She Loves You
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “She Loves You” | |||||
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Original "She Loves You" 45
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| Single by The Beatles | |||||
| B-side | "I'll Get You" | ||||
| Released | 23 August 1963 (UK) 16 September 1963 (USA) |
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| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios, 1 July 1963 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 2:17 | ||||
| Label | Parlophone R5055 (UK) Swan 4152 (US) |
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| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| The Beatles singles chronology | |||||
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| Music sample | |||||
"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul 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, a record which is still unchallenged. It is the Beatles' best-selling single in the United Kingdom, and was the best selling single in Britain in 1963.
The song was also the first time Lennon's name had taken precedence over McCartney in the credits — until then, they had traditionally been credited as "McCartney/Lennon."
The song was one of the Beatles' first songs to be heard by more a substantial amount of Americans ; the only United States release by the Beatles before that had even charted was "From Me to You," which lasted three weeks in August 1963 and never going higher than number 116.
"She Loves You" was, under the title, "Sie liebt dich", one of the two songs rerecorded by the Beatles in German (the other being "Komm, gib mir deine Hand"). "Sie liebt dich" was released in Germany and in the USA b/w "I'll Get You" by "Die Beatles" on May 21, 1964, Swan 4182)[1]
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" the third biggest song that changed the world, behind Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone".
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[edit] Writing in a hotel
McCartney and Lennon were inspired to write "She Loves You" after a concert at the Majestic Ballroom in Newcastle as part of their tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers. McCartney recalled they wrote the song in a 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 last two surviving Beatles, could recall whether it was the Imperial Hotel or the Royal Turk's Head where the Beatles had stayed.
The other circumstances under which the song was written are generally agreed upon. McCartney described it in the same year "She Loves You" was written: "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."
Interestingly for a love song, the lyrics were written in the third person. This idea was attributed by Lennon to McCartney, in 1980: "It was written together (with Paul) and I don't remember how. I remember it was Paul's idea — instead of singing 'I love you' again, we'd have a third party. The 'Woooo' was taken from the Isley Brothers' 'Twist and Shout,' which we stuck into everything."
George Martin, the Beatles' producer, argued with Lennon and McCartney about the major sixth chord that ends the song. McCartney said in 1982: "Occasionally, we'd overrule George Martin, like on "She Loves You", we end on a sixth chord, a very jazzy sort of thing. And he said, 'Oh, you can't do that! A sixth chord? It's too jazzy.' We just said, 'No, it's a great hook, we've got to do it.'"
Eventually McCartney opened up, giving a fuller description of the disagreement, in 1988: "We rehearsed the end bit of "She Loves You" and took it to George. And he just laughed and said, 'Well, you can't do the end of course... that sixth... it's too like the Andrews Sisters.' We just said, 'Alright, we'll try it without,' and we tried it and it wasn't as good. Then he conceded, 'You're right, I guess.'"
[edit] At work in the studio
The recording of the song on 1 July 1963 was done on a two-track recording machine, but the original stereo master tape is widely believed to have been lost, since every release of the song has been in mono. How the stereo tape was lost has never been fully ascertained. [1]
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 rerecord them in German. The Beatles found the idea stupid, but were asked by George Martin to comply, recording "Sie liebt dich" on 29 January 1964, along with a German version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," at the Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris. Other than the earlier sessions backing Tony Sheridan it was the only time in their career that the Beatles recorded outside London.
[edit] The release & legacy
On 23 August 1963, the "She Loves You" single was released to the British public, pairing "She Loves You" on the A-Side with "I'll Get You" on the B-Side. The single set and smashed several records in the British music scene, starting with becoming the biggest-selling single, up to that point, in the United Kingdom. It began charting on August 31, and stood its ground and remaining 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 September 14, clinging on for a month, before falling back to the top three, only to lunge forward for a second run at number one on November 30, which lasted two weeks. It made its way back into the charts for two weeks on April 11, 1964, peaking at forty-two.
It was the best-selling single of 1963, and remains the best-selling Beatles single in Britain today. It remained the best-selling single in the United Kingdom for fourteen years, only to be surpassed out by Paul McCartney and Wings' "Mull of Kintyre".
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. (Capitol 72125).
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 January 25 1964, two of those weeks at number one. On March 21,
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 15-week run in the American charts, "She Loves You" was joined by four other Beatles songs — at the top five in the American charts. It was a record the likes of which had never been seen before.
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.'"
