I'm Happy Just to Dance with You

From BeatlesWiki

I'm Happy Just To Dance With You is a song off The Beatles' 1964 album A Hard Day's Night. It was George's only lead vocal on the album. It was written by both John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Contents 1 Writing 2 Recording 3 Recording Sessions 4 Personnel 4.1 The Beatles 4.2 Production 5 Available Versions 6 Available On 7 Cover Versions 8 Source

Writing

Both John and Paul have commented that it was cowritten especially for George. Paul recalls in his authorized biography, Many Years From Now, that, "We Wrote I'm Happy Just To Dance With You for George in the film. It was a bit of a formula song. We knew that in E if you went to an A flat minor, you could always make a song with those chords; that change pretty much always excited you. This is one of these. Certainly Do You Want To Know A Secret was. This one anyway was a straight co-written song for George. We wouldn't have actually wanted to sing it because it was a bit... The ones that pandered to the fans in truth were our least favourite songs but they were good. They were good for the time. The nice thing about it was to actually pull a song off on a slim little premise like that. A simple little idea. It was songwriting practice." John said in his 1980 Playboy interview, "That was written for George. I couldn't have sung it."

Recording

The song was recorded on March 1, 1964, the first-ever Beatles session to take place on a Sunday. Also in this three-hour session, the songs I Call Your Name and Long Tall Sally were recorded. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You was completed in four takes. Another version, recorded for the BBC on July 17, 1964 circulates. It was aired on August 3. Interestingly, the basic track from the BBC show, excluding George's double-tracked vocals is available on bootleg.

Recording Sessions

• March 1, 1964: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: I'm Happy Just To Dance With You, Long Tall Sally, and I Call Your Name. →

Personnel

The Beatles

• Lead Vocals: George Harrison
• Lead Guitar: George Harrison
• Backing Vocals: John Lennon
• Rythm Guitar: John Lennon
• Backing Vocals: Paul McCartney
• Bass: Paul McCartney
• Drums: Ringo Starr

Production

• Producer: George Martin
• Engineer: Geoff Emerick

Available Versions

• Take 4 plus overdubs, March 1, 1964, (A Hard Day's Night)
• From Us To You BBC Radio rerecording basic track, July 17, 1964, (Bootlegs)
• From Us To You BBC Radio rerecording, July 17, 1964, (Bootlegs)

Available On

• A Hard Day's Night, 1964

Cover Versions

• R. Stevie Moore
• Anne Murray
• The Smithereens

Source

• [1]