“Hold Me Tight” exposed one of five original Lennon / McCartney compositions taped during their marathon recording session on February 11th, 1963 to complete their first British album “Please Please Me.” Since they felt determined to achieve success by recording their own compositions, like their musical heroes Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, they set out to record as many of their original songs as possible. Six other songs made way and completed the task during this full day at EMI studio two, making a total of eleven songs in one day.
The evening session, which ran from 7:30 to 10:45 pm, started off with this song. In the event 13 takes were performed, estimation appears cast and crew devoted a full hour to capture, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. Of those 13 takes, only two showed complete versions. Five of the attempts slipped false starts, one gets described as a “breakdown” because of an unexplained “error,” and four were takes of an edit piece. The intention was to splice take nine (one of the complete live versions) with take 13 (the best attempt at the edited piece) in order to create a master version of the song. Other songs recorded on this day received similar treatment, such as the edit of “I Saw Her Standing There.”
In this case, though, the 14-song requirement for a standard British album was filled without “Hold Me Tight” and, possibly to save the trouble of editing on a tight budget, this song became the 15th song that wasn’t needed. (The A- and B-sides of their first two singles filled the other tracks on the album.) At this point in the game, the budget allocated for an upcoming new group was minimal; hence the one day rushed schedule for recording an album. Whatever the reason may have been, “Hold Me Tight” was deemed the weakest track and didn’t make the album.
Fortunately, The Beatles were not going to let this one fall through the cracks. When pressed for new material for their second British album, they remembered that “Hold Me Tight” wasn’t yet released and proceeded to resurrect it. But, instead of bringing out the old tape, a decision was made to start it again fresh. The reason may have been that the original tape was recorded over or already scrapped. In any event, on September 12th, 1963, their fourth recording session for the album, the song was begun anew.
The first of two sessions on this day, spanning from 2:30 to 6:30 pm, started with recording four special messages for broadcast on Australian radio to promote their upcoming concert tour of that country. Afterward, at approximately 4:00 pm, work began on the remake of “Hold Me Tight.” They started the takes at the round number of “take 20” to compensate for the original 13 takes and their probably not remembering how many takes they had made of the first version.
Ten takes were needed to complete the song on this day. After four false starts, take 24 reached the first complete version and became the keeper. Onto it, Martin added overdubs of handclaps and additional background vocals, which took the song to take 26, making the song almost complete. Take 29 seems best stipulated as edited onto the song to form the master version as we know it. Because a sudden slightly detected change in volume just before the ritardando occurs in the closing seconds of the song, take 29 was no doubt an edit piece allowing The Beatles to perfect the song's conclusion. Since the handclaps are present in this section of the song as well, the actual edit piece may very well have perfected status in takes 27 and 28 while another quick handclapping overdub may have taken the song to its 29th take. In any event, take 29 was edited on to take 26 to form the completed song on September 30th, which was presided over by producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick. The first mono mix of the song also took place during this day.
A second mono mix of the song was made on October 23rd also by Martin and Smith. It is not known which of these two mono mixes made it onto the “Meet The Beatles!” album in the US. The stereo mix of the song, though, was definitely the one made on October 29th by Martin, Smith, Emerick, and B.T.
Although official documents do not mention it, the song was speeded up from the original recording, which elevated the key signature from E major to F major. This is sometimes done to create a tighter performance and has been done to good effect at different times throughout The Beatles recording career, as well as slowing down the tape in the cases of “Rain” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” for a completely different effect. In the case of “Hold Me Tight,” it can be assumed that the song was speeded up during the mastering process or when tape copies were made since, according to Geoff Emerick, the process of "vari-speeding" wasn't available at EMI until much later, probably around 1966.
Song Structure and Style
Although some could argue that this song contains a “chorus,” which was a rare occurrence at this early stage in the Lennon / McCartney songwriting career, what we actually are hearing is the second half of the verse. Therefore, the structure of “Hold Me Tight” falls in the usual category of 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' (or aaba). There are many nuances that occur within this structure, though, as we will examine. The bridge and last verse are repeated, as with many Beatles songs, but no solo abounds in the song.
