I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
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"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is a song written by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
and recorded in 1964 by the English rock band
the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
for the film soundtrack to ''A Hard Day's Night''. Lead vocals are by George Harrison, whose performance in the film marked the first mass media depiction of Harrison singing lead.


Composition

The song was written specifically for George Harrison to sing at a time when he lacked the confidence to compose his own material. Years later, McCartney described it as a "formula song", and Lennon said, "I would never have sung it myself." The song features a hectic style rhythm guitar in juxtaposition with Harrison's placid vocal. Its composers give it an unexpected choice of chord at the crux of its chorus, augmenting the B7th on "I'm happy just to ''dance'' with you". The song is also distinctive in that it begins not with a verse or chorus but with the last four bars of the bridge. According to musicologist Ian MacDonald, its guitar part derives its inspiration from the Rolling Stones' cover of Buddy Holly's song, " Not Fade Away". '' Cash Box'' described it as "a stomp-a-rhythmic delight."


Recording

The Beatles recorded "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on a Sunday, the first time they had used Abbey Road Studios on a day other than a normal work day.
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
released the song on the album ''A Hard Day's Night'' on 26 June. It was also included on the album '' Something New'', released by Capitol Records on 20 July. It hit #95 on the ''Billboard'' Top 100 chart on 1 August 1964, its only appearance on that chart. It is one of only two Lennon–McCartney songs sung by Harrison during the group's career, the other song being "
Do You Want to Know a Secret "Do You Want to Know a Secret" is a song by English rock band the Beatles from their 1963 album '' Please Please Me'', sung by George Harrison. In the United States, it was the first top ten song to feature Harrison as a lead singer, reaching N ...
". The group also recorded a version for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''From Us to You''
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
show. The session took place on 17 July 1964 at the BBC Paris Studio in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and was first broadcast on 3 August that year. An instrumental piano-only version is heard in the ''A Hard Day's Night'' film, during rehearsals for a musical television broadcast.


Personnel

According to
Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...
: * George Harrison – lead vocal, lead guitar *
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
– backing vocal, rhythm guitar *
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
– backing vocal, bass * Ringo Starr – drums,
African drum Sub-Saharan African music is characterised by a "strong rhythmic interest" that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as const ...
*
George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...
– producer * Norman Smith –
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...


Anne Murray cover

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...
included a cover of "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on her 1980 album ''
Somebody's Waiting ''Somebody's Waiting'' is the fifteenth studio album by Canadian country pop artist Anne Murray, released in March 1980 via Capitol Records. The album charted lower in the U.S. than most of Murray's other releases from the same period, peaking ...
''. Murray had had some success in previous years covering other Beatles songs such as "
You Won't See Me "You Won't See Me" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album ''Rubber Soul''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. As with songs such as "We Can Work It Out" and "I'm Looking Through Yo ...
" and "
Day Tripper "Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with " We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney a ...
." Unlike the Beatles' original, Murray's version of "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is an adult-contemporary
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
. Murray's version of the song was released as a single in mid-1980, reaching No. 64 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 23 on the ''Billboard'' country chart, and No. 13 Adult Contemporary.


Chart performance

;The Beatles ;Anne Murray


Other cover versions

*
The Cyrkle The Cyrkle was an American rock band active in the early and mid-1960s. The group charted two Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" and " Turn-Down Day". Career The band was formed by guitarists and lead singers Don Dannemann and Tom Dawes (who also p ...
released a version of the song on their 1967 album, ''Neon''. *
Randy Bachman Randolph Charles Bachman (; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Bachman recorded as a solo artist and was part of a num ...
and Burton Cummings included a cover of the song on their 2007 album ''
Jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...
''.
The Smithereens The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio (vocals & guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar & vocals), Mike Mesaros (bass guitar & vocals), and Dennis Diken (drum ...
also released a cover on their 2008 album, ''B-Sides The Beatles''.


Later uses

Tori Kelly Victoria Loren Kelly (born December 14, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter, and voice actress. She first gained recognition after posting videos on YouTube as a teenager, and made it through to Hollywood week on the ninth season of ''Americ ...
sang the song as the character Millie Pede in ''
Beat Bugs ''Beat Bugs'' is an animated children's television series, created by Josh Wakely, and produced for Netflix by Grace: A Storytelling Company and Thunderbird Entertainment since 2016. The series is centred around five young anthropomorphised ins ...
'', an Australian-Canadian animated children's television series.


References

Notes Bibliography * * * * *


External links

* {{authority control 1964 singles 1980 singles The Beatles songs Anne Murray songs The Cyrkle songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written for films Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Songs published by Northern Songs 1964 songs Parlophone singles Songs about dancing