6.
She Loves You*****.
The Beatles trample down every known barrier in the UK as Beatlemania explodes in Britain!
A side: She Loves You (Lennon, McCartney) (2.21)*****
Recorded 1.7.1963, Abbey Road Studios, London.
B side: I’ll Get You (Lennon, McCartney) (2.06)***
Recorded 1.7.1963, Abbey Road Studios, London.
Release date UK: 23.8.1963. Parlophone single 4: R5055.
Release date US: 16.9.1963. Swan single 1: Swan 4152.
Highest chart position: UK no. 1. US no. 1 (First charted US 25.1.1964.)
She Loves You lineup:
John Lennon: lead vocal, rhythm guitar.
Paul McCartney: lead vocal, bass guitar.
George Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocal.
Ringo Starr: drums.
Norman Smith: engineer.
George Martin: producer.
I’ll Get You lineup:
John Lennon: lead vocal, rhythm guitar and harmonica.
Paul McCartney: lead vocal, bass guitar.
George Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocal.
Ringo Starr: drums.
Norman Smith: engineer.
George Martin: producer.
The Beatles’ fourth Parlophone single, ‘She Loves You’ was released amidst a growing frenzy of Beatle fandom in the UK. The exponentially rising sales of their previous three singles for the label had provided an explicit signpost of the direction that the group were travelling in: up and up.
But ‘She Loves’ You transcended all of that. This thunderous disc showed beyond all possible doubt that The Beatles were not simply another, albeit wildly successful, pop group. They were unique. The British public as whole, not just teenage record buyers, clearly thought so. And here was where Beatlemania definitively began.
On 23rd August 1963, ‘She Loves You’***** descended on an eager British nation, somewhat stunned by the enormous popularity and chart success that this still relatively new Liverpool group on the scene had already managed to achieve. And in such a short space of time.
It was now obvious, not just to the media who were supposedly trained to spot these things, but to everyone, that this was not just another music act with a degree of talent, who had stumbled across notable success quite quickly. The Beatles were clearly something else. Something which maybe hadn’t even been invented before. The country had taken them to their collective hearts to an extent that was most unusual.
One proof of this was the huge number of advance orders for The Beatles’ new single, before anyone had even had a chance to hear it: half a million. But the actual sales of ‘She Loves You’, once it was released, quickly went far beyond even that impressive figure.
Just how huge the Beatles’ impact on UK music audiences had already been, can be shown from the incredible sales, not just of their three hit singles to date, but of Please Please Me*****, their first LP, and especially their (four track) EP Twist And Shout*****. As we have seen, this EP ultimately racked up an astonishing, record-breaking sales tally of over 800,000 copies.
Please Please Me, the album, had entered the British LP chart on the week ending 6th April 1963, and went on to notch up a staggering 70 weeks in the chart (almost twice as long as any of Cliff Richard’s dozens of hit LPs managed). Please Please Me amassed 30 consecutive weeks at no. 1, from 11th May 1963 to 7th December of that year, when it was replaced at the top by….The Beatles’ own second album With The Beatles*****! Domination of the nation’s album chart like this by a single act was previously unknown.
At the time of ‘She Loves You’s release, Please Please Me was still at no. 1 in the nation’s album chart, and had already been consistently at the summit for over three months. The sales tally of over 175,000 copies shifted by then was unprecedented for an LP by a new act. Figures like these were virtually unprecedented for anyone on the pop scene.
But even more sensational than this was the EP release of Twist And Shout which we discussed in the last chapter. As we saw, this EP became the fourth best-selling ‘single’ of 1963, even though EPs cost 50% more than a single.
Such was the background against which ‘She Loves You’ made its debut on 23rd August. But ‘She Loves You’ speedily surpassed all these achievements.
Not that the reception to ‘She Loves You’ from the media was entirely positive. Far from it.
Clifford Beven’s analysis was damning in Melody Maker in August 1963:
“The lyrics are fatuous and erratic. If this is The Beatles, they’re heading downwards. Although there was something about their other records that was good, [Nice of him to admit it!] they have descended to the general mire.”
Another so-called expert, the prominent BBC radio show host Brian Matthew discussed ‘She Loves You’ in Melody Maker – and not very nicely. Paul McCartney later recalled rather acidly:
“Brian Matthew, the radio presenter, reviewed ‘She Loves You’ in Melody Maker, and called it ‘banal rubbish’. None of us had heard the word ‘banal’ and we thought, ‘Banal’? What’s that? Soppy? Too rebellious? What does ‘banal’ mean?’ But when the record zoomed to number one in the Melody Maker chart the next week, he was on the front page disclaiming his comments: ‘No, no – at first I thought maybe it was a little banal… but it grows on you.’”
Don Nicholl in Disc on 24th August, was also ambivalent. His comments started well, but there was a sting in the tail towards the end:
“WATCH OUT NUMBER ONE – HERE COME THOSE INCREDIBLE BEATLES!”
So far so good. His review was as follows:
“The Beatles, of course, will zip straight into the parade with their latest release. Their sound is extremely exciting on the ‘She Loves You’ half… instruments pounding and the boys chanting powerfully. Admittedly, that’s all that will be needed just now, giving the group another big seller. But – forgive me if I carp – what a pity it is to waste such energy and rhythmic enthusiasm on such an ordinary song. [Sic!] The lyric is feeble and unimaginative. [No!!]
“I would have thought that a team of such youthful vigour, riding on such a wave of approbation, could afford to set its sights a little higher than this. This song’s about as ambitious as an armchair waiting for your pension to be delivered! [He sounded like some crusty old chap, waiting for his pension!]
“The B side, another Lennon and McCartney composition, has a better set of words and is an attractively wry number.”
Record Mirror was much more positive. Also on 24th August, under a banner headline of “ANOTHER No. 1 FROM BEATLES”, and just below that: “‘SHE LOVES YOU’ THEY SING….”, RM provided this enthusiastic review:
“That noise you hear is The Beatles’ newie rushing straight into the charts – an advance order of quarter of a million [soon to be over 500,000] for a start. Two Lennon-McCartney numbers. Top side is strictly fab, pushed along at precisely the right pace with a stack of vocal attack. Solid instrumental fare pounding along behind the vocal work. We just can’t think of anything to have a go about. Flip is slightly diverse and insidious, another swingingly commercial slice of Merseybeat. A value for money coupling but the top side will attract most of the attention. Just clear that Number 1 spot, that’s all.”