We start with a quick two-bar introduction, which sounds to many ears as if we’re entering into a song already in progress. This is not the case, as this and the other takes of the song begin at this point, so The Beatles intended the song to start this way. Already we feel the high energy intensity of the song, with Harrison’s ostinato guitar phrase and handclapping right from the get-go. Since we hear the lyrical introduction to the song with the words “it feels so right now,” we can deduce that this introduction is actually a reference to the end of the bridge, so we will hear this introductory lyric twice more in the song when both bridges play.
Each verse is, for all intents and purposes, 16 bars long, but we will see a subtle utilized trick in the second and third verses. The first verse, though, is a full 16 bars that highlight McCartney’s energetically performed lead vocal and proficient harmonies from Lennon and Harrison who both performed live and overdubbed - the first half of every verse contains overdubbed harmony vocals, while the second half was sung live during the original performance. The second half of the verse, which drives home the title of the song, displays a “question and answer” vocal style which often occurs in The Beatles catalog. The “rising and falling” tension of the second half of the verse acts as the primary hook of the song, ending with the anticipated climax of the high melodic note, in the thirteenth bar on the word “you.”
This word “you” becomes a pivotal feature of the song as we see at the end of the second verse. This verse is nearly identical to the first verse except for a couple of lyric phrases, although its ending is somewhat tricky. What would be the 16th bar of the second verse actually becomes the first bar of the eight-bar bridge, the word “you” connecting the second verse with the bridge. The last lyrical phrase of the verse is “it’s you” while the first lyrical phrase of the bridge is “you don’t know what it means to hold you tight.” So, although the song is fully symmetrical, the second and third verses each share a measure with their bridge, as well as the word “you.”
To further show the complexity of the song, the bridge dips the song into a minor key while the rest of the song is major. Since the writing of this song pre-dates “P.S. I Love You,” which also combines major and minor chords, shows the grasp that Lennon and McCartney had on songwriting structure even in their formative years. The end of the first verse ends in the transitional major C chord, while the second and third verses end by introducing the minor sounding A flat chord, which is heard in the shared bar connecting the second verse with the bridge.
The bridge is, therefore, eight bars long and features McCartney singing alone except for the final bar. This adds a nice variation to the structure which relieves the tension created in the first two verses. The final lyrical phrase of the bridge, “it feels so right,” was what we heard in the introduction of the song, which reveals to us the rightful location of that phrase; we now realize that it is actually a transitional part of the bridge that we received an early glimpse of in the introduction.
After a third verse, slightly altered lyrically, we then enter into an identical repeat of the bridge and third verse. After this final verse, we hear what appears to be the beginning of another bridge, but what actually occurs is a ritardando which makes the song grind to a halt. This final section of the song, the “outro” if you will, is four bars long including the shared final bar of the last verse. So, with the shared bar between the verses and bridges and the ritardando at the close of the song, we see that The Beatles have some pretty nifty songwriting and performance tricks up their sleeves. Not bad for a song that most reference works dismiss as “disastrous” and “below par.”
The song has also taken a lot of flack throughout the years because of the lyrics, which are considered especially pedestrian and cliché heavy. While this is definitely true, it isn’t any less complex than many Beatles songs written up to that point, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” serves a prime example. The lyrics are a simple plea from the singer to ‘hold him tight’ explaining what it would mean to him. No consideration points to the feelings of the ‘girl’ in question, a standard practice for McCartney lyrics at the time.
The song has been considered ‘explicit’ by many, simply by its inclusion of the phrase “making love,” which was risqué for 1964. It passed the censors probably because it wasn’t released as a single and didn’t receive much radio airplay. Van Morrison, for example, didn’t get past these censors in 1967 when he sang about “making love in the green grass” with his “Brown Eyed Girl.” This song had to be treated to the editing scissors to make it to American AM radio, just as “Hold Me Tight” probably would have been if presented for airplay.
Performance wise, the tip of the hat goes primarily to George Harrison for his ostinato guitar phrases that snake through the entire song, negotiating every chord change without hardly missing a beat. Knowing that his guitar part was recorded live while singing background vocals during the full band rhythm track shows the professionalism George brought to the table within The Beatles. Note also how he continues to perform these phrases through the ritardando at the end of the song, never losing the decreasing tempo. An excellent performance!
