"" and "" () are German-language versions of "

I Want to Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963 in the United Kingdom, it was the first Beatles recor ...

" and "

She Loves You "She Loves You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released as a single in the United Kingdom on 23 August 1963. The single set and surpassed several sales records in the United Kingdom c ...

", respectively, by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. Both

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

wrote the original English songs, credited to the

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

partnership, while

Camillo Felgen Camillo Jean Nicolas Felgen (17 November 1920 – 16 July 2005) was a Luxembourgish singer, lyricist, disc jockey, and television presenter, who represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 and in 1962. Biography Source: Felgen ...

wrote the translated German lyrics. Felgen is credited under several of his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

s. In places, his translations take major liberties with the original lyrics.

Odeon Records Odeon Records is a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. The label's name and logo come from the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris. History Straus a ...

released the German versions together as a non-album single in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in March 1964.

Swan Records Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States–based record label, founded in 1957 and based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records. History Swan Records had enjoyed chart success with several U.S. ar ...

released "", along with the original "She Loves You"

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

I'll Get You "I'll Get You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and released by the Beatles as the B-side of their 1963 single "She Loves You". The song was initially titled "Get You in the End". Struct ...

", as a single in the United States in May 1964.

Capitol Capitol, capitols or The Capitol may refer to: Places and buildings Legislative building * United States Capitol, in Washington, D.C. * National Capitol of Colombia, in Bogotá * Palacio Federal Legislativo, in Caracas, Venezuela * National Ca ...

included "" as the closing track of the 1964 North American-only album '' Something New''. The recording of "" and "" came at a time when it was standard practice for artists to record unique versions of songs for foreign markets. Executives from Odeon insisted with

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 Beatle ...

and

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein ( ; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put hi ...

that in order for them to penetrate the German market, the Beatles would need to record German versions of their biggest songs. The Beatles opposed the idea until Martin convinced them to record. On 29 January 1964, during their only group recording session outside of the United Kingdom, the Beatles recorded the songs at

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

's Pathé Marconi Studios in

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. For "", they

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

German vocals onto the original backing track of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The two-track tapes of "She Loves You" from July 1963 were erased after the

mono Mono may refer to: Biology * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) * Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos Technology and computing * Mono (audio), single-c ...

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was made, forcing the Beatles to record "" entirely from scratch. The English and German versions contain differences, the most prominent being Lennon's rhythm guitar; on the former he plays his Gibson J-160E while on the latter he plays his

Rickenbacker Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. Rickenbacker is the first known maker of electric guitars, with a steel guitar in 1932, and produces a range of electric guitars and bass ...

325 Capri. The German versions reached number one and seven in the

German charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

, respectively. "" reached number 97 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Following these recordings, the Beatles never again made foreign versions of their songs. Commentators have credited the band's subsequent practice of only releasing their songs in the original English with helping to spread the English language across Europe and the rest of the world.

Background and development

The beginning of 1964 saw the Beatles reaching international levels of fame. On 14 and 15 January, the Beatles arrived in

for a 19-day residency at the Olympia Theatre. On 25 January 1964, after returning to the hotel from a show, Beatles manager

informed them that "

" reached number one in the United States on the ''Cashbox'' Top 100 chart. On 1 February, it went to number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. From this point forward, Epstein focused on promoting the Beatles to the international market. Otto Demmlar, a producer of the German sub-label of

, , conceived the Beatles recording songs in German.

insisted with Epstein and Beatles producer

that if they wanted to sell more records in

, the band would need to rerecord their biggest songs in German. At that time, recording unique versions for foreign markets was a standard practice. Odeon sent

Luxembourger Luxembourgers ( ; ) are an ethnic group native to their nation state of Luxembourg, where they make up around half of the population. They share the culture of Luxembourg and speak Luxembourgish, a West Germanic language. Luxembourgers were ...

