1 week Ago By Dan Haygarth, Angelica Cheyenne
In the salad days of The Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were a classic songwriting duo. Much of their early magic happened at Paul's childhood home on Forthlin Road or Lennon's aunt's place at Menlove Avenue, where melodies and words came alive. As time rolled on, the iconic pair shifted to more solitary song-crafting, with each Beatle shaping songs solo before joint finessing.
However, it all began with both legends weaving tunes side by side. Musicologist Wilfred Mellors captured the essence of their partnership in his 1972 analysis: "Opposite poles generate electricity: between John and Paul the sparks flew. John's fiery iconoclasm was tempered by Paul's lyrical grace, while Paul's wide-eyed charm was toughened by John's resilience.
" Their synergistic efforts birthed the UK's 1960s chart-topper She Loves You, conceived in 1963 post-gig inspirations within a tour van in Newcastle upon Tyne. Reflecting on that hit's genesis, McCartney said: "John and I wrote She Loves You together. There was a Bobby Rydell song (Forget Him) out at the time and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another.
We were in a van up in Newcastle. I'd planned an 'answering song' where a couple of us would sing 'She loves you..
.' and the other one answers, 'Yeah, yeah.'" We decided that that was a crummy idea as it was, but at least we then had the idea for a song called She Loves You.
So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it." They worked on the song in the hotel and then finished it back in Liverpool at Paul's house. The unique aspect of the song is that it's not about the narrator's own love experience but rather speaks from a third-party perspective with its iconic "yeah, yeah, yeah" chorus, quickly becoming emblematic of The Beatles' sound.
Reflecting on the famous chorus, John Lennon recalled: "I don't know where the 'yeah yeah yeah' came from (but) I remember when Elvis did 'All Shook Up' it was the first time in my life that I had heard 'uh huh', 'oh yeah', and 'yeah yeah' all sung in the same song." Paul McCartney pointed out the storytelling angle they adopted, explaining: "It was again a she, you, me, I, personal preposition song. I suppose the most interesting thing about it was that it was a message song, it was someone bringing a message.
It wasn't us any more, it was moving off the 'I love you, girl' or 'Love me do', it was a third person, which was a shift away. 'I saw her, and she said to me, to tell you, that she loves you', so there's a little distance we managed to put in it which was quite interesting." Paul's father, however, was less than thrilled when he first heard She Loves You.
In the recent Beatles '64 documentary, Paul shared the moment: "We'd written the song 'She Loves You' in the next room and my dad was in the other room. We came in to play it to him for the first time - 'She loves you, yeah, yeah yeah'." Paul McCartney reminisced: "At the end of it, he said: 'boys, it's very nice but couldn't you sing 'She loves you, yes, yes, yes.
' He said: 'There's enough of these Americanisms around'." The iconic track was recorded on July 1, 1963, a mere five days after its creation. It hit the UK music scene as a single on August 23 and made its way to America by September 16.
While it soared to chart-topping success in Britain, it didn't quite resonate with American audiences - The Beatles would have to bide their time until the release of 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' to truly conquer the US. However, back home in the UK, the song is hailed as the real catalyst for Beatlemania, building on the number one triumph of 'From Me to You'. Fans were so eager for the next Beatles hit that many pre-ordered the upcoming single months in advance - before it had even been penned.
Not all critics were convinced, though. Paul elaborated: "Brian Matthew, the radio presenter, reviewed 'She Loves You' in Melody Maker, and called it 'banal rubbish'. None of us had heard the word 'banal' and we thought, 'Banal? What's that? Soppy? Too rebellious? What does banal mean?'".
"But when the record rocketed to number one in the Melody Maker chart the following week, he was on the front page retracting his comments: 'No, no – at first I thought maybe it was a little banal...
but it grows on you'." Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories. DAILY NEWSLETTER: Sign up here to get the latest news and updates from the Mirror US straight to your inbox with our FREE newsletter.
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