Paul is next to be commended for his bass work which mimics George’s guitar phrases, although it is so low in the mix as to be hardly discernable, as with many of the tracks on this album. That Paul performed this while belting out his lead vocals during the live rhythm track truly proves an accomplishment. While many are quick to point out the stray off-key notes that appear at times in his lead vocals, seals that the listener is getting a true taste of the live Beatles in this song, warts and all. The vocals are not double-tracked as many of the songs on this album are, so there is nothing manufactured about this cut.
Ringo does well in effectively displaying the effervescent ‘beat’ style of the early Cavern years, once again complimenting the end of each bridge with his uniquely awkward drum fills. Note also his switch to riding on his toms for the bridge to complement the minor key change, adding a nice variation to the arrangement. Lennon’s rhythm guitar lulls faintly heard in the mix until the bridge, where we distinctly hear him strum each chord change on the one beat of each measure (although he does miss a couple here and there). This rhythm guitar arrangement for the bridge returns periodically in The Beatles catalog, such as with “I Should Have Known Better.” John does quite well with his background harmonies although, as he’s personally admitted, they have never been his strong suit.
Curiously, concerning the overdubbed background vocals, all three times the phrase “it feels so right” occurs in the song, the background vocals follow this with the word “so” while Paul’s lead vocal sings “now.” Opinions differ as to whether this was a mistake made an unbelievable three times or an intentional experiment. For those who look for flaws, there are many to be found in “Hold Me Tight” as well as most other Beatles songs. For those who just like to enjoy the music, like myself, these flaws are minimal aside from showing the human element in full force.
Next Song: You Really Got A Hold On Me:
Just seventeen days after recording what was to be their next single “She Loves You,” manager Brian Epstein had them back in EMI studio two recording their next album. Probably deep in the mood for performing cover versions (they just recorded thirty-six of them for broadcast on BBC radio between the dates of July 2nd and 16th), The Beatles began proceedings for their second album on July 18th, 1963, by recording Smoky’s recent, a favorite of John Lennon.
This evening session ran from 7 to 10:45 pm, which began with “You Really Got A Hold On Me” (inadvertently changing the title from the original “You’ve”). Seven live performances of the song were recorded first, which featured all four Beatles playing their usual instruments and singing without overdubs, accompanied by producer George Martin on piano. Only four of these performances were complete (three of them being false starts), take seven being the keeper.
They immediately recorded four edit pieces for the song, concentrating on the word “baby” found in the final verse, and on the ending riffs of the song. Take 10 finalized the ending riff of the song, while take 11 perfected the “baby.” This completed the recording of the finished version of the song as we know it. The song was completed by approximately 8:00 pm, estimating an hour to record this amazing rendition of an amazing song fully. The remainder of the day entailed recording the bulk of “Money (That’s What I Want),” the entire recording of “Devil In Her Heart,” and an early attempt at “Till There Was You.”
August 21st was the date chosen by George Martin to edit takes 7, 10 and 11 to make the final master, as well as create the mono mixes for this song as well as the completed songs recorded thus far for the album. This ‘control room only’ session was attended only by Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick. The stereo mix of the song, along with the rest of the album, was hurriedly done on October 29th, 1963, by Martin, Smith, and Emerick as well as the mysterious engineer with the initials B.T.
This is not to say that The Beatles reached closure with the song at this point. Based on valuable status, they were finally granted the use of four-track recording equipment on October 17th of that year; John Lennon insisted that they take another stab at the song on this date. Geoff Emerick explains, “Perhaps, in his naivete, (John) thought that simply recording it on four-track instead of two-track would somehow make it sound better, but after one whack at it, they all idea was abandoned.” George Martin at that point insisted that they move on, explaining that the recording they made on July 18th was adequate. Lennon then exclaimed, “All right, George, we give up,” and then introduced them to their next single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” which the lads recorded next.
The Beatles did record the song again in the studio, but this time it was in their newly formed Apple Studios on January 26th, 1969, during sessions for the “Get Back” project (released as “Let It Be”). The recent purchase of Smokey Robinson records by George Harrison inspired The Beatles (with Billy Preston) to go through two takes of “You Really Got A Hold On Me” as well as the more recent Miracles hit “Tracks Of My Tears.” The first attempt was thought interesting enough to be preserved on film and released in the “Let It Be” movie. Although producer Glyn Johns deemed it worthy enough to perform a mix of the song in March of 1969 for intended release, this never saw the light of day.
