Songfacts®: You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.
This was the first Beatles song to catch on in America. In 1963, the Beatles became stars in England, but couldn't break through in the US. They couldn't get a major label to distribute their singles in America, so songs like "
Love Me Do" and "
She Loves You" were issued on small labels and flopped, even though they were hits in England. By February 1964, America finally took notice of The Beatles and bought this single in droves, giving them their first US hit. It sold better in first 10 days of release in the US than any other British single, and remains the best-selling Beatles single in the United States, moving over 12 million copies.
The Beatles celebrated madly when they found out they were #1 in America. They came to America for the first time in February 1964, a week after this hit #1, and having the top single gave them a huge boost. Conquering the US was, and still is, a big deal for British bands. Many groups that are huge in the UK (Oasis, Blur) never really catch on in America.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote this in Jane Asher's basement. Asher was an actress who became Paul's first high-profile girlfriend. After appearing in several movies, TV shows and stage productions, Asher became an authority on baking, and has her own business selling party cakes and supplying baking and decorating equipment. She and Paul broke up in 1968.
Jane had a brother named Pete Asher who teamed up with Gordon Waller to form the duo Peter & Gordon and McCartney wrote for them their hit single "
A World Without Love." Pete recalled in a 2010 interview with Gibson.com the two Beatles penning this song at his home: "My mother had a practice room that she used to give private oboe lessons when she wasn't teaching at The Royal Academy, where she was a professor. There was just a piano, and an upright chair and a sofa. Paul used that room to write in, from time to time. One afternoon John came over, while I was upstairs in my room. The two of them were in the basement for an hour or so, and Paul called me down to listen to a song they had just finished. I went downstairs and sat on the sofa, and they sat side by side, on the piano bench. That's where they played 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' for the first anywhere. They asked me what I thought. I said, 'I think it's very good.'" [laughs]
The Beatles performed this on their first 2 Ed Sullivan Show appearances, which took place Feb 9th and 16th, 1964. There was a media frenzy around The Beatles, as this was #1 on the charts and millions of people saw them on Sullivan's show. The Beatles were booked for the show before they had a hit in the US, so they actually got paid less than many other guests for their appearance.
Bob Dylan thought the line "I can't hide" was "I get high," and a reference to marijuana. He was surprised to learn they had never tried pot, and became part of Beatles lore when he introduced them to it.
This was one of John Lennon's favorite Beatles songs. It starts with a falling melody, which is typical of Lennon's songwriting, and ends with a cadence with a quarter-interval: "I'll think you'll understand." That quarter-interval cadence you can even hear in Lennon's first bit of "
From Me to You" and in "
Tomorrow Never Knows." McCartney most often uses second-intervals. Also typically Lennon is the sudden octave-run, "Haaaaand..." The same octave-run you can hear in the end of the middle part in Lennon's "
Please Please Me": "To reason with youuuuuu..." Also note that the beginning of the melody in the middle part is almost the same melody as the beginning of the middle part in "
Don't Let Me Down." (thanks to Johan Cavalli, who is a music historian in Stockholm)
Two parody groups made answer songs to this in 1964: "I'll Let You Hold My Hand" by The Bootles and "Yes, You Can Hold My Hand" by The Beatlettes.
This was played on a Washington, D.C. radio station before it was released in America by a DJ who got the record from a stewardess. It was a huge hit with his listeners.
The first Beatles song recorded on 4 track equipment. Some of their first songs were in mono.
The Beatles also cut a German version called "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand." The Beatles picked up some German while playing The Star Club in Hamburg in 1962.
In the 1960s it wasn't uncommon for British stars to record new versions of their hits in other languages. The idea was to increase airplay on continental stations and to get a hit before an indigenous artist recorded a version in the local tongue. On January 29, 1964, The Beatles went into the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris and recorded this song and "She Loves You" ("Sie Liebt Dich") in German. The lyrics had been hurriedly translated by a Luxembourger named Camillo Felgen, who was then a program director at Radio Luxembourg. As well, apart from their recording of "My Bonnie" in the early '60s, this was the only time The Beatles recorded in another language. In addition it was the sole occasion on which they recorded outside London.
When this hit US #1 it was the first time a British group topped the charts in the US since 1962, when "
Telstar" by The Tornados did it. The Beatles quickly began dominating the US charts.
At times John Lennon realized that the crowds the Beatles played to were so loud that they really couldn't hear them sing, so sometimes instead of saying "I want to hold your hand," John would say, "I want to hold your gland" as a reference to women's breasts. (thanks, bob - Laguna Beach, CA)
It was the youth who discovered The Beatles, and while young people can be easily manipulated through hype and image, in the case of The Beatles it was the music that drew them in. An American girl Sanda Stewart, 15 years old in spring 1964 (according to Hunter Davies in his book Beatles) said: "I was one day in a shop with my mother when I suddenly heard 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' on the car radio. Such a special sound! I could never stop thinking about it. No song has effected me on that way. Several other girls in school had reacted in the same way. We saw the Beatles on photos and thought they were ugly. But their music was fantastic." (thanks to Johan Cavalli, who is a music historian in Stockholm)
This song was used in the movie Across the Universe at a much slower tempo. (thanks, Breanna - Henderson, NV)
Comments (61):
Get the Ringtone
Get Song @ Amazon
Get the Sheet Music
View Lyrics
In the magazine Rolling Stones "100 greatest Beatles songs" it is no 2. Among the first 20 songs, Lennon has 11 or 12, McCartney 4, Harrison 2, Lennon-Mc 2 or 3. Not a single song by McCartney from Sgt Pepper.
hahahhah he could hold my gland id marry john.
