The Beatles ballad "And I Love Her" has long been one of my favorite songs by the legendary '60s band. What follows is a closer look at this song for Beatles fans who enjoy the song as much as I do.
This song was included on The Beatles album A Hard Day's Night. This brilliant album is, of course, the soundtrack to the 1964 Beatles movie with the same title. Most Beatles experts think the album was a huge breakthrough and easily the best of the first 4 albums. It's also the only Beatles album to include only songs by John Lennon & Paul McCartney (mostly because later albums include tunes by George Harrison too.)
In some ways "And I Love Her" is a very simple, very repetitive song and one could certainly argue that the lyrics are kind of trite. But the melody is beautiful enough and there's enough subtle touches that the song is still a great one in-spite of these apparent weaknesses.
One thing that I think is really interesting about this recording is how it goes into 4 different keysduring the song. This is because it sways this way and that way between major and its relative minor throughout the song and then during George Harrison's tasteful guitar solo it takes a half-step up and finishes a half step up when the vocals come back in.
On the Anthology CDs we hear an earlier version of the song that has a full rock band sound and does not have the tasty guitar riff that helps make the final version memorable. The difference between this version and the final version shows how a different arrangement and some cool riffs can really make a song work.
As a cool final touch the song ends on a major version of the relative minor tonic chord. In other words instead of the telegraphed D minor at the end it ends on a D major chord instead. The Beatles often added these subtle little touches to their songs and that helps to set them apart.
This song was included on The Beatles album A Hard Day's Night. This brilliant album is, of course, the soundtrack to the 1964 Beatles movie with the same title. Most Beatles experts think the album was a huge breakthrough and easily the best of the first 4 albums. It's also the only Beatles album to include only songs by John Lennon & Paul McCartney (mostly because later albums include tunes by George Harrison too.)
In some ways "And I Love Her" is a very simple, very repetitive song and one could certainly argue that the lyrics are kind of trite. But the melody is beautiful enough and there's enough subtle touches that the song is still a great one in-spite of these apparent weaknesses.
One thing that I think is really interesting about this recording is how it goes into 4 different keysduring the song. This is because it sways this way and that way between major and its relative minor throughout the song and then during George Harrison's tasteful guitar solo it takes a half-step up and finishes a half step up when the vocals come back in.
On the Anthology CDs we hear an earlier version of the song that has a full rock band sound and does not have the tasty guitar riff that helps make the final version memorable. The difference between this version and the final version shows how a different arrangement and some cool riffs can really make a song work.
As a cool final touch the song ends on a major version of the relative minor tonic chord. In other words instead of the telegraphed D minor at the end it ends on a D major chord instead. The Beatles often added these subtle little touches to their songs and that helps to set them apart.
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Buy The Beatles in Stereo and The Beatles in Mono box sets to hear this song in remastered stereo & mono.
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