Tis Better To Have Loved And Lost Than To Never Loved At All. Alfred Lord Tennyson –– Part 2

Here we go again, a new week and the next album. With The Beatles, released November 22, 1963, included eight more original tunes made available at the record shops exactly eight months since Please Please Me rolled out of E.M.I.’s packaging department. Okay, are you ready to divvy up today’s list as to which are mutual love vs. one-sided love? Then read on!

2^nd LP: With The Beatles. (Mutual Love / 4 vs One-Sided Love / 4)

Track 1 –  It Won’t Be Long. A mutual love song by John, based on the lyric portrayal the singer sits at home alone while everyone else is out having fun (he refuses to cheat on her), but even though he misses her to the extreme, and cries day and night out of loneliness, he is so excited his girl is coming home, and when she does, he will belong to her. Background Fun Facts: John had hoped to write another single, so, he borrowed ideas from two previous hit makers that exploded their studio performance to #1 on both counts. First, he repeated the double meaning taken from his song, ‘Please Please Me,' and wrote, "It won’t BE LONG till I BELONG to you." Second, he resurrected all those YEAH YEAH YEAHS from ‘She Loves You.'

Track 2 – All I’ve Got To Do. A mutual love song by John, based on the lyric portrayal the singer and his girl assures each other that whenever one wants the other, they only need to call and both will come right away. Background Fun Facts: Written in 1961, trying to sound like Smokey Robinson of the Miracles, who influenced young Lennon not only with his voice but his songwriting style as well. A fun side note––when John tried laying down the vocal for ‘Woman’ in 1980, Yoko interrupted through the intercom stating John sounded like a Beatle. John replied, “Actually, I’m supposed to be Smokey Robinson, my dear because the Beatles always supposed they were Smokey Robinson.”

Track 3 – All My Loving. A mutual love song by Paul, based on the lyric portrayal the singer promises to be true while he is away, even assures he’ll write to her every day sending all his love in each letter. Background Fun Facts: John was known to praise this song as one of Paul’s first big hits, and although Mr. Lennon had not helped with the tune, he knew he had increased music fans appeal by his fabulous triplet strumming. The piece never made it as a single in the UK or the United States, but get this, Capitol Records did release it as a single in Canada, and it reached #1 on the hit parade. A vast amount of the Canadian singles found an importation tunnel into the U.S. that demand for it pushed the 45 rpm disc to #45 on the Billboard top 100. Hey, you’ll never guess, but the B-side plays my all-time favorite Beatles song, ‘This Boy.' What a nice surprise. All My Loving follows the pattern as a letter style song, modeled after, P.S. I Love You. This combination of singing a love-letter makes excellent sense in that the Beatles were busy with live bookings to promote their new album, Please Please Me. All those out of town concerts easily conjured up ideas to turn a love-letter into a song.

Track 4 – Don’t Bother Me. A one-sided love song by George, based on the lyric portrayal since she’s been gone, the singer won’t ever be the same if he doesn’t get her back. He can’t believe the only girl for him has left him on his own. Background Fun Facts: Written during the summer of 1963 while George was bedridden with illness in a Bournemouth hotel. He didn’t want to be bothered by anyone, just rest, hence, out came the song. The founder of the Liverpool music paper, Mersey Beat, Bill Harry offers another take how the song developed. Mr. Harry, the newspaper man, used to pester George every time he saw him, to see if George had written a new song yet. The inquiries got so monotonous, the young Beatle’s constant reply was, ‘Don’t Bother Me, you’ll hear plenty when it happens.”

