All My Loving

"All My Loving"

Canadian 7-inch single
Single by the Beatles
from the album With the Beatles
B-side "This Boy"
Released 22 November 1963
Recorded 30 July 1963, EMI Studios, London
Genre Rock, pop[1]
Length 2:04
Label
Songwriter(s) Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s) George Martin
Audio sample
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"All My Loving" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney[2] (credited to Lennon–McCartney), from the 1963 album With the Beatles. Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, it drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP.[3] The song was released as a single in Canada, where it became a number one hit. The Canadian single was imported into the US in enough quantities to peak at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964.[4][5]

Composition

According to journalist Bill Harry, McCartney thought of the lyrics whilst shaving: "I wrote 'All My Loving' like a piece of poetry and then, I think, I put a song to it later" [6] though McCartney later told biographer Barry Miles that he wrote them while on a tour bus and after arriving at the location of the venue he then wrote the music on a piano backstage.[2] He also said "It was the first song [where] I'd ever written the words first. I never wrote words first, it was always some kind of accompaniment. I've hardly ever done it since either."[2] The lyrics follow the "letter song" model as used on "P.S. I Love You",[3] the B-side of their first single. McCartney originally envisioned it as a country & western song, and George Harrison added a Nashville-style guitar solo.[2][3] John Lennon's rhythm guitar playing uses quickly strummed triplets similar to "Da Doo Ron Ron" by The Crystals, a song that was popular at the time,[3] and McCartney plays a walking bass line.[7]

Lennon expressed his esteem for the song in his 1980 Playboy interview, saying, "[I]t's a damn good piece of work. ... But I play a pretty mean guitar in back."[8]

It has been hypothesized that the piece draws inspiration from the Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1959 song "Kathy's Waltz".[9]

Recording

The Beatles recorded the song on 30 July 1963 in eleven takes with three overdubs. The master take was take fourteen overdubbed on take eleven.[10] It was remixed on 21 August (mono)[10] and 29 October (stereo).[11]

A slightly longer stereo edition of the song, featuring a hi-hat percussion introduction not found on the common stereo or mono mixes was released in Germany and the Netherlands in 1965 on a compilation album entitled Beatles' Greatest.[12] This version was later released in the UK, but only as part of The Beatles Box. It also turned up on a European CD bootleg release of the US Rarities with other bonus tracks not included on the original LP.

Releases and performances

"All My Loving" was originally released in the UK on 22 November 1963 on With the Beatles.[13] The first US release was on Meet the Beatles!, released 20 January 1964.[13] The song was the title track of the All My Loving EP released in the UK on 7 February 1964.[13] The song was released on another EP, Four by The Beatles in the US, on 11 May 1964.

"All My Loving" was the Beatles' opening number on their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964;[14] the recording was included on Anthology 1.[15] The group also performed "All My Loving" three times for BBC radio, once in 1963 and twice in 1964. The final version, which was recorded on 28 February 1964, was included on Live at the BBC.[16]

The song was used twice in films by the group—it plays in the background at the end of the nightclub scene in A Hard Day's Night (though without the drum opening and the coda), while an instrumental version appears in the film Magical Mystery Tour.

According to Alan Weiss, a TV producer who happened to be there, "All My Loving" was playing on the sound system at Roosevelt Hospital emergency room when Lennon was pronounced dead after being shot on 8 December 1980.[17]

Reviews

"All My Loving" has been praised by several critics. Ian MacDonald said, "The innocence of early Sixties British pop is perfectly distilled in the eloquent simplicity of this number" and described the song as helping McCartney be seen as more of an equal to Lennon.[3] Richie Unterberger of Allmusic said it "was arguably the best LP-only track the Beatles did before 1964" and that if it had been released as a single in America it would have been a huge hit.[18]

Personnel

Personnel per Ian MacDonald:[3]

For live performances, Harrison would sing lead on the third verse while McCartney would sing the harmony.

