EddieDeezen.com: July 2009

BEATLEMANIA STARTS HERE
AND SO DO THE SIXTIES.

ALONG WITH THE THEN "SHOCKING" HAIRCUTS, THIS INCREDIBLE SONG IS THE SIGNATURE TUNE OF THE EARLY BEATLES - THE FOUR HAPPY, CHEERFUL, CHIPPER, AND HARMLESS MOPTOPS.

THIS IS THE BEATLES BEFORE DRUGS, BEFORE YOKO ONO, BEFORE THE FACIAL HAIR, BEFORE THE FIGHTING AND BICKERING, BEFORE JOHN SAID THEY WERE "BIGGER THAN JESUS."

SHE LOVES YOU WAS WRITTEN BY JOHN AND PAUL IN VERY UNSPECTACULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. THE TWO BRILLIANT CO-WRITERS SAT DOWN IN A HOTEL ROOM ON JUNE 26, 1963, AND DUTIFULLY KNOCKED IT OUT. THEY FINISHED IT UP AT MCCARTNEY'S CHILDHOOD HOME A FEW DAYS LATER. (THIS, BY THE WAY, WAS THE FIRST BEATLES RECORD OF ANY KIND WITH THE PUBLISHING CREDIT RENDERED AS "LENNON-MCCARTNEY" RATHER THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND - ALL SONGS WRITTEN BY JOHN AND PAUL, EVEN IF ONE HAD WRITTEN 90% OR EVEN THE ENTIRE SONG THEMSELVES, WERE CREDITED TO JOHN & PAUL JOINTLY).

SHE LOVES YOU SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A GENUINE 50/50, HALF & HALF, COLLABORATIVE EFFORT. AT THE TIME THEY COMPOSED IT, THE BOYS WERE ON A BUS TOUR, AS A BACKUP ACT TO A TEENAGE GIRL NAMED HELEN SHAPIRO. THE SONG ITSELF IS UNUSUAL FOR A LOVE SONG IN THAT IT IS ABOUT A GUY TALKING TO ANOTHER GUY ABOUT A GIRL WHO LOVES THE SECOND GUY.

INTERESTINGLY, SHE LOVES YOU WAS RELEASED A FEW TIMES IN AMERICA ON MINOR LABELS AND IT FLOPPED. THE 1963 V-JAY RECORD ACTUALLY MIS-SPELLED THEIR NAME "BEATTLES". THERE IS AN OBSCURE REFERENCE TO THE SONG ON PAGE 32 OF BILLBOARD MAGAZINE IN THE SEPTEMBER 21, 1963 ISSUE. SHE LOVES YOU, ISSUED ON SWAN RECORDS, IS GIVEN A MENTION IN THE "FOUR-STAR SINGLES" SECTION. MURRAY THE K, THE FAMOUS U.S. DISC JOCKEY, PLAYED THE RECORD IN 1963 ON HIS NEW YORK RADIO SHOW AND IT PLACED THIRD OF FIVE NEW SINGLES ISSUED THAT WEEK. FOR WHATEVER REASON, ALTHOUGH THE BEATLES WERE ALREADY A SMASH ACT IN ENGLAND, THE RECORD-BUYERS OF AMERICA ANSWERED THE EARLY BEATLE RECORDS WITH A YAWN OF DISINTEREST.

JOHN AND PAUL'S ORIGINAL IDEA WAS AN ANSWER, BACK AND FORTH, TYPE OF SONG. ACCORDING TO PAUL:

THE ORIGINAL PLAN WAS A COUPLE OF US WOULD SING "SHE LOVES YOU"(CHORUSES) AND THE OTHERS WOULD DO THE "YEAH YEAH YEAH" ONES. THEN JOHN AND I AGREED IT WAS PRETTY CRUMMY IDEA.....BUT AT LEAST WE HAD THE BASIC IDEA OF WRITING THE SONG.

THE ANSWER Q & A IDEA WAS DITCHED, AND INSTEAD, THE "YEAH YEAH YEAH" WAS TACKED ON TO THE OPENING LINE, A CHORUS IN THE MIDDLE AND THE FINISH. THE GIMMICK WORKED AND THE "YEAH YEAH YEAH" BECAME AN EARLY BEATLES CATCHPHRASE.

(PAUL'S FATHER, A VERY PROPER ENGLISHMAN, ACTUALLY CHIDED PAUL FOR NOT USING THE MORE PROPER "YES YES YES" AS THE CHORUS).

ANOTHER GIMMICK OF JOHN AND PAUL'S WAS THE CONSTANT USE OF PRONOUNS IN THEIR EARLY SONG TITLES. "SHE LOVES YOU" FOLLOWED "LOVE ME DO", "PLEASE PLEASE ME" AND "FROM ME TO YOU" IN THE BEATLES CANON.

ANOTHER PRONOUN TITLE, I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND, HAD ACTUALLY PRECEDED SHE LOVES YOU TO THE TOP OF THE CHARTS IN AMERICA AND THESE TWO WOULD BECOME BACK-TO-BACK NUMBER ONE HITS FOR THE FAB FOUR IN EARLY 1964. THIS RARE EVENT HAD ONLY PREVIOUSLY BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY ELVIS PRESLEY IN 1956.

AMERICANS AT LARGE GOT THEIR FIRST EARFUL OF SHE LOVES YOU (AND EYEFUL OF THE BEATLES THEMSELVES) ON A FILM CLIP OF THE FAB FOUR ON THE JACK PAAR SHOW ON JANUARY 3, 1964, ONE MONTH BEFORE THE BEATLES ARRIVED IN THE U.S. FOR THE FIRST TIME. PAAR SHOWED THE BRIEF CLIP AND MADE A FEW WITHERING, SARCASTIC REMARKS AS THE STUDIO AUDIENCE GIGGLED AT THESE STRANGE-LOOKING LONG-HAIRED YOUTHS IN THEIR MATCHING COLLARLESS JACKETS.

