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Although the Beatles had already
taken Britain's Number 1 spot twice in 1963, it was 'She
Loves You' which took them to the 'toppermost of the
poppermost' as they mockingly used to call it. Its sales
outstripped anything they'd done before and it went on to be
the country's best-selling single of the decade, entering
the Top 20 in August 1963 and staying put until February
1964. (In America, it only became a hit after the success of
'I Want To Hold Your Hand'.)
It wasn't simply a commercial
triumph. In just over two minutes of vinyl, the Beatles
distilled the essence of everything that made them fresh and
exciting. There was the driving beat, the fine harmonizing,
the girlish 'wooo' sounds which had gone down so well on
'From Me To You', as well as the bursting enthusiasm of its
pace. And on top of this, the distinctive 'Yeah, yeah, yeah'
tag which became a gift to headline writers.
The rapid expansion of Batlemania
from regional to national phenomenon can be put down to the
Beatles' appearance on Sunday Night at The London Palladium,
a television show broadcast live from the heart of London on
October 13, 1963. Witnessed by a national TV audience on 15
million, screaming fans mobbed the theatre and many of those
who packed the streets outside found themselves on the front
page of next day's Fleet Street newspapers.
Not only had the Beatles
transformed popular music but they had become a phenomenon
of post-war Britain. Suddenly
they found their photos plastered all over the national
papers, not just Melody Maker, New Musical Express and
Boyfriend. The single that just happened to be in the centre
of this storm was 'She Loves You'.
The song was written by John and
Paul in Newcastle after playing the Majestic Ballroom on
June 26, 1963. They had a very rare day off before
continuing the tour to Leeds on the 28, and Paul remembered
being with John at the Turk's Hotel, sitting on separate
beds, playing their accoustic guitars. Their first three
singles had been declarations of love with the word 'me' in
the title. This time, it was Paul's idea to switch the
approach by removing themselves and writing about a love
between two other people - 'she' and 'you'.
At first sight, this is a song
about reconciliation. The writer is offering to patch up a
broken relationship by passing on messages ('she told me
what to say') and offering counsel ('apologize to her').
However American rock critic Dave Marsh, detected 'darker
nuances' in the text. In The Heart of Rock and Roll, he
wrote: "What Lennon sings boils down to a warning to his
friend: You'd better appreciate this woman's friendship,
because if you don't, I will." The song remains ambiguous
because whether this is really being said as confidential
advice to a friend, or through gritted teeth to a rival,
largely depends on how you interpret the tone of
voice.
The 'Yeah, yeah, yeah' chorus
proved to be a perfect catch phrase for an optimistic era.
If Paul's father had had his way though. Things would have
been different. On hearing the song for the first time, he
suggested that they might revise it to 'Yes, yes, yes'; the
Queen's English maybe, but not exactly rock'n'roll. The
Beatles were not the first group to use 'yeah, yeah'. It was
frecuently used as an aside in Fifties skiffle music, as
well as by Elvis Presley in 'Good Luck Charm' (1962) and
'All Shook Up' (1957).
The sixth chord which ends the song
was unusual in pop music, although the Glen Miller Orchestra
had used it often on their recordings in the Forties.
"George Martin laughed when we first played it to him like
that," said Paul. " He thought we were joking. But it didn't
work without it so we kept it in and eventually George was
convinced."
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