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The Beatles tell quite a tale in this tidy Pop song. Some poor guy thinks he's lost his girl for good, but he's redeemed when he finds out that she still loves him. There's even a moral at the end of the story: "Pride can hurt you too." Good advice when arguing with a loved one.

This was an instant hit in the England, but not in America where it was released on Swan records, the only US label that would take it. Swan put it out in September 1963, but while The Beatles were huge in England, they were still no big deal in America until February 1964. That's when Beatlemania took hold and this became a US hit.

This popularized the phrase "yeah, yeah, yeah." Paul McCartney's dad wanted them to sing "yes, yes, yes" instead because he thought it sounded more dignified.

This was one of 4 Beatles songs that was never released in stereo. The others are "Love Me Do," "I'll Get You" and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)." (thanks, don - rapid city, SD)

The Beatles released a German version translated as "Sie Liebt Dich" in the US in 1964. They learned some German when they became the house band in Hamburg in 1962, but needed a German speaker to help them with the lyrics. They recorded the German version in Paris - it was the only time they recorded outside of England.

Apart from "My Bonnie," which was recorded with Tony Sheridan in their early days in Hamburg, the only other song the Beatles recorded in another language, again German, was "I Want To Hold Your Hand." "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand" was recorded the same time as "Sie Liebt Dich."
"Sie Liebt Dich" peaked at #97, the lowest position of the Beatles' 71 Hot 100 charted songs.

In the UK, this is the biggest-selling Beatles single. It was the held the record for top-selling UK single of all time until 1977, when Wings (led by McCartney) topped it with "Mull Of Kintyre."

Jack Paar played a video clip of this on his show on January 3, 1964. The Beatles had appeared on news clips as part of stories about their success in England, but this was the first time they appeared on a US TV talk show. They also played it on both of their live Ed Sullivan Show appearances. When The Beatles agreed to do the show, they were not a big deal in America and took less money than most acts received for their fee. When The Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, it got the largest audience ever for a TV show. Sullivan began having regular musical guests from the world of popular music, and it became a showcase for groups like The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, Santana and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

McCartney and Lennon were inspired to write this after a concert at the Majestic Ballroom in Newcastle when they were part of a tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers. Says McCartney, "There was a Bobby Rydell song out at the time "Forget Him" and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another. We were in a van up in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I'd planned an answering song where a couple of us would sing 'She loves you' and the other ones would answer 'Yeah Yeah.' We decided that was a crummy idea but at least we then had the idea of a song called She Loves You. So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it; John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

In England, this hit #1 twice in 1963, first on September 4 and again on November 20.

The single of this was the first record Ozzy Osbourne ever bought. The Beatles were a big influence on him because they were also poor kids from a small town in England.

This was one of the Beatles songs that held the top 5 positions on the US chart on April 4, 1964. Others were: "Twist and Shout," "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Please, Please Me."

The Beatles played part of this at the end of "All You Need Is Love," which they recorded 4 years later.

This song was played at the conclusion of the concert sequence at the end of the film A Hard Day's Night, although it wasn't included on the soundtrack album. (thanks, Charlie - Cape Girardeau, MO)

Norman Smith, who was The Beatles engineer, told the story in his autobiography John Called me Normal about feeling his heart sink when he spotted the lyrics on the music stand. As he later relayed to Mark Lewinsohn: "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah, She loves you, yeah yeah yeah, she loves you yeah yeah yeah yeah... I thought, My God, what a lyric! This is going to be the one I do not like."
Smith had a hit in 1972 with "Oh Babe What Would You Say" as Hurricane Smith. He also produced the first three Pink Floyd albums.

There is a very clear edit in this song between the lines "I think it's only fair/Pride can hurt you too." It appears that two version had been edited together. (thanks, Rick - Mount Ephraim, NJ, for above 2)

In August 2009 the Official Chart Company compiled a list of the Beatles biggest selling hits in the UK, including re-issues. They revealed that this song was the Fab Four's best seller in their native country, followed by "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Can't Buy Me Love."

