- Published on 1964
- Author: Lennon/McCartney
- Track 5 on “A Hard Day’s Night“
- Track 9 on “1962 ‐ 1966 (Red Album)“
Beatles quotes about “And I Love Her”
JOHN 1972: “Both of us wrote it. The first half was Paul’s and the middle-eight is mine.”
JOHN 1980: “‘And I Love Her’ is Paul again. I consider it his first ‘Yesterday.’ You know, the big ballad in ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’
PAUL 1984: “It’s just a love song. It wasn’t for anyone. Having the title start in midsentence, I thought that was clever. Well, Perry Como did ‘And I Love You So’ many years later. Tried to nick the idea. I like that… it was a nice tune, that one. I still like it.”
About “And I Love Her”
“And I Love Her” was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It is the fifth track of their third UK album A Hard Day’s Night and was released 20 July 1964, along with “If I Fell“, as a single release by Capitol Records in the United States, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Beatles performed “And I Love Her” just once outside EMI Studios; on 14 July 1964 they played it for an edition of the BBC’s Top Gear radio show, which was broadcast two days later. “And I Love Her” has been covered by a variety of artists, including Esther Phillips, Kurt Cobain and Cliff Richard.
Beatles publisher Dick James lends support to this claim, saying that the middle eight was added during recording at the suggestion of producer George Martin (an early take of the song was released on Anthology 1 in 1995, and the middle eight had not yet been added). According to James, Lennon called for a break and “within half an hour [Lennon and McCartney] wrote … a very constructive middle to a very commercial song.” McCartney, on the other hand, maintains that “the middle eight is mine … I wrote this on my own. I would say that John probably helped with the middle eight, but he can’t say ‘It’s mine’.” McCartney has credited George Harrison with composing the signature guitar riff, saying it “made a stunning difference to the song”.
“The ‘And’ in the title was an important thing – ‘And I Love Her,’ it came right out of left field, you were right up to speed the minute you heard it,” McCartney said. “The title comes in the second verse and it doesn’t repeat. You would often go to town on the title, but this was almost an aside: ‘Oh … and I love you.'”
An instrumental version of “And I Love Her”, orchestrated by George Martin, was released as a single with “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)” as the B-side on 18 July 1964. It failed to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 105, while “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)” peaked at number 53 later that year. “And I Love Her” was included on Martin’s Parlophone album Off the Beatle Track and the EP Music From A Hard Day’s Night by the George Martin Orchestra, released on 19 February 1965. It was also included on the American A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack album.
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – vocals, bass guitar
- John Lennon – acoustic rhythm guitar
- George Harrison – classical lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – bongos, claves
- George Martin – producer
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