Do You Want to Know a Secret

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Do You Want To Know A Secret is a song off The Beatles' 1963 debut album, Please Please Me. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

Writing

John Lennon wrote Do You Want To Know A Secret and it was sung by George Harrison. Lennon recalled in 1980, "I can't say I wrote it for George. I was in the first apartment I'd ever had that wasn't shared with fourteen other students - gals and guys at art school. I'd just married Cyn, and Brian Epstein gave us his secret little apartment that he kept in Liverpool for his sexual liaisons separate from his home life. And he let Cyn and I have that apartment." Lennon based Do You Want To Know A Secret off the song "Wishing Well" from the 1937 Disney Movie "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves." Lennon recalls, "My mother was always... she was a comedienne and a singer. Not professional, but, you know, she used to get up in pubs and things like that. She had a good voice. She could do Kay Starr. She used to do this little tune when I was just a one- or two-year-old... yeah, she was still living with me then... The tune was from the Disney movie - 'Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell. You are standing by a wishing well.' So, I had this sort of thing in my head and I wrote it and just gave it to George to sing. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him because it only had three notes and he wasn't the best singer in the world. He has improved a lot since then, but in those days his sincing ability was very poor because (a) he hadn't had the opportunity, and (b) he concentrated more on the guitar. So I wrote that - not for him as I was writing it, but when I had written it, I thought he could do it. It was just written."

Recording

Do You Want To Know A Secret was recorded along with nine other songs on Please Please Me on February 11, 1963. It was the second song to be recorded that day. George Harrison recalled, "Do You Want To Know A Secret was 'my song' on the album. I didn't like my vocal on it. I didn't know how to sing; nobody told me how to." The final version was Take 6, which would be overdubbed onto harmony vocals and the sound of drumsticks being hit together during the middle eight. With all overdubs, it would become known as Take 8.

Recording Sessions


Billy J Kramer Version

Shortly after recording their own version, The Beatles decided to also give the song to Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas, anoth Brian Epstein-managed group. John recorded a demo in the bathroom of a Hamburg nightclub, claiming that it was the only quiet place he could record. At the end of the demo, he flushed the toilet. The Dakotas recorded their version at their debut session at Abbey Road Studios on March 14, 1963. It would reach Number One on the singles charts later that year.

Personnel

The Beatles

Production

Available Versions

Available On

Cover Versions

Source

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