Comments:

This song is brillant! I love this song. It's great
- Breanna, Henderson, NV

"Can't you just play it the way Ringo would?" Yeah, no kidding. I always thought that after the band broke up John was a selfish jerk (thanks Yoko) but that proves he missed being a Beatle.
- K, nowhere, ON

I love this song. There is really something more to it than just "she loves you, yeah"...it really does have magical powers in some way I think. The epitome of Beatlemania.
- Justine, Seattle, WA

These songs have magical powers. Don't believe me? Explain that enormous urge you have to scream like a fangirl when they sing "YEAH YEAH YEAAAH". Awesomeness.
- chloe, St. Louis, MO

For those of you old enough to remember the feeling of Beatlemania in 1964, this song captured the epitome of that energy.
- Daevid, Glendale, CA

I heard a rumor that Peter Sellers did the German translations of this and 'Kom gib Mir deine Hand' and translated a lot of their songs, disregarding original meanings. ("Zat ees Not my dog" -- Inspector Clouseau). I'd like to believe it.
- Alan, Greene, RI

"i love this song... at least ringo kinda showed he wasnt the worst drummer ever. i wonder wat would happen if he and neil peart met... - ozzy, fresno, CA" Ringo is one of the BEST drummers ever, and I think that if he and Neil Peart (whom I agree is a fantastic drummer) ever met, Neil would bow to him. Studies have been done on Ringo's drumming and they found that he keeps perfect timing. His solo on "The End" displays that timing. Without it, they never would have been able to do what they did in the studio (I think "A Day in the Life" is probably his best effort, though Ringo says it's "Rain"). After the Beatles broke up, John Lennon, recording a solo album, was frustrated because the session drummer couldn't perform what Lennon wanted. Lennon said to the guy, "Can't you just play it the way Ringo would?" 'Nuff said.
- Rick, Mount Ephraim, NJ

"yeah, yeah, yeah" became kind of a catch phrase for people talking about the early Beatles in '64!
- steve dotstar, los angeles, CA

Hey Kelsi, from Texas, that's what I hear myself. At the beginning, it really sounds like "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah! She'D love TO, yeah, yeah, yeah! She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"
- Peter Griffin, Quahog, RI

Easily in the top 5 best songs of all time.
- Jeff, Austin, TX

before i realised i was a beatle maniac, i only heard the famous she love u yea yea yea bit. when i first got it , my mind was blown! there is so much in this song - i love when it says glad, and bad haha. and the high pitched oooooooohhhhhhhs! its amazing, the beatles are all equal and will live forever!
- Catherine, Essex, United Kingdom

To have a song in the top 10 is a great achievment for an artist. To have the number one song is and even greater accompishment. Some artists have had more than one song in the top 10 at one time. Elvis did this I believe, but no one has ever had both the number one and number two songs on the chart. In April of 1964 the Beatles had the number one, number two, number three, number four, and number five songs on the chart. This was one of them. Now is that greatness or what?
- John, Cranston, RI

>>You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was released in stereo. It was the B-Side to Let it Be. From Me To You wasn't released in Stereo! - Joel, Emerald, Australia<< No stereo mix of this existed in 1970 when the "Let It Be" single was released. LIB is stereo on the 45, YKMN is mono. On the original pressings YKMN has no mono-stereo designation. Later repressings clearly noted YKMN as mono. There is a stereo remix on the Anthology II CD but it edits out a couple of passages toward the end, making a stereo re-edit to match the single undoable.
- Joe, Poughkeepsie, NY

Oh Basil you ol herb. Sprout already.
- Lateeka, Kelowna, Canada

I luv this song it so kool it comes out in A Hard Day's Night when they r doin a presentation n they sang more songs 2 The Beatles rock!!!
- Ivette, Los Angeles, CA