Charts

Chart (1963–64) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report[19] 1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[20] 16
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21] 2
Norway (VG-lista)[22] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[23] 45
US Cash Box Top 100[24] 31
West German Media Control Singles Chart[25] 32

Cover versions

Group or artist's name Release date Album Additional information
Alvin and the Chipmunks 1964 The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits
The Guess Who 1966
Annette Funicello 1964 Something Borrowed Something Blue
Johnny and his Cellar Rockers 1964 Released as "Close Your Eyes"; the group features Jan Akkerman
Donna Loren 1965-08-11 Performed live on Shindig!
Matt Monro 1965 I Have Dreamed[26]
Prince Buster 1968 Fab Records 7"; FAB35
Amy Winehouse 2004 unofficial release Acoustic performance at Glastonbury Festival 2004.
Scotty Anderson 2003-09-23 Classic Scotty[27]
Beatallica 2007 Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band Merged with Metallica's "..And Justice for All" to create "... And Justice for All My Loving"
Hollyridge Strings 1964-07-04 (single) One week at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (4 July 1964)[28]
The Trends 1964 (single)[29]
Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass 1964–10 South of the Border[30]
Mike Baiardi 2009-01-27 Rockabye Baby! More Lullaby Renditions of The Beatles[31]
Los Manolos 1991 Pasión Condal Made as a Catalan rumba version. It became a summer hit in Spain in 1992.[32]
Suzy Bogguss & Chet Atkins 1995 Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles[33]
The Ballroom Band 1999-07-13 Swing[34]
Helloween 1999 Metal Jukebox[35]
The Punkles 2002 Punk[36]
Jim Sturgess 2007-09-18 Across the Universe[37]
Emilie Autumn 2007-08-03 A Bit o' This & That[38]
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes 2001-03-20 Blow in the Wind[39]
Johnny Young 1967 (single) Slow ballad with strings. Top 10 hit in Australia[40]
The Dowlands 1964–01 (single) Charted #33 January 1964 (UK)[40]
Fancy 1989 All My Loving Appeared as all four Beatles in a music video for his cover version
Tim Urban 2010-04-06 All My Loving Sang during American Idol
Rachael MacFarlane 2012 Hayley Sings
EXO 2013 Performed live on Seoul Broadcasting System Star Face Off
Arctic Monkeys 2014 Performed live in Madison Square Garden on 8 February.
The Well Pennies 2013 The Beatles Reimagined

Notes

  1. ↑ Pollack 1991.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Miles 1997, p. 148.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 MacDonald 2005, p. 94.
  4. ↑ Castleman & Podrazik 1975, pp. 25, 347.
  5. ↑ Wallgren 1982, p. 23.
  6. ↑ Harry 2000, pp. 25–26.
  7. ↑ Everett, Walter (2001). The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul. Oxford University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  8. ↑ Sheff 2000, p. 171.
  9. ↑ Leigh, Spencer (8 July 2010). "When it comes to songwriting, there's a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism". The Independent. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  10. 1 2 Lewisohn 1988, p. 34.
  11. ↑ Lewisohn 1988, p. 37.
  12. ↑ Schaffner 1977, p. 203.
  13. 1 2 3 Lewisohn 1988, pp. 200–201.
  14. ↑ Harry 2000, p. 1043.
  15. ↑ Lewisohn 1995, pp. 32–33.
  16. ↑ The Beatles Bible.
  17. ↑ Mcleod 2005.
  18. ↑ Unterberger 2009.
  19. ↑ Kent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book (1940–1969). Turramurra: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-44439-5.
  20. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Beatles – All My Loving" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  21. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Beatles – All My Loving" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  22. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Beatles – All My Loving". VG-lista. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "The Beatles – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for The Beatles. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  24. ↑ Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 32–34.
  25. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (Enter "Beatles" in the search box) (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  26. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Matt-Monro-I-Have-Dreamed/release/2210438 and beatles interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJ0qb1TwIs
  27. ↑ Anderson 2009.
  28. ↑ "Billboard Hot 100". Archived from the original on 19 August 2013.
  29. ↑ Eder 2009.
  30. ↑ Planer 2009.
  31. ↑ Allmusic 2009d.
  32. ↑ País, Ediciones El (2006-08-17). "'All my loving'" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2016-06-24.
  33. ↑ Erlewine 2009a.
  34. ↑ Allmusic 2009a.
  35. ↑ Hundey 2009.
  36. ↑ Allmusic 2009b.
  37. ↑ Erlewine 2009b.
  38. ↑ Allmusic 2009c.
  39. ↑ Bregman 2009.
  40. 1 2 Pop Archives 2009.

References

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