "Back in the U.S.S.R." • 1978: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "A Day in the Life" • 1982: "The Beatles Movie Medley", "Love Me Do" (reissue) • 1995: "Baby It's You", "Free as a Bird" • 1996: "Real Love"
B-sides
U.S.:
(Vee-Jay,
Swan,
Tollie,
Capitol,
Apple Records)
1963: "Please Please Me" (VJ), "From Me to You" (VJ), "She Loves You" (Swan), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" • 1964: "Twist and Shout" (Tollie), "Can't Buy Me Love", "Do You Want to Know a Secret" (VJ), "Love Me Do" (Tollie), "Sie Liebt Dich (She Loves You)" (Swan), "A Hard Day's Night", "I'll Cry Instead", "And I Love Her", "Matchbox", "I Feel Fine" • 1965: "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", "We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper" • 1966: "Nowhere Man", "Paperback Writer", "Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine" • 1967: "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever", "All You Need Is Love", "Hello, Goodbye" • 1968: "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude" • 1969: "Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down", "Ballad of John and Yoko", "Something" / "Come Together" • 1970: "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road" • 1976: "Got to Get You into My Life", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" • 1978: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "A Day in the Life" • 1982: "The Beatles Movie Medley" • 1986: "Twist and Shout" • 1995: "Baby It's You", "Free as a Bird" • 1996: "Real Love"
B-sides
1963: "Ask Me Why", "Thank You Girl", "I'll Get You", "I Saw Her Standing There" • 1964: "From Me to You", "There's a Place", "You Can't Do That", "I Should Have Known Better", "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You", "If I Fell", "Slow Down", "She's a Woman" • 1965: "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party", "Yes It Is", "I'm Down", "Act Naturally" • 1966: "What Goes On", "Rain" • 1967: "Baby You're a Rich Man", "I Am the Walrus" • 1968: "The Inner Light", "Revolution" • 1969: "Old Brown Shoe" • 1970: "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)", "For You Blue" • 1976: "Helter Skelter" • 1982: "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" • 1986: "There's a Place" • 1995: "I'll Follow the Sun" / "Devil in Her Heart" / "Boys", "I Saw Her Standing There" / "This Boy" / "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" • 1996: "Baby's in Black" / "Yellow Submarine" / "Here, There and Everywhere"