From Me to You
| "From Me to You" | ||||||||||||||
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Original "From Me to You" 45
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| Single by The Beatles | ||||||||||||||
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| Released | 11 April 1963 (UK) 27 May 1963 (US) |
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| Format | 7" | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 5 March 1963 EMI Studios, London |
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| Length | 1:56 | |||||||||||||
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| Writer(s) | McCartney–Lennon | |||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |||||||||||||
| The Beatles singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"From Me to You" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and released by English rock group the Beatles in 1963 as their third single. The single was the Beatles' first number one in some of the United Kingdom charts, second in others, but failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. However, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song becoming the first Lennon–McCartney tune to enter the American pop chart. It was one of the very last songs to be credited "McCartney–Lennon"; soon afterwards their songs began appearing credited to "Lennon–McCartney".
Lennon and McCartney began writing "From Me to You" while on a coach heading to Shrewsbury as part of the Beatles' tour with Helen Shapiro. The title was inspired by the name of the letters section of the New Musical Express, which they had been reading: "From You to Us". McCartney noted that their early songs tended to include the words "I", "me" or "you" in them, as a way of making them "very direct and personal".
In his 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon recalled writing the song:
We were writing it in a car I think, and I think the first line was mine. I mean I know it was mine. [Hums melody of first line.] And then after that we took it from there. It was far bluesier than that when we wrote it. The notes—today you could rearrange it pretty funky.
Before that interview, Lennon had stated, "We nearly didn't record it because we thought it was too bluesy at first, but when we'd finished it and George Martin had scored it with harmonica, it was alright."
McCartney also talked about rearranging the song in 1964:
"From Me to You"—it could be done as an old ragtime tune—especially the middle eight—and so we're not writing the tunes in any particular idiom. In five years' time we may arrange the tunes differently. But we'll probably write the same old rubbish!
McCartney was not the only one on the bus who called it rubbish—singer Kenny Lynch, upon hearing the Beatles singing "ooh", remarked "You can't do that. You'll sound like a bunch of fucking fairies!" Soon afterwards he stormed off, declaring the Beatles did not know anything about songwriting. Roger Greenway recounted the story:
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Wikipedia