That Means a Lot
From BeatlesWiki
That Means A Lot was a song intended to be recorded for The Beatles' 1965 album Help!. It was given to PJ Proby instead. It is believed to have been written mainly by Paul McCartney.
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Writing
The song was written by Paul, although there is some argument that John also had a hand in writing it. John told New Musical Express about the song, "The song is a ballad which Paul and I wrote for the film but we found we just couldn't sing it. In fact, we made a hash of it, so we thought we'd better give it to someone who could do it well."
Recording
The song was first attempted on February 20, 1965, when four rehearsals and one take were recorded, including McCartney on vocals and piano, Lennon ad Harrison on backing vocals, and Starr on drums. Onto that, they overdubbed more guitar and vocals. They recorded remakes of the song on March 30. After a rehearsal take, they started with Take 20 and ended with Take 24. Take 20 was done in a country-rock style, which was faster and in the key of G major instead of E major. By Take 22, they had decided to revert back to the original arrangement, which is the way they performed for all the rest of the takes. None of the takes recorded on this date were complete, and they decided not to release it. The take from February 20 was eventually released on Anthology 2 in 1996.
Recording Sessions
- February 20, 1965: Recording and Mixing Sessions. Songs recorded: That Means A Lot. Songs Mixed: If You've Got Trouble, Tell Me What You See, You're Going To Lose That Girl, That Means A Lot and You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. →
PJ Proby's Version
After it was decided that they would not record the song, they gave it to PJ Proby, another Brian Epstein-managed act. The Beatles had known Proby since April 1964, when he took part in the TV special Around The Beatles. Proby's version was released in September 1965. It was slower than The Beatles' version, with string arrangement by George Martin. His version reached number 30 in the UK charts.
Personnel
The Beatles
- Lead Vocals: Paul McCartney
- Bass: Paul McCartney
- Piano: Paul McCartney
- Backing Vocals: John Lennon
- Rythm Guitar: John Lennon
- Maracas: John Lennon
- Lead Guitar: George Harrison
- Backing Vocals: George Harrison
- Maracas: George Harrison
- Drums: Ringo Starr
Production
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Norman Smith
Available Versions
- Take 1 plus Overdubs (Anthology 2), February 20, 1965.
- Edit Piece (Bootlegs), February 20, 1965.
- Rehearsal (Bootlegs), March 30, 1965.
- Take 20 (Bootlegs), March 30, 1965.
- Take 21 (Bootlegs), March 30, 1965.
- Take 23 (Bootlegs), March 30, 1965.
- Take 24 (Bootlegs), March 30, 1965.
Available On
- Anthology 2, 1996
Cover Versions
- PJ Proby
