She Loves You

The Beatles tell quite a tale in this tidy Pop song. Some poor guy thinks he has lost his girl for good, but he's redeemed when he finds out from a friend 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)."

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 & 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."

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.

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.

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."

Regarding the falsetto exaltation that occurs at the song's manic peak, McCartney once explained: "The 'wooooo' was taken from the Isley Brothers' 'Twist and Shout.' We stuck it in everything."

The Melissa Manchester hit You Should Hear How She Talks About You was written as a contemporary take on this song, with the singer telling a friend that a guy is really into her.