HOW DID THEY KNOW?

How did John Lennon know he and his band were going to the topper most of the popper most? How did Paul McCartney know that Lennon/McCartney compositions had remarkable selling power? How did Brian Epstein know by changing his clients leather outfits, banning cigarettes and alcohol on stage, and replacing them dressed in suits and ties, the Beatles would be “Bigger than Elvis?” How did George Martin discover four diamonds in the rough after unimpressed while listening to the Beatles Decca audition? How did George Harrison know Ringo was such a better choice than Pete Best on drums? How did Richard Starkey become the most popular Beatle of all?  Answer–– Baby Boomers! Yes, not only did 74 million new births grow the population of North America between 1946 and 1964, but many European countries along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand also experienced a high-rise baby boom. In some cases, the total fertility rate almost doubled.

Every new generation latches onto an up-coming musical fad. Around 1885 and on into the early 20th Century, Tin Pan Alley dominated the one thing that soothes the savage beast. The roaring twenties got the radio along with ragtime, jazz, and the Charleston. During the 30’s movies never looked back to the silent era and musicals fully orchestrated for the big screen added quite a rewardable punch to those standing in line for a show ticket. The 40’s band-leaders experimented with the big-band-sound and knocked the socks off of millions with swing. Children born throughout World War II, including the Beatles, gyrated to the early rock trend with the likes of Chuck Berry and Elvis.

In Germany, young adults such as Klaus Voormann, Jurgen Vollmer, and Astrid Kirchherr filled the clubs of Hamburg that featured the Lads of Liverpool because the band played Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison’s favorite songs, the same stuff others born during the war thrived on. Plus, it was pretty cool that the U.S. Army stationed Elvis inside Deutschland to serve his entire duty. Liverpool youngsters had a choice of over 900 local bands to pledge allegiance, and the Beatles held the highest honor as the best. However, as John and Paul slowly and surely increased the needed confidence to weed out cover songs in place of original material, the Baby Boomers had found these new compositions ideal sounding pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. Unlike other fading tendencies, the Baby Boomers of the late 40’s, and 50’s NEVER found anyone better to listen to, sharing all the phenomenal songs with their children and grandchildren. 

Any Beatle fan will tell you, “The real spark that caused the world to stand up and salute the Fab Four as pop idols occurred thanks to “I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND.” George Martin has described "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as "the apex of Phase One of The Beatles' development." He then explained, "When they started out, in the 'Love Me Do' days, they weren't good writers. They stole unashamedly from existing records. It wasn't until they tasted blood that they realized they could do this, and that set them on the road to writing better songs."

From beginning to end, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was truly one of the most exciting records The Beatles ever made. From the historical significance of its’ inclusion into the American charts to the cultural effect its’ had on rock and roll to this day, the Lennon and McCartney songwriting team surely ‘hit the nail on the head’ as to what would go over well in America. To say that the song ‘took the country by storm’ is quite an understatement. So, I thought it might be interesting to reveal the complete ins and outs of how this brilliant song developed inside the recording studio. Enjoy the trail.

The recording history for “Hand” is really quite uncomplicated. The Beatles only needed one day to start and finish this song since they had fine-tuned the piece prior to setting foot in studio two of EMI studios on October 17th, 1963.       

Seventeen takes were recorded of this song during this afternoon/evening session, which started at 2:30 and ended at 10:00 pm (including an hour and a half break from 5:30 to 7:00 pm.). It appears that the song officially commenced at 7:00, as the first items recorded on this day, included their “Beatles’ Christmas Record” which, starting with an edit of the recording done on this day, would be sent on a flexi-disc to members of their Official Beatles Fan Club. Also recorded in the earlier session on this day was an attempt at a remake (take 12) of The Miracles’ hit “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me,” which they ended up not using, deciding that the version they recorded on July 18th would suffice after all.       

John Lennon insisted on trying a remake of “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” on this day, no doubt because this was the first day the Beatles were allowed by EMI to use a four-track recording console for their recordings. Lennon stood convinced that four-track recording would allow for this song to sound even better than they had achieved on a two-track console.        

