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The Beatles · S5 E5
I Want to Hold Your Hand
December 1963, released in America. Capitol Records finally agrees to put it out. The fuse is lit. America is about to be invaded
December 26, 1963. Capitol Records finally releases 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' in America, and within three days, a million copies are gone.
The Beatles, I Want to Hold Your Hand (1963). The single that cracked America, something no British act had ever managed. Four men from Liverpool succeeded in three days where everyone else had failed for years.
I Want to Hold Your Hand, The Beatles (1963)
John and Paul wrote this face to face at a piano in the basement of Jane Asher's family home at 57 Wimpole Street, London. Paul later described the two of them 'just eyeballing each other' as the chords came together, and when they hit the key change, they both knew they had something extraordinary. The hand-clap pattern drives the track with a physical urgency that matches the title: a song about wanting to touch someone, where every element of the production reaches forward.
Sources
Miles, Barry. "Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now." Henry Holt, 1997.
Lewisohn, Mark. "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions." Hamlyn, 1988/2018.
TAP TO REVEAL: How many Beatles singles did Capitol Records refuse before this one?
America Falls
'I Want to Hold Your Hand' enters the Billboard Hot 100 on January 18, 1964, and reaches number one by February 1. American teenagers who have spent weeks mourning JFK suddenly have something to scream about. A grieving country was ready for joy, and four men from Liverpool walked right into that moment.
Sources
Norman, Philip. "Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation." Simon & Schuster, 2003.
“In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that, both playing into each other's noses.”
— John Lennon
57 Wimpole Street, Marylebone, London
The basement of the Asher family home, where John and Paul sat at a piano and wrote 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.' Paul was dating the Ashers' daughter Jane and used the basement as a songwriting den whenever he was in London.
Roll Over Beethoven, The Beatles (1963)
Chuck Berry wrote this in 1956 as a battle cry for rock and roll against classical music. George Harrison sings lead on the Beatles' version from With The Beatles, and the irony is magnificent: a British band covering an American song, about to sell it back to America bigger than the original. 'Roll Over Beethoven' is the Beatles' relationship with America in miniature: they took everything the country gave them and returned it with interest.
Roll Over Beethoven, The Beatles (1963)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Chuck Berry's words, George Harrison's voice, and the sound of American rock and roll crossing the Atlantic twice. By January 1964, the message landed: Beethoven had been rolled over, and the Beatles were driving.
Where were the Beatles when they learned 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' had reached number one in America?
America is calling. On February 7, 1964, Pan Am Flight 101 touches down at JFK Airport, and 3,000 screaming fans are waiting on the tarmac for four passengers from Liverpool.
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