Track 5 – Little Child. A one-sided love song by John & Paul, based on the lyric portrayal the singer’s eye catches a newcomer at the nightclub and invites her to dance, and to take a chance with him immediately after confessing he’s so sad and lonely. The singer also makes a deal they will have some fun if she’ll go steady, and not date anyone else. Background Fun Facts: Written early September 1963 for Ringo. In mid to late July, the lads returned to Abbey Road ready to record new material for the next LP. Two months had slipped by, and Paul realized they hadn’t come up with a piece to spotlight Ringo. Two hours later, J & P returned with ‘Little Child,' however, Ringo couldn’t bring himself to get into the groove, and on top of that, refused to sing the line, “I’m so sad and lonely.” He told his writing mates to give him a good rocker, something like the tune, ‘Boys.' A short time later, on September 10^th, J & P accepted the call to attend a Rolling Stone’s band rehersal and how they needed a commercial hit song. Our amazing composers wrote ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ right then and there. The next day, they all felt Ringo would do well on the song written for the Stones, so with all the instruments plugged in and all the microphones switched on, John sung the lead to Little Child after Ringo tried to belt out the fresh one-day old song sung by Mick Jagger. The drummer's vocals weren’t added to the mix until October 3^rd, taking the time necessary to learn his part.

Ever notice the difference between the titles ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ & ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand? And yet, “Both” are sung using the word (Wanna).

Tracks 6, 7, and 8 are cover songs.

Track 9 – Hold Me Tight. A mutual love song by Paul, with some aid by John, based on the lyric portrayal the singer wants to hear his girl say he’s her only one, never to be the lonely one, and to let him go on loving her, making love to only her. Background Fun Facts: Written around mid-September 1962 directly after recording their first single, ‘Love Me Do.’ McCartney wanted to write another single, and after listening to one of his favorite female groups, the Shirelles, felt inspired to write something to match the gals style. He also received a major influence from the great Carl Perkins, and the Beatles included many of Perkins tunes into their early gigs. One such song is called, ‘Sure to Fall,' with the lyrics, “so hold me tight, let tonight be the night.” An absolute, unmistakable copy from the mop-top’s American idol. But, alas, this tune failed to make the grade and wedged in as #9 to help fill the new album. Did you know the song was recorded in the key of E but ended up in the key of F? This occurred by speeding up the tape machine, a little trick George Martin used to tighten up the performance. Had it been a better song and given the go ahead as a single, it most likely would have been banned from the airwaves by its inclusion of the phrase, “making love.” Thus, it snuck passed the censors due to less frequent spins on the radio.

Track 10 is a cover song.

Track 11 – I Wanna Be Your Man is a one-sided love song by John and Paul, based on the entire lyric portrayal, the singer seeks the affection from a female, by filling her with promises, never letting up once to hear what she has to say about it. Background Fun Facts: Written in September 1963. John came up with the title from a Newspaper headline, but Paul put it to music. George Martin provided his magic fingers upon the Hammond Organ, not John, as the album’s liner notes incorrectly give the credit to Lennon.

Track 12 is a cover song.

Track 13 – Not A Second Time. A one-sided love song by John, based on the lyric portrayal the singer received, in a sense, a dear John letter, possibly unwritten, and instead, spoken straight pass the lips he used to kiss. However, she changes and comes back to restore the break-up, but he declares the facts she hurt him before, so no, not a second time will her broken promises hurt him. Background Facts: Written the first week of September 1963, highly influenced by Smokey’s song, ‘You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me.'  Once again, John injects a playful double meaning word by singing, “And now you’ve changed your MIND, I see no reason to change MINE.” Rumors state that Paul and George did not contribute to this recording hinged on the fact only one guitar makes its presence heard and all the bass notes came courtesy from George Martin on the piano. Each verse is only seven bars rather than the customary eight, and a huge rarity, the instrumental section follows the bridge playing the bridge, instead of copying a verse, such as, ‘And I Love Her.' At the end of the song, Lennon’s double tracking stray during the fade, and the mistake resulted sounding too brilliant to fix.

Track 14 is a cover song.

Well, the percentages rose from last week’s tally. Exactly 50% of the lad’s new album showcase unrequited love songs. Oh, the sorrow one feels when your true love loves another.