From Me to You

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This article is about the song by the Beatles. For other uses, see From Me to You (disambiguation).

"From Me to You"
US picture sleeve
Single by the Beatles
A-side"Please Please Me" (US 2nd release)
B-side"Thank You Girl" (UK & US 1st release)
Released
  • 11 April 1963 (1963-04-11) (UK)
  • 27 May 1963 (US)
  • 3 January 1964 (US "Please Please Me" single)
Recorded5 March 1963
StudioEMI, London
GenreMerseybeat[1]
Length1:56
Label
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"Please Please Me"
(1963) 		"From Me to You"
(1963) 		"She Loves You"
(1963)

"From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band

B-side
to "Please Please Me", and reached number 41.

Composition

Lennon and McCartney began writing "From Me to You" while on a

New Musical Express, which they had been reading: "From You to Us".[2] 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" to the band's fans.[3]

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.[4]

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."[citation needed]

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![5]

Singer-songwriter Roger Greenaway recounted a story:[further explanation needed]

John and Paul were sitting at the back of the coach and Kenny Lynch, who at this time fancied himself as a songwriter, sauntered up to the back of the coach and Kenny Lynch ... decided he would help them write a song. After a period of about half-an-hour had elapsed and nothing seemed to be coming from the back, Kenny rushed to the front and shouted, 'Well, that's it. I am not going to write any more of that bloody rubbish with those idiots. They don't know music from their backsides. That's it! No more help from me!'[6]

Regardless, the song was regarded by the Beatles as innovative and catchy enough to be released as a single. This was one Lennon–McCartney song that the duo truly co-wrote; McCartney described it as "very much co-written".[3]

Melody and lyrics

"From Me to You" sample
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"From Me to You" comprises five verses and two bridges. The form is Intro V V B V V B V Coda. The first half of the fourth verse is instrumental. The last half of each verse is a mini-refrain, while the lyrics of the bridges are identical. The verses each consist of a rather short eight measures played in

augmented chord – a Gaug – that ends the bridge and leads back to home key (C major).[7] Lennon plays prominent harmonica solos during the beginning, middle and end of the song, as he did with "Love Me Do
".

McCartney said of the song:

The thing I liked about "From Me to You" was it had a very complete middle. It went to a surprising place. The opening chord of the middle section of that song heralded a new batch for me. That was a pivotal song. Our songwriting lifted a little with that song.[5]

The idea of singing the song's opening lick—the "da da da da da dum dum da" part—was suggested by George Martin, the Beatles' producer. The group thought it unusual but put their trust in Martin. "In a way, this made [the Beatles] aware of George's enormous musical sense," EMI producer Ron Richards later said.[8]

In the song, the singer offers his love to the object of his affections—he has "everything that you want". Although the song is based on singular first-person pronouns, it lacks a lead singer.

Recording and UK release

George Martin said of the song, "I asked them for another song as good as 'Please Please Me', and they brought me one—'From Me to You.' ... There seemed to be a bottomless well of songs."[9]

The recording on 5 March 1963 at

B-side, catalogue number R5015.[10]
Nine days later, it kicked off a twenty-one week run in the British charts, reaching number one on 4 May, a position it would retain for seven weeks.

"From Me to You" featured Lennon playing harmonica in a Jimmy Reed-inspired blues style he had learned from Delbert McClinton, another American who was on the same bill with the Beatles in the early Sixties. "It's chiseled in stone now that I taught Lennon how to play harmonica," McClinton said. "John said, 'Show me something.' I was in a pretty unique position, because there just weren't a lot of people playing harmonica in popular music."[9]

"From Me to You" was the first Beatles song to reach number one in the UK and is widely considered to be their first chart-topping song, for although "Please Please Me" reached the summit on almost every chart, it was only number two on Record Retailer's chart, generally considered to be the most authoritative for the time.[citation needed] "From Me to You" would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by the Beatles.

"From Me to You" replaced

How Do You Do It", a song that had been offered to the Beatles (and even recorded by them, though it remained officially unreleased until 1995) but ultimately rejected by them in favour of "Please Please Me".[11] Gerry & The Pacemakers, who also hailed from Liverpool, were very much rivals of the Beatles in their early days—Gerry and the Pacemakers attained the first number one ("How Do You Do It") before the Beatles, and also claimed their second and third number ones before the Beatles did, slowly losing steam afterwards as Beatlemania
launched and the Beatles dominated music worldwide in 1964.

A true indication of how successful the Beatles became thanks to "From Me to You" (though it would soon be overshadowed by "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand") was expressed by McCartney: "The first time I thought we'd really made it, was when I was lying in bed one morning, and I heard a milkman whistling 'From Me to You'. Actually, I'm sure that I once heard a bird whistling it as well. I swear I did!"[6]

First US release

When it released "

Cash Box magazine called it a "Pick of the Week" when it was released, it initially failed even more miserably than its predecessor; through the end of June, "From Me to You" sold fewer than 4,000 copies and had failed to chart anywhere.[15]

When

Los Angeles in June. He was able to convince his new employer to add "From Me to You" to its playlist, and it entered KRLA's "Tune-Dex" on 14 July,[15] spending six weeks on the chart and peaking at 32 on 11 August.[16]

Because of the airplay, and resulting sales, in Los Angeles, "From Me to You" made the Billboard

Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart for three weeks, peaking at number 116 on 10 August, the same time the single peaked in Los Angeles.[15] It was the first time the Beatles appeared on a national chart in Billboard.[17] The late attention in Los Angeles spurred sales of the 45; in the end, the original edition of "From Me to You" sold approximately 22,000 copies, roughly three times as many as "Please Please Me" had.[15]

Second US release

Vee-Jay chose to couple "From Me to You" with "Please Please Me" when it re-released the single on 3 January 1964,

Tonight Show.[19] Had Vee-Jay known how all-encompassing Beatlemania would become, it likely would have saved "From Me to You" for use as an A-side, the way it did with "Twist and Shout" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret". But even as a B-side, "From Me to You" entered the Billboard chart on 7 March and peaked at number 41[17] and number 6 in Canada.[20] The double-sided hit sold approximately 1.1 million copies in 1964.[21]

Help!

