"P.S. I Love You" is a song recorded by 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 ...
in 1962. It was composed principally by
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 ...
(credited to
Lennon–McCartney
Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is the best-known and most successful musical collaboration ever by records sold, with the ...
), and produced by
Ron Richards. The song was released in the UK on 5 October 1962 as the
B-side of their debut single "
Love Me Do
"Love Me Do" is the official debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by " P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the Unite ...
" and is also included on their debut album ''
Please Please Me
''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two s ...
'' (1963). It was later included on the American release ''
Introducing... The Beatles'' (1964), its reissue ''
The Early Beatles
''The Early Beatles'' is the Beatles' sixth album released on Capitol Records, and their eighth album overall for the American market. All of the tracks on this album had previously been issued on the early 1964 Vee-Jay Records release '' Intro ...
'' (1965), and the Beatles compilation album ''
Love Songs
A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order ...
'' (1977).
Recording
The version featured on the single and album was recorded in ten
take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.
Film
In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...
s on 11 September 1962 at EMI's
Abbey Road Studios, London. Producer
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 ...
had booked session drummer
Andy White as a replacement for
Pete Best
Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...
, whom he considered not technically good enough for recording purposes; Martin had been unaware that the other Beatles had already replaced Pete Best with
Ringo Starr, who attended the session and plays maracas on the song. White was a freelance show band and session drummer, and gave the recording a lightweight
cha cha treatment.
Martin was not present at the session; in his absence, it was run by
Ron Richards. Richards told the group that the song could not be the
A-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
of their single because of an
earlier song with the same title: "I was originally a music publishing man, a plugger, so I knew someone had done a record with that title. I said to Paul, 'You can have it as B-side, but not an A-side.'"
With Starr playing drums, the Beatles recorded the song at 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. ...
...
on 25 October 1962, 27 November 1962 and 17 June 1963 for subsequent broadcast on the BBC radio programmes ''Here We Go'', ''Talent Spot'' and ''Pop Go the Beatles'', respectively. The 17 June 1963 recording was officially published on the ''
, this song is sometimes considered to be a dedication to his then-girlfriend Dot Rhone. However, McCartney denies this:
commented:
Melodically typical of McCartney's later writing style, the song demonstrates two notable exceptions to the contemporaneous model: during the opening chorus the chord D♭7 is placed incongruously between G and D (on ''write''), and during the song's title phrase a sudden shift to B♭ occurs underneath "P.S. I love ''you''" which
described as "a dark sidestep". Lennon contributes a single note harmony emphasising the beginning of each
. Lyrically constructed with their female audience in mind, the Beatles included it as part of their
On its 20th anniversary, Parlophone re-issued "P.S. I Love You" as a
, and shortly afterwards as a 12-inch disc.
except where noted
For the Beatles' BBC session recorded 17 June 1963 and released on the album ''
*
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