Song Structure and Style
The structure of “You Really Got A Hold On Me” is quite complex and left to different interpretations. This thumping ballad in 6/8 time appears to follow into the same basic pattern as a long-standing song in their repertoire, “A Taste Of Honey,” which would comprise a verse/verse/refrain formula, but with added characteristics.
After this initial pattern, a bridge appears (which include the repeated words “tighter”), before delving back into another verse and refrain. Then we go into a unique conclusion which sounds similar to the last eight bars of the verse but then ends with an instrumental coda to finish off the song. This conclusion dispenses of the fade-out ending of the original in favor of a vehicle suitable for concert performances. After all is said and done, we see a 'verse/ verse/ refrain/ bridge/ verse/ refrain/ conclusion' pattern, translatable as aabcabd.
The song does start, though, with a similar eight-measure introduction as heard on the original, which creates a suitable anticipatory feeling and gets the ball rolling. This lengthy 22-bar verse, which suitably ends with the repeat of the title of the song four times, segues into its second verse of equal length and style, differing only by a new set of lyrics.
We then go into the eight-measure refrain which is the true attention-getter of the song, although the song’s title does not appear in its’ lyrics. Instead, we hear The Beatles voices repeat the words “hold me” four times in the final four measures while the band accentuates each time with a thunderous ‘break’ on each one-beat. The last of these four times puts the song in suspended animation, holding in the air without the time clock going, only to resume when the introduction of the song reappears to set the song in motion again. This unique characteristic, as copied from the original, celebrates the brilliance of the song’s writer and arranger.
We then delve into the eight-measure bridge which showcases some fancy drum-work from Ringo during the fourth and eighth measure while the words “tighter” rings through. This creates a perfect segue back into a third verse, which is identical to the first two other than different lyrics. At the end of this verse, we hear the excited “baby” overdub The Beatles insisted on adding in to complete the recording of the song.
This takes us to the final refrain to round off the composite structure of the song, differing from the first only by the words “please” and “squeeze” heard in the first two dramatic breaks of the final four measures. After the repeat of the ‘suspended animation’ aspect of the refrain, we conclude the song with a seeming repeat of the final eight measures of the verse, only it actually differs in the placement of the chord changes within the sentence structure of the title of the song as it’s repeated four times. We then end the proceedings with two measures arranged specifically by The Beatles to create a performance ending to the song. These two measures accentuate each beat of the time signature in triplet notes, which are repeated four times before ending with a breath-taking final chord and cymbal crash. Top-notch!
Performance wise, this is a prime example of the synergy The Beatles create as all four of them perform at the top of their game, one member not shining above the others. John and George create the perfect vocal harmonic force that drives the song throughout. George, as it has been said about his early Beatle years, may have struggled with a limited vocal range, but sheer enthusiasm and devotion to The Miracles’ original version wins the day. Johns’ portrayal of reluctant infatuation created through strength and intensely raw sincerity makes up for the subtle nuance of Smokey Robinsons’ brilliant original performance. Vocal strength alone wins out on this song.
But the musical performance brings it all home. The combination of George Harrison’s lead guitar work and George Martin’s piano vamping create a perfect blend, especially noteworthy during the repeated introductory riff heard periodically in the song. Lennon’s rhythm guitar work in painstakingly accurate as is Ringo’s excellent reading of the original. Uniquely, McCartney doesn’t pine for the spotlight in this song; instead, he lays back, adds periodic harmony vocals and plays rudimentary but accurate bass lines which appear low in the mix.
Lyrically, the song is distinctive for it’s’ time in portraying the singer’s dependence on a relationship that is obviously not in his best interest. He may be ‘done wrong’ and ‘treated badly,’ but he can’t help but ‘love her madly’ just the same. The final verse even threatens to leave the relationship, saying he wants to “split,” but still acquiesces to his dependence on her. An interesting play on words appears in the song, not unlike what Lennon and McCartney were prone to put in their own songs, centering on the word “hold.” The power that the female character has on the singer is depicted throughout as the “hold” it has on him, while the refrain explains that all he wants her to do physically is to “hold” him. No doubt, examples like this spurred the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership to pursue similar ideas, as we can see throughout the Beatle years.
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