And I Love Her
| "And I Love Her" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
| "And I Love Her" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "If I Fell" |
"And I Love Her" is a song recorded by the Beatles, written mainly by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney). The fifth track on their third album, A Hard Day's Night, it was released 20 July 1964 with "If I Fell" as a single by Capitol Records in the United States, reaching #12 in Billboard.
The Beatles performed "And I Love Her" just once outside Abbey Road Studios; on 14 July 1964 they played it for an edition of the BBC's Top Gear radio show, which was broadcast two days later.[2]
Composition
A majority of this song switches back and forth between the key of E and its relative minor C#m. It also changes keys altogether just before the solo, to F. It ends on the parallel major of the key of F's relative minor, D. This technique is known as Picardy third resolution.
The song was written mainly by McCartney, though John Lennon claimed in an interview with Playboy that his major contribution was the middle eight section ("A love like ours/Could never die/As long as I/Have you near me").[3]
Beatles publisher Dick James lends support to this claim, saying that the middle eight was added during recording at the suggestion of producer George Martin (an early take of the song was released on Anthology 1 in 1995, and the middle eight had not yet been added). According to James, Lennon called for a break and "within half an hour [Lennon and McCartney] wrote...a very constructive middle to a very commercial song."[4] McCartney, on the other hand, maintains that "the middle eight is mine.... I wrote this on my own. I would say that John probably helped with the middle eight, but he can't say 'It's mine'."[4]
"The 'And' in the title was an important thing — 'And I Love Her,' it came right out of left field, you were right up to speed the minute you heard it," McCartney said. "The title comes in the second verse and it doesn't repeat. You would often go to town on the title, but this was almost an aside: 'Oh . . . and I love you.'" [5]
McCartney called "And I Love Her" "the first ballad I impressed myself with." Lennon called it McCartney's "first 'Yesterday.'" [5]
Recording[6]
Recorded by the Beatles over three days, in Abbey Road Studio Two, the sessions were produced by George Martin and engineered by Norman Smith. The second engineer was Richard Langham.
Day 1
Work began at 2:30pm on Tuesday 25 February 1964, the first day of the sessions for the "A Hard Day's Night" soundtrack and the accompanying album. Two takes were recorded. Take 1 was incomplete, but Take 2 was complete. However, the Beatles decided a lighter touch was required. Take 2 was eventually released on Anthology 1 in 1995.[7] This version was missing the middle-eight.
Instrumentation on this session was[8]
- Paul McCartney – lead vocal, 1963 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar through Vox AC-100 bass amp.
- John Lennon – 1964 Rickenbacker 325 electric guitar through Vox AC-50 guitar amp
- George Harrison – 1964 Rickenbacker 360-12 12 string electric guitar through Vox AC-50 guitar amp
- Ringo Starr – Ludwig drum kit
Day 2
The following day, Wednesday 26 February, a further 17 takes (Takes 3-19) were made in a session lasting from 7:00-10:00pm. Although Starr swapped his drums for bongos and claves halfway through the session, they were still not happy. It was during this session that they stopped for a tea break and to write the middle eight. A brief fragment of Take 11 can be heard in the closing credits of Episode 8 of Anthology, where Paul sings "And if you saw my love, I'd love her [too]..." before the take breaks down.[9]
Instrumentation on both this session and Day 3 was[8]
- Paul McCartney – lead vocal, 1963 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar through Vox AC-100 bass amp.
- John Lennon – Harrison's 1962 Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitar through Vox AC-50 guitar amp
- George Harrison – 1964 José Ramírez Guitarra de Estudio classical guitar
- Ringo Starr – Ludwig drum kit, switching to bongos and claves
Day 3
A further two takes (Takes 20-21) were recorded on the morning of Thursday 27 February, beginning at 10:00am. Take 20 saw the basic track laid down, while Take 21 was an overdub of McCartney's double-tracked lead vocal and Starr's claves.
Mixing and Release
All mixes were prepared from Take 21.
Mono Remix 1
This initial mono mix was made in the Abbey Road Studio One control room on Tuesday 3 March. As for the recording session, Martin and Smith were producer and engineer. The second engineer was A.B.Lincoln.[10]
The mix features McCartney's single-tracked vocal, with only selected phrases (for example, the title) highlighted by double tracking.
This mix was sent to Capitol and United Artists on Tuesday 9 June,[11] and released on the US mono version of the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album on Friday 26 June 1964.[12] The stereo version of the album used a fake stereo version of this mono mix.
This mix was also used on the mono version of the Capitol album Something New, released on Monday 20 July 1964.[12]
This mix was also used on the film print of A Hard Day's Night except the speed was slower in a low pitch.
It can currently be found as part of the Capitol Albums Volume 1 box set.
Mono Remix 2
This second mono mix was made in the Abbey Road Studio One control room on Monday 22 June. Martin and Smith were again producer and engineer. The second engineer was Geoff Emerick.[13]
In this mix, McCartney's vocal is double-tracked throughout, except for the first two lines of the third verse.
This mix was released on the UK mono version of A Hard Day's Night on Friday 10 July 1964.[12]
It can currently be found on The Beatles in Mono box set.
Stereo Mix
A stereo mix of "And I Love Her" was made on Monday 22 June immediately after Mono Remix 2. As with Mono Remix 2, McCartney's vocal is double-tracked throughout, except for the first two lines of the third verse.
This mix was released on the UK stereo version of A Hard Day's Night on Friday 10 July 1964.[12]
This mix was also used on the stereo version of the Capitol album Something New, released on Monday 20 July 1964.[12]
It can currently be found on the A Hard Day's Night CD, and as part of the Capitol Albums Volume 1 box set.
