Words of Love
From BeatlesWiki
Words of Love is a 1957 song by Buddy Holly and The Crickets. The Beatles covered it for their 1964 album, Beatles for Sale.
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Early Performances
Words of Love was the only Buddy Holly song that was included on a Beatles studio album, though The Beatles had covered many more of his songs, including That'll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Everyday, It's So Easy, Maybe Baby, Think It Over, Raining In My Heart, and Crying, Waiting, Hoping. The name The Beatles, in fact, was inspired by The Crickets, Holly's backing band. All four Beatles were huge fans of Buddy Holly, and in 1976, Paul McCartney even bought the rights to the Buddy Holly songs. The song had been performed live from 1958 to 1962. At the time, John and George sang lead. For the 1964 studio recording, however, John and Paul sang lead. Paul said of Holly, "Buddy Holly was completely different; he was out of Nashville, so that introduced us to the country music scene. I still like Buddy's vocal style. And his writing. One of the main things about The Beatles is that we started out writing our own material. People these days take it for granted that you do, but nobody used to then. John and I started to write because of Buddy Holly. It was like, 'Wow! He writes and is a musician'." In the UK, the Beatles' version was included on Beatles for Sale. In the US, it was included on Beatles VI. Although it was not written by Buddy Holly, during their early days, and even during the Get Back sessions, The Beatles played a version of Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues, a song famously covered by Holly. This performance is available on the 1996 rarities collection Anthology 3. Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues was the B-Side to Words of Love.
Recording
Words of Love was the last song recorded during a productive session on October 18, 1964, to finish the album. Seven songs were recorded on this date. Words of Love was completed in two taks, along with a vocal overdub. Ringo overdubbed himself drumming on a suitcase, which he played because Jerry Allison had also done so on Holly's song Everyday.
Personnel
The Beatles
- Lead Vocals: John Lennon
- Rythm Guitar: John Lennon
- Lead Vocals: Paul McCartney
- Bass: Paul McCartney
- Lead Guitar: George Harrison
- Drums: Ringo Starr
- Suitcase: Ringo Starr
Production
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Norman Smith
Available Versions
The Beatles
- Take 2 with Take 3 overdubs, October 18, 1964, (Beatles for Sale)
- Pop Goes The Beatles Rerecording, July 16, 1964, (Bootlegs)
- Get Back session, January 23, 1969, (Bootlegs)
Paul McCartney
- "Arena" The Real Buddy Holly Story version, September 12, 1985, (Bootlegs)
Available On
- Beatles for Sale, 1964.
- Beatles for Sale No. 2, 1965.
- Beatles VI, 1965.
- Love Songs, 1977.