Everything the Beatles recorded before this day was on two-track recording equipment, which limited the possibilities one could achieve in the studio. With four-track recording, you could, according to Engineer Ken Townsend, “do a basic rhythm track and then add on vocals and whatever else later. It made the studios into much more of a workshop.”  EMI previously had four-track recording equipment but only used it for more serious recording artists, such as for classical music. They didn’t feel that pop music needed to utilize the advanced capabilities that four-track recording could accomplish. Since the Beatles had by that time earned much more money for EMI than the classical releases were, they felt that the Beatles earned their keep and offered them four track capabilities from this date onward. It is quite coincidental that, starting with this monumental recording, the Beatles sprung into a new era of recording technology that continued with them throughout their recording careers until 1968 when, during the recording of their ‘White Album,’ EMI studios graduated to the even more advanced eight-track recording console.     

After their abandoned attempt at recreating “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me,” Lennon confidently called up to George Martin in the control booth, “you’d better come on down here and have a listen to our next number one record.”  This statement solidifies two things:  first, that “It Won’t Be Long”  no longer poised consideration for their next single at this time (as originally planned) and, second, that George Martin was still being utilized by the Beatles for his expertise in arrangement. In this case, except a slight change in tempo and adjustments in vocal harmonies, the song was perfectly arranged in advance by them themselves. There was little that Martin needed to do to improve it.      

When listening to the 17 takes (some false starts) of the song, you can’t help but notice McCartney’s leadership role in full force even at this early stage of the Beatles’ career. His bossiness is apparent throughout the session, such as at the beginning of take one where, when Lennon suggests doing it slower, Paul quickly asserts “NO…shhh!” and demands a “clean beginning,” as well as instructing Ringo on the “attack” needed at the beginning of the song. Paul later admitted “Yes, okay, in the studio I could be overbearing because I wanted to get it right...I can see how that could get on your nerves.”  Nonetheless, as Ringo admitted, Paul’s bossiness “contributed to really great products” as was the case with this song. McCartney’s determination may be just what was needed to achieve the greatness that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” achieved.     

It has been noted that the first take sounded very similar in structure to the final take because of their knowing the song so well by the time they entered the studio on this day. Turns out that there were new ideas that progressively entered into the mix as the sessions wore on. One of these took place on take two where they began to hush the instrumentation on the bridge, rather than the rocking rhythm guitar that Lennon played on the first take. Another idea, beginning with take four, was McCartney’s adding the familiar “sh” sound to words with an “s” sound, such as in “I think you’ll undershtand” and “shay that shomthing.”  This habit was something the Beatles heard on American records and, by coincidence, made for better mastering because of the absence of sibilance, or distorted “s” sounds.      

Although the actual track information appears to be lost, we do know that the song took a whopping 17 takes to perfect, which included all four Beatles playing and singing simultaneously. This song was the studio debut of Paul’s newly acquired 1963 Hofner bass, his original 1961 model having “seen so much work that it was held together with sellotape,” explained McCartney in 1967. As witnessed by engineer Geoff Emerick, Lennon kept flubbing his vocals throughout the song, which no doubt led to them taking so many takes to get it right. Emerick suggested that these mistakes were due to either his usual poor memory or his even poorer eyesight.

Handclaps, as well as double-tracking Lennon's lead vocals, were then added as overdubs onto a finished take 17. The overdubbed handclaps came by all four Beatles huddled around one microphone, clowning around as they usually did, which was evidence of the fun atmosphere obtained whenever the Beatles were in the recording studio. Since the complete recording of the song’s British flip side, “This Boy” was also recorded on this day, we can estimate that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was recorded between 7:00 and 8:30 pm on October 17th, 1963.       