By the way even as early as 1963 there were music critics seriously analylzing and praising The Beatles music including this song. William Mann the music critic for The London Sunday Times as wellas some others pointed out their use of interesting and unusal chords and how they arranged them. Bob Dylan said decades ago about their early songs,that their melodies and harmonies were wonderful and their chords were outrageous,and that they were doing things in music nobody else was! Roger McGuinn of The Byrds says that The Beatles used folk rock chords in their early songs and that they invented folk rock without even knowing it! He was influenced to start playing a 12 string guitar after he saw and heard George Harrison playing one in The Beatles first movie A Hard Day's Night in 1964. And Richard Buckle a ballet and classical music critic from The London Sunday Times called John and Paul the two greatest son composers since Beethoven after John and Paul wrote the music for a ballet called,Mods and Rockers in December 1963!
- Carolyn, Philadelphia, PA

This is such a good early Beatles song,and no other group or artist could have made this into a good song,only The Beatles! If anyone else would have done it it would have been crap! Norman Smith one of The Beatles early recording engineers who went on to work with Pink Floyd,says that when he first saw the lyrics to She Loves You before he heard The Beatles playing it,he wasn't going to like this song at all,but then when he heard The Beatles playing and recording it he was dancing around the studio and he said it sounded great!
- Carolyn, Philadelphia, PA

i love this song... at least ringo kinda showed he wasnt the worst drummer ever. i wonder wat would happen if he and neil peart met...
- ozzy, fresno, CA

I love this song. It's a great song. It's fun and amazing.
- krissy, Boston, MA

The song starts with a drum solo and it has that famous yeah yeah yeah hook line. This song is probably the most improbable to have a jazz chord as an important function but that jazz chord chord is one of the reasons why this songs sounds so original when it came out.
- joe, montvale, NJ

I love Beatles' music so much, the first 3 seconds of this song are the start sound in my computer, both at home and at work.
- Eduardo, San Jose, Other

I had always thought the lyrics were "she loves you (yeah yeah yeah), she loved you (yeah yeah yeah)- as in she alwayss loved him even though he hurt her, and that's why he should be sorry
- Lizz, Tampa, FL

Neurotic song. Dark, desparate, a lie. She doesn't love him, she's plotting his murder. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Beatles begin their systematic destruction of everything sacred. And the apple-gnawing Godself in us all loves it, yeah yeah yeah...
- Basil, Skylark Sound City, MT

TWO things: first, on the Ed Sullivan appearance when they flashed "sorry girls, he's married!" on the screen - that was 'copied' so to speak in the movie "That Thing You Do" when the Wonders are playing and the camera gets a head shot of Jimmy; except it reads: "Sorry girls, he's engaged!" Second, this song is played in the Beatles' movie "Magical Mystery Tour" (incredible in ways) during the Magical Mystery Tour Marathon. It is a 'midi' version...electronically programmed notes, and no words.
- john, townsville, WY

I also heard that the lyrics are "She Loves You, Yeah Yeah Yeah. SHE'D LOVE TO, yeah yeah yeah."
- Kelsi, Rowlett, TX

Lennon identified this along with From Me To You and I Want To Hold Your Hand as the three most collaborative Lennon/McCartney compositions.
- fyodor, Denver, CO

I remember as a kid reading a Mad Magazine parody of Lost In Space (maybe it was called "Loused Up In Space"?) and every several panels the artist would draw some weird little creature off to the side making noises like "glorp!" One of these weird little creatures was a Beatles head (there were little feat attached directly to the head with no body in between!) and it was going, "yeah yeah yeah!"!!! Man, that cracked me up!!
- fyodor, Denver, CO

Get the Beatles Anthology DVD set and watch the Beatles performing this song in front of hundreds of screaming teens and a few intoxicated adults, in London, 1963. One of my favorite Beatles clips of all time!! No comparison - PURE Beatlemania.... See the screaming girls absolutely freaking out, one is biting her shirt, one is biting her lip, they are all standing and jumping in their seats, at the end of the song a girl screams so long and other-worldly she looks like she's going to pass out. And as an added bonus, this video clip from 1963 is IN COLOR!!!! I wish I had a video of the entire concert that this clip was taken from! WOW!
- Andy, florida, FL

I agree. Lee. I never get tired of hearing this song. It would have been the breakthrough song in the US, if Capitol would have had the good sense to recognize how great a recording it is and promoted it.
- Steve, Fenton, MO

This song has an echoing urgency to it...the lyrics aren't important, but the song itself is catastrophic.
- Linus, Hamilton, ON, Canada

