Notes and Quotes: "She Loves You"

Begun in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on 26 June 1963.

Finished 27 June 1963 in the McCartney home.

McCartney: We must have had a few hours before the show so we said, "Oh, great! Let's have a ciggy and write a song!" So that's how we began "She Loves You." I remember for some reason thinking of Bobby Rydell; he must have had a hit that we were interested in. [Bobby Rydell's "Forget Him" was in the UK charts at the time.] I remember thinking of him and sitting on the bed in this hotel somewhere with John in the afternoon daylight. It was again a she, you, me, I, personal preposition song. I suppose the most important thing about it was that was a message song, it was someone bringing a message. It wasn't us any more, it was moving off the "I love you, girl" or "love me do," it was a third person, which was a shift away. "I saw her, and she said to me, to tell you, that she loves you," so there's a little distance we managed to put in it which was quite interesting. (Miles 1997: 149)

McCartney: We went into the living room — "Dad, listen to this. What do you think?" So we played it to my dad and he said, "That's very nice, son, but there's enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing, "She loves you. Yes! Yes! Yes!" At which point we collapsed in a heap and said, "No, Dad, you don't quite get it!" That's my classic story about my dad. For a working-class guy that was rather a middle-class thing to say, really. But he was like that. (Miles 1997:150)

Geoff Emerick: Of course, Norman Smith had a lot to do with the quality of the record, too. clearly, he had been thinking about how he wanted to improve the sound of Beatles records, and on this session he made two significant changes. first, using an electronic device called a "compressor," he decided to reduce the dynamic range—the difference between the loudest and softest signals—of the bass and drums independently of each other; in the past, they had been compressed together because they comprised the rhythm section. Second, he specificed that a different type of microphone be suspended over the drum kin—the "overhead" mic, as it was known. The result was a more prominent, driving rhythm sound: both the bass and the drums are brighter and more "present" than in previous Beatles records. Combined with the group's new confidence and more intese playing (fueled, I am sure, by the adrenaline and testosterone rush they were feeling that afternoon), it was the icing on the cake. (Emerick 2006: 67)

Schedule

7 February, 2012