The numerous record labels holding rights to various Beatles songs scurrying to rerelease them in all manner of formats. 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 May 21 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 also released on an album in the USA, 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, despite various record labels issuing Beatles songs — for example, The Beatles' Second Album contained two songs, "Long Tall Sally" and "I Call Your Name", both of which had yet to be released in Britain.
Although no other act made "She Loves You" into a hit, a number of entertainers have attempted their own versions of the song. American singer Neil Sedaka tried his hand at rerecording the song, as did comedians Peter Sellers and Ted Chippington. Pete Doherty played the song live at the Brick Lane Festival. 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, rock star 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.
The Beatles themselves sang the chorus of "She Loves You" in the long fade-out of "All You Need Is Love".
[edit] 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 song is not anywhere near as revolutionary as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" from the melody perspective, but for two things: Firstly, the song begins with a drum roll, and then is immediately launched into the "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah," refrain, giving the listener the appearance that they have just dropped halfway into the performance of a song. Secondly, the sixth chord mentioned earlier is a surprising unlikely contrast.
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.
[edit] Credits
- Paul McCartney — bass guitar, lead vocal
- John Lennon — acoustic guitar, lead vocal
- George Harrison — lead guitar, harmony vocals
- Ringo Starr — drums
[edit] Stereo remixes
Since no stereo mix of the song came out in the 1960s, the master tapes for "She Loves You" are commonly believed to have been destroyed. Although the track has never been released in true stereo officially, several mock-stereo remixes have been made by EMI affiliates worldwide, including a few made in 1966 by Abbey Road engineer, Geoff Emerick. Since the release of the Rarities album in 1980, with its true-stereo mix of "Sie liebt dich," bootleggers have been fond of combining "She Loves You" with the instrumental side of the German version to make "true stereo" remixes. Nearly 38 years later, with new technology, a new wide stereo mix was made in September 2004 by then 22-year-old engineer Dominick Giammarino. Details on this mix were posted on the site Both Sides Now. The stereo mix has gone through several updates and by 2007 the remix was complete. This stereo version of the Beatles' "She Loves You" has become famous from collectors to bootleggers; however, Giammarino maintains he used only "official CDs" to create this one-of-a-kind stereo mix. Used to create the remix were the backing track from Sie liebt dich and the mono version of She Loves You from The Beatles 1962-1966 (The Red Album), which is widely regarded as the best-sounding digital version of "She Loves You" both for its general sound quality and for its good covering of the original mix's many edits. The song was split into several parts and each part had to be carefully synced to achieve the desired effect.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.dermon.com/Beatles/Lbl_swan.htm Swan singles
[edit] Further reading
- Walter Everett The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul Oxford University Press US 1991 ISBN 0-19-514105-9
- Craig Cross Beatles-Discography.com: Day-by-day, Song-by-song, Record-by-record iUniverse ISBN 0-595-31487-2
- Chris Ingram Rough Guides Beatles Rough Guides 2004 ISBN 1-84353-140-2
- Bruce Spizer The Beatles: Swan Song 498 Productions 2007 ISBN 0-96626-497-5
[edit] External links
- Alan W. Pollack's analysis of "She Loves You"
- Allmusic article on "I'll Get You"
- Both Sides Now Stereo - Details on the new stereo remix
- Seth Swirsky's interview with Norman Smith
- The Beatles Ultimate Experience. Retrieved Sept. 3, 2004.
- beatles-discography.com's information on The Beatles' British singles. Retrieved Sept. 3, 2004.
- beatles-discography.com's information on The Beatles' American singles. Retrieved Sept. 3, 2004.
- beatles-discography.com's information on Beatles songs beginning with "S". Retrieved Sept. 3, 2004.
- beatles-discography.com's information on The Beatles' American albums. Retrieved Sept. 3, 2004.
- Davis, Laura (Feb. 26, 2003). She Loves You (Where? Where? Where?). ic Liverpool.
| Preceded by “Rock Around The Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets |
UK best-selling single in history [1] September 12, 1963- December 3, 1977 |
Succeeded by "Mull of Kintyre / Girl’s School" by Wings |
| Preceded by "Bad to Me" by Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas |
UK number one single September 12, 1963 (4 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Do You Love Me" by Brian Poole & The Tremeloes |
| Preceded by "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Gerry & the Pacemakers |
UK number one single November 28, 1963 (top again, 2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles |
| Preceded by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single 21 March 1964 (2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles |
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