I Want To Hold Your Hand, and its incredible recording process revealed here and now.

The recording history for this song turned out quite uncomplicated. The Beatles only needed one day to start and finish their new piece, since they had already fine-tuned it before setting foot in studio two of EMI studios on October 17th, 1963.        

Seventeen takes of the song were recorded 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, since the first items recorded on this day included the first edition of 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 knew that four-track recording would allow for this song to sound even better than what they had achieved on a two-track console.         

Everything The Beatles recorded prior to 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 provide. Since The Beatles had by that time earned much more money for EMI than had the classical releases, EMI felt that The Beatles earned their keep and offered them four-track capabilities from this date forward. It is quite coincidental that starting with this monumental recording, The Beatles made way 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” was no longer in consideration for their next single by this time (as originally planned) and, second, that The Beatles were still utilizing George Martin 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 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 have been just the thing needed in order 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. What is noticed is that there were new ideas that progressively entered into the mix as the sessions wore on. One of these was 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 needing 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, followed as overdubs onto a finished take 17. All four Beatles performed the overdubbed handclaps 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 recording “I Want To Hold Your Hand” took place 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 won favor for the worldwide single release, and the stereo version ended up only on an Australian single. Two other stereo mixes of the song occurred 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 Martin 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 surfaced 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. This means that a true stereo version of the song was not available 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. Its purpose was to provide a pre-recorded soundtrack for the British television special “Around The Beatles,” which was broadcast by the BBC on May 6th and June 8th, 1964. The song required 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 session, which they recorded on three-track tape, took place at IBC Studios in London, with Jack Good as producer and Terry Johnson as engineer.        

The song was played one other time at EMI studios. Since Ringo remained in Britain because of his tonsils as well as pharyngitis, a replacement drummer needed to be auditioned to take his place 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 to release it as a live album by the end of 1964, which never happened. Capitol vice-president Voyle Gilmore produced the recording along with George Martin and with Hugh Davies as engineer. A rough stereo mix took place on August 27th, but their live recording of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" remains in the vaults until 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 appears 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.’”

Song Structure and Style

While the structure of this song follows the familiar pattern of most of the early Beatles catalog, namely the 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' structure (or aaba) it is anything but ordinary because there are so many interesting surprises along the way. Since Lennon and McCartney were painstakingly working to make this song palatable to American audiences, we hear many unique characteristics in the arrangement, no doubt including suggestions made by George Martin in the studio.

It was decided to begin the song with the final repetitive four, and a half bars of the bridge played instrumentally with a driving beat, creating an intense excitement that was meant to herald the appearance of Beatlemania in the states, saying, in effect, "Here We Are." This was the repetitive influence, it is claimed, from Robert Freeman's jazz record noted above. 

What is striking about this introduction, and confusing as well, is how the song begins midway through the measure with the accent on the last eighth note of the measure instead of the one beat of the next measure. Upon hearing the song for the first time (if we can possibly remember the first time we heard it), the listener is thrown off balance by the ambiguity created. The downbeat of the song is only fully recognized when the vocal quarter notes sound forth. That is why the equilibrium of dancers, as well as listeners, was thrown off by this introduction, although the effect is only momentary. We all found our footing after the first eight seconds had passed and then we got it.

We now enter into the first verse, which comprises 12 bars. The vocals are sung in unison by John and Paul for the first seven bars of each verse, only to strikingly change into high register harmony on the word "hand" sung during the second appearance of the B7 chord on the eighth bar of the verse. That eighth bar was where the band directed all the focus since everyone played and sang differently on that bar. Ringo played accents and drum fills, John stopped playing altogether, Paul held the one note on the bass, and the overdubbed handclaps, which maintained a regular pattern throughout the first seven bars, dropped out for the remainder of the verse only to resume when the next verse began. William Mann, music critic of The Times in London, described the eighth bar of the verses as an "active accent" and a "median" chord change, referring to this as "a trademark of Lennon-McCartney songs." 

Continuing into the ninth bar, unison singing resumes throughout except, once again, on the word "hand," sung in a staggered descending melody line.

The second verse runs identical to its' intricate structure; the only difference alters the lyrics. These lyrics include the line "let me be your man" which, no doubt, was a throw-back to the recently written "I Wanna Be Your Man," which was sung by Ringo and recorded by The Rolling Stones that year.

Entering the bridge, we now see a transition into a subdued but melodic feel for the first seven bars which allows the tension to be momentarily relieved. We hear Ringo playing a closed hi-hat, Harrison picking single-note phrases from the chords, and McCartney just playing the signature chord notes on the bass (not unlike Stu Sutcliffe would play two years prior) while John and Paul hear unison singing. This all changes midway through the seventh bar as we now see the origin of the introduction: The repetitive, supposedly Robert Freeman-inspired melodic phrase, punctuated by the same driving force heard at the beginning of the song. The vocals now strategically shift to harmony sung very powerfully, repeating the phrase "I can't hide" (or as Bob Dylan and many others thought, "I get high").

The bridge structure is a perfect segue into another verse, identical in structure to the first two except for different lyrics. As another bridge is then performed to again relieve the tension, we see the introduction of harmony vocals throughout, which adds a dynamic touch to distract us from the identical lyrics of the previous bridge.

The fourth and final verse is then performed, which is virtually a repeat of the third verse, one of the differences being in the phrase "when I feel that something," instead of "say that something." The big difference, though, is that the song comprises fifteen bars instead of twelve. The additional three bars consist of a dramatic conclusion which entails the title of the song being repeated a fourth time with the word "hand" held out with Paul's high harmony for two full bars. For the first of those two bars (the fourteenth in the verse), the group plays in a hard-hitting waltz tempo accentuating each beat with a driving force before resolving into the G chord creating an "amen" cadence. No more suitable ending could be written for a song that would leave a nation breathless and, in the case of teenage females, screaming. 

Even though John and Paul sing all of the lyrics completely through the song, Lennon can easily be designated the lead singer since McCartney is the one who lifts to a higher harmony whenever the need arises, leaving John to sing the melody line. McCartney's bass work is efficient but rudimentary throughout, only straying from the signature chord notes during the melodic instrumental phrase of the second and sixth bar of each verse.

Lennon's rhythm guitar provides a structural backdrop for the dazzling effects sprinkled throughout the song, even simply providing a strummed guitar chord for each chord change in each bridge. Harrison's guitar phrases are used as casual accents throughout the song and, although not essential to the structure; they provide an interesting diversion during the framework of the song. Meanwhile, Ringo's drum work, while not the power-play he is capable of delivering using the 'beat' style of the Cavern Club days, is dependable and proficient utilizing suitable drum fills and powerful accents where needed.

What is truly on display here, aside from the instrumentation, is the songwriting style of the Lennon & McCartney team as well as the overall effect the song creates. Standout musicianship is not called for here, such as with guitar solos, walking bass lines, or rollicking drum beats. The Beatles don't distract us with musical showmanship in this song because it is not needed. The effervescent vocal delivery, along with its masterful songwriting, is all that was necessary to carry this masterpiece to the heights that it achieved.

Lennon had stated that he never paid much attention to lyrics in the early Beatles days, thinking they were less important than putting together a coherent melody and song structure. It wasn't until Bob Dylan suggested to use the forum of The Beatles' popularity to make meaningful statements that Lennon turned his attention to his lyric writing. John's earlier attitude is especially evident in "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as its' lyrics are extremely perfunctory. No deep meanings here, just that the singer is attracted to a young lady with whom he wants to make the outward display of holding hands. After all, it makes him "happy inside," and there is nothing wrong with that.

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