How The Beatles Made "And I Love Her" | The A Hard Day's Night Sessions

Paul McCartney once said it's funny the myth developed that I was the melodic soft one and John was the hard anderic one there was some surface truth to that this quote highlights a perception that persists among many Beatles fans Paul undeniably stands out as the band's Bader before the release of the A Hard Days Night soundtrack Paul mainly composed songs with John in what John referred to as eyeball to eyeball writing sessions when Paul did write independently these songs were often rockers like I saw her standing there and Can't Buy Me Love but his reputation as a ballader truly began with and I love her this soft acoustic love song was notably different from the band's previous work although the relationship between Paul and Jane Asher didn't culminate in marriage it inspired many songs in the Lena McCartney catalog the first of these was and I lover written about 10 months after they met the BBC magazine radio times since 17-year-old Jane Asher their best known teenage girl to The Beatles performance at London's Royal Albert Hall in April 18th 1963 which was being recorded for BBC Radio Jane was very popular in Britain at the time due to her roles in plays films and television appearances including as a regular on the TV show juk boox joury [Applause] I remember we were all surprised by her red hair because we'd only ever seen her in black and white before Paul explains in his book all four Beatles try to impress the young actress from jukebox jury But ultimately she chose Paul and I lover was written in the basement room at Jane asha's parents home at 57 wimple Street in London Paul had moved in with the ashes in November 1963 at the request of of Jane's parents this gesture was in a long tradition of giving a Garrett room to a starving artist Paul explains in his book so I had a little room up at the top next to Jane's brother Peter's Room Paul often met with John at their Asher home to write songs it was the first ballet that truly impressed me Paul says it has beautiful chords and imagery like bright are the stars that shine dark is the sky I really like the stars and Sky imagery the end in a title was significant it came out of nowhere and hooked you immediately the title appears in the second verse and doesn't repeat often you'd Focus heavily on the title but this one was almost an afterthought oh and I love you John also admired the song remarking In 1980 I considered it Paul's first yesterday the big ballad in a hard day night we both wrote it Paul did the first half and I contributed the middle late their music publisher dick James who witnessed an early recording session offers some clarity they were recording the melody lines of Ni I lover it was a simple and repetitive song George Martin and I both felt he needed something more despite his warmth and simplicity it was just too repetitive George Martin told the boys dick and I think the song is lacking in the middle it's too repetitive and needs something to break it up George Martin our producer said it'd be nice to have an intro on it you know nice to have little something leading the song in so we were sitting around thinking and George Harrison just went what about this and I think you know that song wouldn't be anything without that you just came up with it dick James continues I think it was John who shouted okay let's have a tea break and John and Paul went to the piano and while Mal Evans was getting tea and some sandwiches the boys worked at a piano within half an hour they wrote there before our very eyes a very constructive middle to a very commercial song although we know it isn't long it's only a four bar middle nevertheless it was just the right ingredient to break up the over repetitive effect of the original Melody that was the kind of pace we worked at cuz nobody ever knew what song we were about to record and me me and John would know cuz we were written it the previous week but George and Ringo and the producer wouldn't know what so we said oh it goes like this you know and we'd show them and in the space of about 20 minutes they'd go okay and then we just record it so it was very fast process and uh that was very cool cool move you know he just made up that riff and I say if you think about the song without that riff wouldn't be half as good he was clearly an innovator George to me was taking certain elements of R&B and Rock and uh and and rockabilly and creating something unique The Beatles began recording tracks for their upcoming first motion picture on February 25th 1964 two sessions were booked in Emi Studio 2 on this day the first session completed came by me love and it's bside you can't do that the later session from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. did not yield much except for the introduction of two new songs that would eventually be used in the movie I should have known better and an I lover during the session two takes of an I lover were attempted with only one making it to the end this early version of the song was quite different from the final version featuring their typical guitar bass and drums format a suitable ending had not been worked out yet Paul explains George Martin was inspired to add a chord modulation in the solo of the song a key change that he knew would be music Ally very interesting we shifted the core progression to start with G minor instead of F minor so up a semmit tone I think George Martin's classical training told him it would be a really interesting change and it is this sort of help is what started to make the beetle stuff better than that of other songwriters they likely felt they could keep working out the arrangement in the studio but it wasn't feeling right so they left it for the next day the following day The Beatles returned to Emi Studio 2 to work on the two songs left over from the previous session they recorded another 17 takes from take three through 19 during which the song evolved into its final Arrangement Midway through the sessions Ringle switched from playing drums to Bongos it was likely during this session that John and Paul rote the bridge adding a new Dynamic to the arrangement and extending the song's length to over 2 minutes for the first time but despite their efforts they were still not satisfied with the song on February 27th The Beatles entered Emi Studio again to complete the song Paul notes in this song the contributions from the Two Georges George Harrison with the intro and George Martin with a key change into the solo add its significant musical strength we were telling people we're a bit more musical than the average bear the song which is an F major or D Minor ends up on a bright D major chord providing a lovely pleasing resolution solution I was very proud of that with the song signature riff in place only two takes were needed during the first session to complete it this simple yet stiring and gentle ballot marks the first time linen and McCartney showcased the variety they could bring to a single album they would later become known for their highs and lows and Peaks and valleys on albums like the range of genres on the White Album from Helter Skelter to Blackbird to Honey Pie while earlier songs Like A Taste of Honey and until There Was You hinted at this range they were cover songs and I lover demonstrated their ability to achieve this diversity with their own material thus Begins the magic of the McCartney ballad the balance between the melody and lyrics makes this one of the best songs Paul has ever written and one he has justifiably remained proud of to this day Brian would wringle herself Brian abstein say you're in the studio next week you've got a week off we go yes he said but you got to write the album we go yes so we just you know each day we'd write a song so we' kind of have seven or so songs to go in with which was you know enough to to start with when we got together in the studio whoever had written the song would be the kind of boss in leading the other guys through it Paul and John being the songwriters and at that stage George wasn't showing himself to be a songwriter they were the dominant forces George and Ringo were slightly behind Paul and John because Paul and John were the writers and the lead singers I I guess George was a kind of a loner really um because he was outside the team that were providing the hits John and Paul had each other to play against and their collaboration was much more of a competition than a collaboration really one would do something and the other one say gosh I can think I can do better than that and try and make something better

Channel: Beatles Bible

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Keywords: Paul McCartney Breaks Down His Most Iconic Songs | GQ

Id: ZG5NVYFjHfY

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2024