i want to hold your hand

The Beatles invaded America with this infectious single written specifically to break into that market.  Their debut 'Please Please Me' spent thirty weeks at number one in the UK, only to be replaced at the top by their second album 'With The Beatles'.  The story goes that their manager Brian Epstein had challenged songwriter Paul McCartney and John Lennon to come up with a song that could effectively introduce the band to audiences in the US.  

McCartney recounted in 1964:    "Let's see, we were told we had to get down to it. So we found this house when we were walking along one day. We knew we had to really get this song going, so we got down in the basement of this disused house and there was an old piano. It wasn't really disused, it was rooms to let. We found this old piano and started banging away. There was a little old organ too. So we were having this informal jam and we started banging away. Suddenly a little bit came to us, the catch line. So we started working on it from there. We got our pens and paper out and just wrote down the lyrics. Eventually, we had some sort of a song, so we played it for our recording manager and he seemed to like it. We recorded it the next day."

Lennon remembered in 1980:   "We wrote alot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball. Like in 'I Want To Hold Your Hand,' I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher's house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, 'Oh you-u-u/ got that something...' And Paul hits this chord, and I turn to him and say, 'That's it!' I said, 'Do that again!' In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that-- both playing into each other's noses."

McCartney added in 1994:    "'Eyeball to eyeball' is a very good description of it. That's exactly how it was. 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' was very co-written."

The song was recorded in October of 1963 during the sessions for 'With the Beatles' and released in November as a non-album single.  Their non-album single 'She Loves You' was at the top of the UK charts at the time and kept  'I Want To Hold Your Hand'  from the top spot for two weeks.  It spent five weeks at number one, only to be replaced again by 'She Loves You'.  

In the US, the single was slated to be released in January of 1964; but when DJ Carroll James had a copy shipped via the British Overseas Airways Corporation, Capitol Records decided to take advantage of the exposure and release it two weeks early in December of 1963.   It also became the leadoff track on their Capitol Records debut album 'Meet The Beatles'.  'I Want To Hold Your Hand'  spent seven weeks at number one in the US and ended up becoming the Beatles biggest selling single worldwide.  






http://www.beatles.com/










Oh yeah, I'll tell you something,
I think you'll understand.
When I'll say that something
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand.

Oh please, say to me
You'll let me be your man
And please, say to me
You'll let me hold your hand.
Now let me hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand.

And when I touch you I feel happy inside.
It's such a feeling that my love
I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide.

Yeah, you've got that something,
I think you'll understand.
When i'll say that something
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand.

And when I touch you I feel happy inside.
It's such a feeling that my love
I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide.

Yeah, you've got that something,
I think you'll understand.
When I'll feel that something
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand,
I want to hold your hand.





The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand by music-man1



'Meet The Beatles' 
full album:
http://my.mail.ru/mail/dmp1958/video/_myvideo/965.html



1. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"   John and Paul 2:24
2. "I Saw Her Standing There"   Paul 2:50
3. "This Boy"   John, Paul, and George 2:11
4. "It Won't Be Long"   John 2:11
5. "All I've Got to Do"   John 2:05
6. "All My Loving"   Paul 2:04
7. "Don't Bother Me" (George Harrison) George 2:28
8. "Little Child"   John 1:46
9. "Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson) Paul 2:12
10. "Hold Me Tight"   Paul 2:30
11. "I Wanna Be Your Man"   Ringo 1:59
12. "Not A Second Time"   John 2:03





'With The Beatles'
full album:


01. It Won't Be Long 
02. All I've Got to Do 
03. All My Loving 
04. Don't Bother Me 
05. Little Child 
06. Till There Was You 
07. Please Mister Postman 
08. Roll Over Beethoven 
09. Hold Me Tight 
10. You Really Got a Hold on Me 
11. I Wanna Be Your Man 
12. Devil in Her Heart 
13. Not a Second Time 
14. Money (That's What I Want)