, a popular presenter from

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, to make translations and meet Martin and the Beatles in Paris. Felgen initially translated both sides of the original "

" single, with the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

becoming "" and the B-side "

" becoming "". Beatles writer John C. Winn translates this back to English as "Happy like never before". Because it was a more recent hit, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" replaced "I'll Get You" and became the prospective A-side of the single, with Felgen translating the title as "". Beatles writer

Kenneth Womack Kenneth Womack (born January 24, 1966) is an American writer, literary critic, public speaker, and music historian, particularly focusing on the cultural influence of the Beatles. He is the author of the bestselling ''Solid State: The Story of ...

translates this back to English as "Come on, give me your hand" while Winn translates it as "Come, give me your hand". Felgen translated under several

s, including Jean Nicolas, Heinz Hellmer and Lee Montague. The credits on "" are

–Nicolas–Hellmer while the credits on "" are Lennon–McCartney–Nicolas–Montague.

Musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

Walter Everett writes that both translations take great liberties. He singles out the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

of "" in particular, which became, "" These lyrics translate to English as: "She loves you / yeah, yeah, yeah / for with you alone / can she only be happy." In his book ''

Revolution in the Head ''Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties'' is a book by British music critic and author Ian MacDonald, discussing the music of the Beatles and the band's relationship to the social and cultural changes of the 1960s. The fir ...

'',

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...

says, "The German rewrite didn't go so far as insisting on ''." Womack writes a more direct translation of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would be "".

Recording

On 24 January 1964 at EMI Recording Studios,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

Norman Smith made a tape-to-tape copy of the basic rhythm track of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" from take 17 of the original 17 October 1963 session. The tape was brought by Martin and Smith during their travels to Paris, where they met with the Beatles. On 29 January 1964, the Beatles were due in the studio to record the German translations. In an interview for

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

's 1988 book ''

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions ''The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions'' (subtitled ''The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962–1970'') is a 1988 reference book on the English rock band the Beatles written by Mark Lewisohn. It was published by Hamlyn (publisher), H ...

'', Martin recalled of the day: The Beatles recorded "" and "", along with McCartney's new song "

Can't Buy Me Love "Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side and B-side, A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The s ...

", at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris. This was their first recording session outside Abbey Road and the band's only one outside of the United Kingdom. "" was the first of three songs recorded that day. Martin produced it, being supported by engineers Smith and Jacques Esmenjaud. Smith recalled, "I found the studio very odd to work in, the equipment was alien to anything we were used to", and, "

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

was absolutely no atmosphere!" The original rhythm track was mixed down from four-track to two-track. The Beatles

German vocals and handclaps across 11 takes, as well as

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

's Country Gent. Takes five and seven were marked "best" and edited together, along with a handclap overdub. The original two-track tape of "She Loves You", recorded on 1 July 1963, had been erased after the

was finished, meaning the Beatles needed to record "" entirely from scratch. They recorded a new rhythm track in 13 takes.

's rhythm guitar distinguishes the German and English backing tracks from one another. In July 1963 on "She Loves You", he plays his Gibson J-160E, a guitar later stolen in early January 1964 during the Beatles' 1963–64 Christmas show. For "", he instead plays his

325 Capri. The Beatles overdubbed German vocals in a single take – take 14. Smith recalled, "They were extremely pleased to get it over with... we all were." The Beatles worked quicker than anticipated and so cancelled a second session booked for two days later on 31 January 1964. They used their remaining studio time to record four takes of "Can't Buy Me Love". On 10 March 1964, while the Beatles filmed '' A Hard Day's Night'', Martin, assisted by Smith, mixed "" and "" for mono at EMI Recording Studios. He used the combined edit of takes five and seven for the former and take 14 for the latter. Two days after the initial mix, they mixed the songs for

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

, equalizing, compressing and adding

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

as well. Copies of the mixes were sent to West Germany and the United States. Everett comments that the most noticeable differences between the mixes of "" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" are Lennon's compressed Capri guitar, which is heard more freely in the German version, and Harrison's Gent guitar, which has a different bass

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

Release and impact

Odeon released the German single of "" b/w "" across West Germany in March 1964. The songs reached number one and seven in the

, respectively. In Denmark, the single reached number 15. Sourced from the German release,

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

released the single in Australia during June 1964, though it failed to chart.

