And I Love Her

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And I Love Her is a song off The Beatles' 1964 album A Hard Day's Night. It was written mainly by Paul McCartney, though John Lennon claimed to have written the middle eight.

Contents

[edit] Writing

The song ws one of Paul's major contributions to A Hard Day's Night. "It was the first ballad I impressed myself with. It's got nice chords in it, 'Bright are the stars that shine, dark is the sky...' I like the imagery of the stars and the sky. It was a love song really. 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. 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.' It still holds up and George played really good guitar on it. It worked very well." The song was written in the music room of Jane Asher's parents' house on Wimpole Street, where many songs from this period were written. John recalled, "And I Love Her is Paul again. That was his first Yesterday. You know, the big ballad. I believe I put something in the middle eight." Paul, however, does not think that John contributed much, if any. "I'm not sure if John worked on that at all... The middle eight is mine. I would say that John probably helped with the middle eight, but he can't say 'It's mine'. I wrote this on my own. I can actually see Margaret Asher's upstairs drawing room. I remember playing it there, not writing it necessarily." The song is believed to be about Jane Asher, Paul's girlfriend at the time. Music publisher Dick James remembers first hearing the song. "They were laying down the tracks and doing the melody lines of the song And I Love Her. It was a very simple song and quite repetitive. George Martin and I looked at each other and the same thought sparked off in both of our minds. It was proving to be, although plain and a warm and sympathetic song, just too repetitive, with the same phrase of repeating. George Martin told the boys, 'Both Dick and I feel that the song is just lacking the middle. It's too repetitive, and it needs something to break it up.' I think it was John who shouted, 'OK, 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 the 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 ingredients to break up the over repetitive effect of the original melody."

[edit] Recording

The song was first recorded on February 25, 1964, when two takes were recorded. They originally used an electric guitar for the lead part, later deciding that this did not fit the song. Take two from this day appears on Anthology 1. They returned to the song on February 26, when sixteen takes were recorded. Still unhappy with the results, they returned to it on February 27, when two takes were recorded, finishing the song. On July 14, 1964, they performed it for the BBC program Top Gear, the only performance outside of Abbey Road Studios. This performance was broadcast two days later.

[edit] Recording Sessions


[edit] In The Film A Hard Day's Night

The song is featured in The Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night. They played it while "rehearsing" for a live concert at the end of the film. This sequence was taped on March 31, 1964 at the Scala Theatre in London.

[edit] Chart Success

And I Love Her was released as a single in the US, with If I Fell on the B-Side on July 20, 1964. It entered the top 40 on August 8, spending seven weeks there and peaking at number twelve.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

  • John Abercrombie
  • Roberto Carlos
  • Brothers Four
  • John Farnham
  • Jose Feliciano
  • Greg Hawkes
  • Jack Jones
  • Diana Krall
  • Kenny Lattimore
  • Rita Lee
  • Barry Manilow
  • Johnny Mann Singers
  • Bob Marley and The Wailers
  • Richard Marx with Rick Price
  • Richard Marx with Vince Gill
  • Ryan Parks
  • Esther Phillips
  • Walter Raim
  • Smokey Robinson
  • Santo and Johnny
  • Bobby Womack
  • Sarah Vaughan

[edit] Source

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