1963 : She Loves You

It's the spring of 1963. The Beatles are travelling in a van to a gig in Newcastle. Paul has an idea for a song. Later he plays it to John in their hotel room. Neither likes it very much but they have time to kill. They continue to experiment.

Sitting on twin beds they call out lines to each other. The new song is 'call and response' - one person sings a line, the other responds. Paul sings 'I Love you' while John responds 'yes, I do!'

Change Needed


It's not going well. 'This is rubbish,' says Paul. 'I hate singing "I Love You"'

'What about changing it to 'She Loves You?' says John.



So they decide to sing the song in the third person. This is very unusual but seems to work. The call and response becomes She Loves You/yeah, yeah, yeah.

At the end of the tour they finish the song at Paul's house. They play it to George Martin and he likes everything but the unusual ending. Lennon and McCartney insist it stays.

They record it at Abbey Road in July. In August EMI/Parlophone release She Loves You as single in the UK.

It breaks all records and is the fastest selling single of all time. Beatlemania begins


I Want to Hold Your Hand
A Hard Day's Night
Help!