, a small

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

mainly known for

novelty records Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

, obtained the US rights to "She Loves You" in September 1963. After the Beatles recorded "", Swan argued they likewise held the rights to that song. Swan released "" b/w "I'll Get You" in the US on 21 May 1964. The single was on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for one week, peaking at number 97.

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

included "" as the closing track on the Beatles' North American album '' Something New'' in July 1964. Beatles biographer Jonathan Gould refers to this as "an added curiosity". MacDonald ascribes the inclusion to Capitol being "newly anxious to exploit every last scrap of Beatles product..." Both Everett and Winn write that the songs were released in the US because of the American public's desperation for new Beatles material. Following these recordings, the Beatles never recorded foreign versions of their songs again. In ''The Beatles Anthology'', Martin reflected of the songs: "They were the only things they have ever done in a foreign language. And they didn't need to anyway ..The records would have sold in English, and did." By the end of 1963, the Beatles had already achieved hits in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

without needing to record translated versions.

Peter Doggett Peter Doggett (born 30 June 1957) is an English music journalist, author and magazine editor. He began his career in music journalism in 1980, when he joined the London-based magazine '' Record Collector''. He subsequently served as the editor ...

credits the Beatles popularity with helping spread the English language throughout Europe, especially among young people. MacDonald offers similar sentiments, but goes further, asserting they helped spread English around the world. Parlophone released both tracks for the first time in the UK on the 1978

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

'' Rarities''. This was the first stereo release of "" anywhere. In addition, the release eliminates a stray English word ("coming") present on the original stereo version of "". In the US, "" remained readily available on re-releases of ''Something New''. "" however fell out of print after its 1964 release. The song remained unavailable in the US until Capitol included the stereo version on the 1980 American compilation album '' Rarities''. Both tracks were first released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

for the 1988 compilation ''

Past Masters, Volume One ''Past Masters'' is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The album contai ...

''. The stereo and mono tracks were

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

and included on the 2009 releases ''

Past Masters ''Past Masters'' is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The album contai ...

'' and ''

Mono Masters ''Mono Masters'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, and is an alternate, all-mono version of the album ''Past Masters''. ''Mono Masters'' was originally a two-CD set included as part of ''The Beatles in Mono'' box set. The premise of this box ...

''. "" is featured in the 2019

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

film ''

Jojo Rabbit ''Jojo Rabbit'' is a 2019 political satire, satirical drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, adapted from Christine Leunens's 2008 book ''Caging Skies''. Roman Griffin Davis portrays the title character, Johannes "Jojo" Betzler, a te ...

'', directed by

Taika Waititi Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. Known for quirky comedy films and expanding his career as a voice actor and producer on numerous projects, he ...

, and its soundtrack. After initially being denied, the film's composer

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino ( , ; born October 10, 1967) is an American film, television, and video game score composer. He has received many accolades for his work, including an Academy Award for ''Up (2009 film), Up'' (2009), an Emmy Award, Emmy for Lo ...

helped secure the rights to the song by contacting McCartney, with whom he had previously worked.

Personnel

According to Everett, Winn and MacDonald: *

vocal, rhythm guitar, handclaps *

vocal, bass, handclaps *

lead guitar, handclaps *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

drums, handclaps According to Lewisohn and MacDonald:: new rhythm track for "" based on the original "She Loves You", vocal overdub of German vocals; : personnel for "She Loves You". * John Lennon vocal, rhythm guitar * Paul McCartney vocal, bass * George Harrison harmony vocal, lead guitar * Ringo Starr drums

Charts

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Full lyrics to "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" at the Beatles' official website

Full lyrics to "Sie liebt dich" at the Beatles' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komm, gib mir deine Hand Sie liebt dich 1964 singles 1964 songs The Beatles songs Songs in German Number-one singles in Germany Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs published by Northern Songs Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Swan Records singles