The song was mixed for mono and stereo on October 21st, with only George Martin and Engineer Norman Smith present. The mono mix was used for the worldwide single release, and the stereo version ended up being released only on an Australian single. Two other stereo mixes of the song were made later. The second stereo mix was on June 8th, 1965 by Norman Smith and Engineer Ron Pender, who placed the vocals in the center of the mix. This mix was reportedly never used, at least not in Britain or the US. The third and final stereo mix of the song was on November 7th, 1966 in preparation for the British compilation album “A Collection Of Beatles Oldies,” which was released in Britain on December 10th, 1966. This stereo mix, made by George Martin and engineers Geoff Emerick and Mike Stone, is the stereo mix used on CD to this day.     

An interesting note concerning the mix used for the stereo “Meet The Beatles!” album is that, even though a stereo mix was made in time for Capitol records to use for the album, it was not sent to America for them to use. Capitol hastily prepared a mock-stereo version of the song separating the lows on the left channel and the highs on the right channel, which means that a true stereo version of the song never materialized in America until the March 7th, 1988 CD “Past Masters - Volume One.”       

Another recording session for "I Want To Hold Your Hand" took place on April 19th, 1964. It was to provide a pre-recorded soundtrack for the British television special “Around The Beatles,” which was broadcast on the BBC on May 6th and June 8th, 1964. The song was recorded and edited with new recordings of the first four British singles to comprise a “Beatles Medley” for the group to lip-sync to in front of a studio audience. This recording session, which was recorded on three-track tape, took place at IBC Studios in London, with Jack Good producing and Terry Johnson engineering.       

The song was played one other time at EMI studios. Since Ringo was detained in Britain because of his tonsils as well as pharyngitis, a replacement drummer needed to be auditioned to replace him for the Beatles’ upcoming world tour. Session drummer Jimmy Nicol was brought into EMI studio two to rehearse six songs, including “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” on June 3rd, 1964. The session was not recorded, but the audition was a success. The next day, the four of them were in Copenhagen giving their first concert on the world tour.

The recording sessions for the song also include one live performance on August 23rd, 1964. That was the date the Beatles played at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. The entire concert was recorded with the intention of releasing a live album by the end of 1964. Capitol vice-president Voyle Gilmore produced the recording along with George Martin and with Hugh Davies as engineer. A rough stereo mix was made on August 27th, but their live recording of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" remains in the vaults to this day.

Sometime in 2015 Giles Martin (son of George Martin) and Sam Okell revisited the master tape of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in Abbey Road Studios to create a new stereo mix, the result being included on the newly mixed "Beatles 1" compilation album released that year. Then, sometime in 2016, he received access to the live recording the Beatles made of the song at the Hollywood Bowl on August 23rd, 1964 and produced a version for inclusion on the long-awaited remastered version of "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" which came out later that year.

The last time the song was brought into a recording studio by a Beatle was sometime in August or September of 1980. John Lennon was recording his classic 1980 album “Double Fantasy, ” and at times old Beatles music was heard during the sessions. Engineer Lee DeCario relates: “I remember we were editing something and John was bored, so he went out into the studio, grabbed the Fender Telecaster B-bender guitar that Rick Nielsen (from Cheap Trick) gave him, plugged it in, and sat on the amp all day playing Beatles songs. It was great, you’d walk by, and you’d hear him singing and playing ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand.’”    

One can usually judge the effect of a cultural phenomenon by its’ detractors. The Beatles and this song, in particular, were viewed as a threat to all that was viewed as sacred and decent in the country. A sterling example of the older generations’ distaste for this influence was New York radio station WNEW continually saying on air that “I Want To Hold Your Hand” made some people want to hold their noses. Chet Huntley, on the NBC Evening News, refused to show footage of the Beatles arriving at Kennedy Airport in February of 1964, actually saying on air that, because of “the subject of the film” footage taken that day, he felt that “there is absolutely no need to show any of” that footage. Since 1964, what other recording artist, or song, has ever provoked this much resistance? Time has well proven to be in favor of the Beatles, as now the innocence of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” can only leave us wondering what all the subversive fuss made the newcomers such an uncalled for menace?

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