And I Love Her

And I Love Her

Written by: Paul McCartney (65%), John Lennon (35%) (credited as Lennon-McCartney)
Recorded: February 25-27, 1964 (Studio 2, Abbey Road Studios, London, England)
Mixed: March 3, 1964; June 22, 1964
Length: 2:28
Takes: 21
Musicians: John Lennon: acoustic rhythm guitar (Gibson J160E)
Paul McCartney: lead vocals (double-tracked), bass guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1)
George Harrison: lead acoustic guitar (1950 Jose Ramirez classical), claves
Ringo Starr: bongos
First released: July 20, 1964 (US: Capitol 5235)
Available on: (CDs in bold)

• A Hard Day's Night, (UK: Parlophone PMC 1230, PCS 3058, Parlophone CDP7 46437 2, US: United Artists UAL 3366, UAS 6366, Capitol CLJ 46435)
• Something New, (US: Capitol (S)T 2108, CDP 7243 8 66876 2 3)
• Extracts From The Film A Hard Day's Night (EP), (UK: Parlophone GEP 8920)
• The Beatles 1962-1966, (UK: Apple PCSP 717, US: Apple SKBO 3403, Apple CDP 0777 7 97036 2 3)
• Love Songs, (UK: Parlophone PCSP 721, US: Capitol SKBL 11711)

Highest chart position: 12 (US: September 5, 1964)
History:

• Written mostly by Paul with a Latin feel, this tender ballad was also composed for girlfriend Jane Asher. Paul has claimed complete composition, but eyewitnesses have claimed that producer George Martin, thinking the song needed a bridge, instructed John AND Paul to write one on the spot. John himself claims to have helped with the bridge, which apparently did not exist in Paul's original song.
• This is the first (and perhaps only) Beatles song which modulates to another key during the solo. George's solo is played on a flamenco guitar.
• The original version of this song is a bit faster and features more prominently electrical instruments (the final version features John's Gibson J160E, an amplified acoustic-electric hybrid played like an acoustic, and an electric bass). Tellingly, it also does not feature the bridge.
• Paul's vocal is unadorned by outside harmonies -- unusual for a Beatles song -- but he is doubletracked. On the original US A Hard Day's Night LP the doubletracking is removed, but his own harmonies remain.
• This is also the first minor-key original Beatles song to end on the relative major key. Previously, the group had copied this technique on their version of "A Taste Of Honey," modeled after Doris Day's cover; they'd also ended a major song on its relative minor with the original "From Me To You."

BBC radio versions: 1 (for the BBC radio program Top Gear)
Trivia:

• The outro of this song repeats the acoustic riff four times, but on the German version of Something New it was repeated six times. This version appears on the Beatles' Rarities LP and The Beatles Box.
• One of the first pop songs whose title starts in mid-sentence.

Covered by: Herb Alpert, Chet Atkins, Count Basie, John Bayless, Xavier Cugat, Sonny Curtis, Neil Diamond, Alton Ellis, Esteban, Georgie Fame, Jose Feliciano, Arthur Fiedler, Connie Francis, The Holmes Brothers, Julio Iglesias, Jack Jones, King Curtis, Kingdom Come, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Diana Krall, Ramsey Lewis, Enoch Light, Henry Mancini, Barry Manilow, Bob Marley and the Wailers, R. Stevie Moore, David "Fathead" Newman, Cliff Richard, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Sandpipers, Grady Tate, Sarah Vaughan, Bobby Womack, Link Wray