Extended Stereo Mix
The German version of Something New contained an edited version of the 22 June stereo mix, repeating the closing guitar riff five times instead of three. This version also appeared on the American "Rarities" album in 1980.[14] It is not known when this edit was made. It has not yet been released on CD.
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – vocal, bass
- John Lennon – acoustic rhythm guitar
- George Harrison – acoustic lead guitar, claves
- Ringo Starr – bongos, claves
- George Martin – producer
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[15]
Cover versions
As with many Beatles songs, this has been covered by many artists of varying style from R&B, crooner, pop and even grunge.
- It was translated into a power ballad (of sorts) by Australia's John Farnham, on his Anthology #2: The Classic Hits album.
- On the American soundtrack album release of A Hard Day's Night, George Martin and his orchestra covered the song in a slower-tempo, easy listening-styled instrumental version lasting over a minute longer than the Beatles' vocal version on the same album.
- In 1964, Santo & Johnny recorded an instrumental version of the song for their album The Beatles Greatest Hits.
- Roberto Carlos made a cover, (Eu) Te Amo, in Portuguese and later in Spanish.
- Jack Jones covered the song in 1965 for his album, There's Love and There's Love and There's Love, arranged by Nelson Riddle.
- Esther Phillips reversed the gender of the song in 1965; her "And I Love Him" reached #54 that year on the Billboard charts.
- In 1965, Roland Kirk recorded the song on the album Slightly Latin.
- In 1965, Shirley Horn recorded the song for her album Travelin' Light.
- In 1965, Ramsey Lewis performed the song on the live album Hang On Ramsey.
- In 1965, The Wailers covered the song on their album The Wailing Wailers at Studio One.
- In 1967, The Sandpipers recorded the song, with Spanish lyrics (except for the title being repeated in English at the end) for their album Misty Roses.
- In 1969 a recording by Julie London was included in her album Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.
- In 1970, Rita Lee covered the song on her album Build Up.
- In 1970, the Detroit Emeralds covered the song on their album Do Me Right.
- In 1972, Bobby Womack covered the song for his hit album Understanding.
- In 1976, Freddie McKay recorded a reggae version of the song on his Fire Is Burning album, retitled "I Love Her". It was also released as a single in 1980 under the title "A Love Like Mine".
- In 1981, Sarah Vaughan covered the song for her album Songs of the Beatles.
- In 1986, The King's Singers covered the song for their album Beatles' Collection.
- In 1990, Julio Iglesias covered the song for his album Starry Night.
- In 1991, Mari Wilson covered the song for her album The Rhythm Romance.
- In 1993, John Abercrombie covered the song for the album Come Together, a fusion guitar tribute/comp to the Beatles.
- In 1995, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles covered the song on their 1970 album, What Love Has...Joined Together. It also appeared on the album "Motown Meets the Beatles".
- In 1995, Diana Krall covered the song on the compilation album (I Got No Kick Against) Modern Jazz, subtitled "A GRP Artists' Celebration of the Songs of the Beatles".
- In 1996, Jose Alberto covered a Spanish version of the song, with Spanish lyrics, on the 1996 album Tropical Tribute to the Beatles. The title of the song is "And I Love Her (Mi Gran Amor Le Di)".
- In 1998, Neil Diamond covered the song on his album The Movie Album: As Time Goes By.
- In 2001, Cliff Richard covered the song on his album Wanted.
- In 2001, Transatlantic released a studio jam cover of the song on the special edition of their album, Bridge Across Forever.
- In 2006, Barry Manilow covered the song for his The Greatest Songs of the Sixties.
- In 2008, included in Kenny Lattimore's Timeless album.
- "And I Love Her" was slated to appear briefly in Across the Universe, with only its second refrain partially sung by Martin Luther McCoy, but it was removed during editing. It appears as a deleted scene on the DVD. It did, however, appear for a small section in the orchestral scoring of the movie.
- Richard Marx and Vince Gill covered the song as a duet for Marx's album Sundown.
- Harry Connick, Jr. included the song on his 2009 album, Your Songs. After the U.S. release, Connick was in Paris, France in September 2009, to record the song as a duet with French First Lady Carla Bruni. The two recorded a French and Italian version of the song.[16]
- Pat Metheny included the song on his 2011 solo baritone guitar album What's It All About.
Notes
- ^ Ingham 2003, p. 32.
- ^ The Beatles Bible 2008.
- ^ Sheff 2000, p. 173.
- ^ a b Spitz 2005, pp. 488–489.
- ^ a b "65 - 'And I Love Her'". 100 Greatest Beatles Songs. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 89.
- ^ a b Babuik 2002, p. 119.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 90.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 41.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 45.
- ^ a b c d e Lewisohn 1988, p. 201.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 46.
- ^ [1] Beatlesbooks.com
- ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 108.
- ^ Reins 2009.
References
- "And I Love Her". The Beatles Bible. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - Babiuk, Andy (2002). Beatles Gear. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-731-5.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Ingham, Chris (2003). The Rough Guide to the Beatles. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-140-2.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes 1962-1970. Great Britain: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-55784-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised Edition ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-84413-828-3.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Reins, Sacha (26 September 2009). "Le duo de Carla et Harry Connick Jr". ParisMatch.com (in French).
{{cite news}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. St Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-80352-9.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Unterberger, Richie (2006). The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-892-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Unterberger, Richie (2009). "Michelle". Allmusic. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
{{cite web}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
