"You Like Me Too Much" is a song by the English rock band

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

. It was written by

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

, the group's lead guitarist, and released in August 1965 on the ''

Help! ''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their Help! (film), film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles "Help! ( ...

'' album, except in North America, where it appeared on ''

Beatles VI ''Beatles VI'' is the seventh Capitol Records studio album by the English rock band the Beatles in the United States and Canada (including ''The Beatles' Story''). It was the ninth album released into that market in less than one and a half ye ...

''. The band recorded the track on 17 February that year at EMI Studios in London.

Musical characteristics

The song is in the key of G major and in 4/4 time. There is an introduction using piano and

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

, with

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

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 B ...

playing two different piano parts on separate ends of the same Steinway grand piano. The Steinway appears only in the song's intro and was overdubbed separately, as were McCartney's bass and Harrison's vocal overdubs. The electric piano is a

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

Pianet The Hohner Pianet is a type of electro-mechanical piano built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany and designed by Ernst Zacharias. The Pianet was a variant of his earlier reed-based Hohner electric piano, the Cembalet, which, like ...

, played 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 ...

. The sound of the instrument's

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single Musical note, note, particularly used on String instrument#Bowing, bowed string instrument ...

being switched off after the introduction can be heard. The quick transition from G chord to a flat-III (B) is unusual, especially as its F-natural note is melodically sustained against the following D-major chord (with its concomitant F) creating what musicologist Alan Pollack terms "the most bluesy moment of the entire song". The verse opens with three repetitions of a simple four-note motif ("Though you've gone away this morning, you'll be back again tonight") during which the chords mirror the lyrics in shifting from ii (Am chord) on "gone away" to IV (C chord) on "back again" to the tonic (G chord) on "tonight".

Cover versions

The band Glycerine covered "You Like Me Too Much" on the album ''Harrisongs Volume 2 – A Tribute to George Harrison''.

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 a ...

, except where noted: The Beatles *

–

double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

vocal, lead guitar, tambourine *

– acoustic rhythm guitar,

– backing vocal, bass, piano *

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

– drums Additional musician *

– piano

References

Sources

* *

External links

Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
{{Authority control 1965 songs The Beatles songs Songs written by George Harrison Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs published by Northern Songs