Those days were far more innocent and carefree.
Even their look---the suits and ties-----you'll never see that again from groups today.
They were true professional showmen in every respect. and....Manager Brian Epstein was a genius in how he presented them. Ticket price to see them at Shea Stadium, Aug.'65 was a mere $5.00-----
Rick, Newton NH
an unusual sound...raw vocal harmonies, the drone of a 5th in the bass part at times, that added Capitol records added echo,and the poppy handclaps....yeah, this was "wayyy" different..
-Cogan out!
I and many people understandably feel that John Lennon had the best rock voices ever! George Martin said John's voice was one of the best he ever heard,and in May 1967 when The Beatles were recording their song,Baby You're A Rich Man,two recording engineers said they were always fascinated with the sound of John Lennon's voice,and they always wanted to record it live and when they heard him singing this song live they said they couldn't believe how great his voice was and that anyone could sing that well live.
And there are many people on message boards saying they can't stand the sound of Robert Plant's and Mick Jagger's voices,and Bruce Springteen has one of the worst voices I have ever heard,he sounds like he's throwing up to a music backing! I have to turn the radio off as soon as he's on,and the same thing with Tom Petty,he has a terrible nasally bad voice! Bob Dylan has never been considered to have a good voice but I can tolerate him!
Also,The Beatles were *NEVER* a boy band at all not even in 1963,1964 and 1965,and they were Mostly a Great *ROCK* Band from the start! They started out playing 8 hours a night for two years in a row playing in the sleazy strip clubs of Hamburg Germany wearing tight leather black pants and jackets,cursing and smoking on stage,and taking speed pills to awake,and going to bed with many young women groupies.The cleaned up image was a fake joke that their manager Brian Epstein created which John hated and resented the most.
There were a lot of rough thugs who came into those clubs,and if they played bad live,they would have beaten the crap out of them playing 8 hours a night for 2 years! Instead they became the most popular successful group in these German clubs even with all of the competition from other groups from England and Germany! They also played live in The Cavern Club for several years.They worked very hard to get where they got!
The Beatles wrote many great rock songs that were pretty rocking for the time,John's great song You Can't Do That from early 1964 which he played lead guitar on for the first time,Paul's great blues rocker,She's A Woman from late 1964,John's I Feel Fine from late 1964, with the first use of feedback guitar,and one of the first songs to have a great guitar riff,a year before The Rolling Stone's Satisfaction came out,Paul's screaming hard rocker especially for 1965,I'm Down which they played even louder and more screaming at the August 1965 Shea Stadium concert,plus Day Tripper,Paperback Writer,She Said She Said,And You're Bird Can Sing, Taxman,all with heavy electric guitar sounds,John's 1968 hard rocking single Revolution,Yer Blues,Birthday,Back In The USSR,While My Guitar Gently Weeps,Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me & My Monkey,plus Paul's Helter Skeklter which as many people have pointed out was the first heavy metal songs,plus John's I Want You She's So Heavy on Abbey Road which many people have also pointed out was one of the first heavy metal songs,plus his great rocker Come Together,Paul's Oh Darling,You Never Give Me Your Money,and the hard rocking jam of Paul,George,and John on the song The End,etc!! So anyone saying THe Beatles were not a rock band You Are Wrong!!
The Rolling Stones were very good friends and fans of The Beatles and Mick Jagger was at 4 Beatles recording sessions and Keith Richards was at 2 of them with them! The Beatles even wrote one of The Rolling Stones first hits with the song,I WAnna Be You're Man in late 1963.
Mick Jagger was such a big Beatles fan that when The Beatles were recording their song,Baby You're A Rich Man in May 1967,he came there and stood on the sidelines just to watch and listen to them record it and his name was on the tape box because he likely sang at the end verses.
The Rolling Stones could also be considered a pop band since they too were very popular,had many hit songs and albums and some of their songs could be classified as pop,Ruby Tuesday,Angie,She's A Rainbow,Lady Jane,As Tears Go By,Waiting On A Friend,Emotional Rescue, their whole Sgt.Pepper rip off Their Satanic Majesties Request and they also put out many greatest hits albums. And John actually would sing in concert often because he knew nobody could hear because of the screaming, the words I Want To Hold Your Gland meaning women's breasts and he also would often use curse words in concert but nobody could hear because of all the screaming.And as early as 1963 and 1964 music critics like William Mann of The London Times and some others were seriously analyzing The Beatles music including this song and She Loves you and pointed out their use of interesting and unusual chords and how they arranged them.Bob Dylan said decades ago about The Beatles early music,that their melodies and harmonies were wonderful,their chords were outrageous and they were doing things in music nobody else was! Roger McGuinn of The Byrds says that The Beatles used folk rock chords and put it into pop rock which had never been done before,and he said that they invented folk rock music without even knowing it! He started to play a 12 inch string guitar soon after he saw and heard George Harrison playing one in The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night in 1964!
Great song. Yeah Lee, I love those 6 notes too.
I still can't get the intro count down. I don't know what everyones problem is with Beatles vs Stones. Who cares! I could go on and on about how Mick Jaggers vocals sound like a bad US Southern impression, but I won't. A most rockin' song and performance. I can hear a bit of Roy Orbisons Pretty Woman influence in the bridge. Have to listen to Surfin. Never heard the whisper...
Sal,Bardonia, NY
Gotta warn you, once you hear it, you always will.
At the end of the song, and I believe in other parts of it, they actually sing the Beatles refrain "I want to hold your hand..."
It's a great song - and pretty funny too!!! Go to Amazon.com to hear a clip of it.