I love it when they repeat 'with a love like that you know you should be...glaaaad!' It sounds great.
- Linus, Hamilton, ON, Canada

I can't believe they wrote this in 4 hours. (Ringo said that is all it took) What is there to say? It is in one of the very tight group of Hold your hand, saw her standing, and twist and shout. Those four songs made the early Beatles. They are signature.....no, finger print songs. No one can ever sing the 3 originals in that group of songs without bombing. That is to say that only the Beatles could sing those songs.
- lee, clearwater, FL

Listen closely to the opening lyrics. They are: She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, SHE'D LOVE TO, yeah, yeah, yeah...
- Bill, southeastern part of, FL

Hey guys. They changed the lyric on the lebsite. N w it says "she says you hurt her so". there's a part where you can sumbit lyrics, and that's what I did. I wanted to make sure they werw correct.
- Stefanie magura, Rock Hill, SC

I have the official Beatles lyric book, "The Complete Beatles" and it's, "She said you hurt her so"
- Niki, Chicago, IL

hey Andria. I always heard "She says you heard her so" too, when I listened to the song.
- Stefanie magura, Rock Hill, SC

Anyway, Andria you're probably right.
- Stefanie magura, Rock Hill, SC

Thanks, Marc, I dig that groovey last chord. Notice also that Paul starts with a 6th chord in "Fool on the Hill."
- Nessie, Sapporo, Japan

This should have been included on the Rock n roll music album.
- Benjamin, Cheverly, MD

Just a comment on the lyrics, it's "she said you hurt her so" and not "she said you were to know that". At least, that's what I've always heard.
- Andrea, Singapore

I almost caught the Jack Paar clip on Jan 3, 1964. I had read in TV Guide for the Jack Paar show that he was going to show the most popular group in England (which I pictured to be some silly looking group in knee pants or something). I didnt bother to stay up to watch it, which I always regretted. I have always wondered what film clip/song was shown. Now I know that it was "She Loves You". - Dyno
- Dyno, Derry, NH

One more thing. In the movie "The Parent Trap" (1961), Haley Mills (playing twins) sang a song "Let's Get Together (yeah yeah yeah)". I always wondered whether this inspired the yeah yeah yeah in "She Loves You". - (I mean no disrespect to the Beatles by this insinuation.)
- Dyno, Derry, NH

The Ed Sullivan "Sorry girls, he's married" bit was parodied in the Rutles' movie "All You Need Is Cash" the exact same way before it was done in "That Thing You Do". I believe it showed the drummer, Barry Wom, and flashed "Sorry girls, he's engaged".
- David, Lansing, MI

On a musicians note...This song ends in an F# 6th which is a Jazz Chord never used in popular music
- Marc, Philadelphia, PA

In Brazil The Beatles were called "The Kings Of Yeah Yeah Yeah", because of songs like this (with lots of "yeah yeah yeah"). Their kind of music (and rock in general) soon started being called "i� i� i�" (transcription of "yeah yeah yeah" in Portuguese) - Old people would say: "Não gosto de i�-i�-i�, prefiro jazz" ("I don't like yeah-yeah-yeah music, I prefer jazz music")...
- João, São Paulo, Brazil

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was released in stereo. It was the B-Side to Let it Be. From Me To You wasn't released in Stereo!
- Joel, Emerald, Australia

Just some piddling trivia: back in '88, there was an article about Metallica and it mentioned how the singer James Hetfield had never listened to the Beatles. When he heard this song, he thought it was "pretty heavy."
- Paulo, New York, NY

TWO things: first, on the Ed Sullivan appearance when they flashed "sorry girls, he's married!" on the screen - that was 'copied' so to speak in the movie "That Thing You Do" when the Wonders are playing and the camera gets a head shot of Jimmy; except it reads: "Sorry girls, he's engaged!" Second, this song is played in the Beatles' movie "Magical Mystery Tour" (incredible in ways) during the Magical Mystery Tour Marathon. It is a 'midi' version...electronically programmed notes, and no words.
- Ian, Urbana, IL