TODAY, WE ALL LIVE IN SUCH AN "I'VE SEEN EVERYTHING" SOCIETY, WE SEEM "BEYOND SHOCK" (AND I THINK WE PRACTICALLY ARE). ONE HAS TO PUT HIS OR HER MIND INTO A 1964 MIND-SET TO IMAGINE HOW STAGGERINGLY SHOCKING THE BEATLE AND THEIR HAIRCUTS WERE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF 1964. THE IMAGE THE BEATLES PRESENTED TO MIDDLE AMERICA IN THOSE GENTLER, MILDER (SANER?) DAYS WOULD PERHAPS COMPARE WITH US WITNESSING A FLYING SAUCER FROM ANOTHER PLANET LANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF NEW YORK CITY OR MAYBE TURNING ON THE TV AND SEEING A GROUP OF FEMALE SINGERS WHO PERFORMED TOPLESS.

IN AMERICA, "SHE LOVES YOU" ENTERED THE CHARTS AT NUMBER 69 ON JANUARY 25, 1964 AND FINALLY HIT THE #1 SPOT ON MARCH 21ST.

IN BRITAIN, "SHE LOVES YOU" WAS A STAGGERING SALES PHENOMENON. AFTER SPENDING SEVERAL WEEKS AT THE TOP OF THE CHARTS IN THE SUMMER OF 1963, IT SIMPLY WOULDN'T GO AWAY. IT HOVERED AROUND THE TOP SPOT AND INCREDIBLY, ROSE TO NUMBER ONE AGAIN IN NOVEMBER OF '63, THREE MONTHS AFTER IT'S RELEASE - IT REMAINS THE TOP-SELLING BRITISH BEATLES SINGLE TO THIS DAY.

BRITISH SINGER KENNY LYNCH, WAS A PERFORMER WITH THE BEATLES ON THEIR BUS TOUR OF 1963 AND HAS CLEAR MEMORIES OF JOHN AND PAUL. ACCORDING TO LYNCH:

I REMEMBER JOHN AND PAUL SAYING THEY WERE THINKING OF RUNNING UP TO THE MICROPHONE TOGETHER AND SHAKING THEIR HEADS AND SAYING "WHOOOOO".

LYNCH WARNED THEM AGAINST THIS RADICAL IDEA:

YOU CAN'T DO THAT. THEY'LL THINK YOU'RE A BUNCH OF POOFS.

BUT THE BOYS DID INCORPORATE THE HAIR-SHAKING SHTICK IN THEIR LIVE PERFORMANCE OF SHE LOVES YOU, ALBEIT WITH GEORGE AND PAUL, NOT JOHN AND PAUL. AS IF BEATLEMANIACS WEREN'T EXCITED ENOUGH, THIS BIT BY GEORGE AND PAUL ALWAYS DROVE THE GIRLS INTO A COMPLETE FRENZY.

SHE LOVES YOU IS AN EXHILARATING, BREEZY, ELECTRIC SONG THAT, TO USE THE STALE CLICHE, SOUNDS AS FRESH TODAY AS THE DAY IT WAS WRITTEN. ONE CAN EASILY VIEW IT ON YOUTUBE OR ON VARIOUS BEATLES WEBSITES.

THE NUMBER IS ALSO PERFORMED BY THE BEATLES IN THEIR FIRST FILM A HARD DAY'S NIGHT - WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND VIEWING, WHETHER YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT OR HAVE WATCHED IT ABOUT 100 TIMES - LIKE ME! A HARD DAY'S NIGHT IS, FAR AND AWAY, MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE!!

BRITISH ACTOR ANTHONY HOPKINS SIGNED UP TO DO THE LEAD ROLE IN THE GIRL FROM PETROVKA. THE PLAY WAS BASED ON THE BOOK BY GEORGE FEIFER.

HE TRAVELED TO LONDON TO PICK UP A COPY OF THE BOOK FOR RESEARCH. ALTHOUGH HE VISITED MANY BOOKSTORES, HE WAS UNABLE TO FIND A COPY ANYWHERE. WAITING FOR A TRAIN AT AN UNDERGROUND STATION, HOPKINS NOTICED A BOOK SITTING ON A BENCH NEAR HIM, APPARENTLY DISCARDED. WHEN HE WENT OVER TO SEE WHAT THE BOOK WAS, HE WAS AMAZED TO FIND IT WAS THE GIRL FROM PETROVKA, THE VERY BOOK HE'D BEEN SEARCHING FOR.

AS IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH - YEARS LATER HOPKINS WAS INTRODUCED TO THE BOOK'S AUTHOR, GEORGE FEIFER. DISCUSSING THE FILM AND THE BOOK IT WAS BASED ON, FEIFER MENTIONED OFFHAND THAT HE DIDN'T HAVE A COPY OF THE BOOK HIMSELF ANYMORE. HE'D LOANED IT TO A FRIEND YEARS AGO, WHO'D LOST IT SOMEWHERE IN LONDON.

HOPKINS, INCREDULOUS, PRODUCED THE COPY OF THE BOOK HE'D FOUND. AS THEY BOTH LOOKED INSIDE THE BOOK, THEY SAW THAT IT WAS COVERED WITH THE ORIGINAL OWNER'S NOTES MADE IN FEIFER'S OWN HAND.