An instrumental arrangement, "From Me to You Fantasy" is used in the film, Help!, arranged by Ken Thorne, and is track 3 of the original U.S. release of the soundtrack album. It appears during scenes of attempts to remove the ring from Ringo's finger while he sleeps in the Beatles' communal apartment.

Album availability

"From Me to You" made its first album appearance (overall) on the Canadian

double LP compilation 1962–1966. In 1966, "From Me to You" was first issued in the UK on A Collection of Beatles Oldies, followed by the 1962–1966 compilation seven years later. The first release on CD was in 1988 when it was included in the Past Masters compilation. It was later released on the 1962–1966 double CD and the single CD compilation 1
.

Alternative mixes

The mono version, which was issued as a single in 1963, has appeared on the 1988 issue of Past Masters, the 1962–1966 CD reissues, the

1 compilation released in 2000, and Mono Masters
in 2009. The stereo version was included on the 1966 compilation A Collection of Beatles Oldies, the original LP issues of 1962–1966 in 1973, and the 2009 reissue of Past Masters. The intro to the stereo version (recorded on two tracks) lacks the harmonica inserted into the mono mix.

Chart history

Personnel
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[35]

Del Shannon cover

"From Me to You"
Single by Del Shannon
B-side"Two Silhouettes"
ReleasedJune 1963 (1963)[36]
GenreRock and roll
Length2:00
LabelBigtop
Songwriter(s)McCartney–Lennon
Del Shannon singles chronology
"Two Kinds of Teardrops"
(1963) 		"From Me to You"
(1963) 		"Sue's Gotta Be Mine"
(1963)

On 18 April 1963, the Beatles were one of 15 acts to play at Swinging Sound '63, an all-star concert at the

London. They played "From Me to You" and "Twist and Shout".[37] Del Shannon was also on the bill that night.[13] After the concert, he told John Lennon that he was going to record "From Me to You" because he liked the falsetto parts in the song.[13] At first, Lennon was flattered, but he quickly changed his mind, realizing that a cover version by Shannon might hurt the Beatles' chances of having a hit in the States.[13]
As it turned out, Lennon was temporarily right, but neither artist's version was a big hit in America.

In early June,

Chicago as it peaked at number 15 on the WLS "Silver Dollar Survey".[39][40]

Shannon's recording follows the Beatles' original almost verbatim, except for a slightly faster tempo and fade-out. "At that time no one had heard of the Beatles here (the US), but I knew they were great writers so I just picked up on one of their songs," Shannon said later.[41]

Chart history

Chart (1963) Peak
position
Australia 21
Canada (CHUM Hit Parade)[42] 13
US Billboard Hot 100[36] 77
US
Cash Box Top 100[43]
 67

Later versions

Bobby McFerrin covered the song in his 1986 album, Spontaneous Inventions.

In November 2008, a slowed-down cover version using only piano and vocals became the first Beatles song to be used in a British advertising campaign when it was used in

John Lewis' Christmas marketing.[44]

On 4 March 2016, a remixed version of the song was released by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP.

American indie rock band Futurebirds included the song on its 2016 EP "Portico I".

Notes

  1. ^ "Pop/Rock " British Invasion " Merseybeat". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 94.
  3. ^ a b Miles 1997, p. 148.
  4. ^ Sheff 2000, p. 168.
  5. ^ a b The Beatles Interview Database 2004.
  6. ^ a b Cross 2005, pp. 348–349.
  7. ^ Pollack 2001.
  8. ^ Spitz 2005, p. 387.
  9. ^ a b "72 – 'From Me to You'". 100 Greatest Beatles Songs. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  10. ^ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 28, 32, 200.
  11. ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 18.
  12. ^ Spizer 2004, p. 14.
  13. ^ a b c d Spizer 2004, p. 30.
  14. ^ Wallgren 1982, p. 17.
  15. ^ a b c d e Spizer 2004, p. 31.
  16. ^ Spizer 2004, p. 41.
  17. ^ a b Whitburn 2002, p. 40.
  18. ^ Wallgren 1982, p. 22.
  19. ^ Spizer 2004, p. 90.
  20. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - March 9, 1964".
  21. ^ Spizer 1998, p. 20.
  22. ISBN 0-646-44439-5
    .
  23. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - March 9, 1964".
  24. ^ "The Beatles - Salgshitlisterne Top 20". Danske Hitlister. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  25. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – From Me to You". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  26. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 31 May 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "From me to you".
  27. ^ Hung, Steffen. "charts.nz - Forum - 1963 Chart (General)". charts.nz. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  28. ^ "The Beatles – From Me to You". VG-lista. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  29. ISBN 9163021404
    .
  30. ISBN 919727125X
    .
  31. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  32. ^ "The Beatles Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  33. ^ "Top 20 Hit Singles of 1963". Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  34. ^ The 100 Best-Selling Singles of 1963
  35. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 77.
  36. ^
    ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  37. ^ Lewisohn 1986, p. 149.
  38. ^ a b Whitburn 2002, p. 633.
  39. ^ WLS 1963a.
  40. ^ WLS 1963b.
  41. ^ tripod.com 2008.
  42. ^ CHUM Tribute Charts, August 12, 1963
  43. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, July 27, 1963
  44. ^ Turner 2008.

References

External links

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