"Ain't She Sweet" is a song composed by

Milton Ager Milton Ager (October 6, 1893 – May 6, 1979) was an American composer, regarded as one of the top songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s. His most lasting compositions include " Ain't She Sweet” and “Happy Days Are Here Again”. Biography Ag ...

, with lyrics by

Jack Yellen Jack Selig Yellen (Jacek Jeleń; July 6, 1892 – April 17, 1991) was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for writing the lyrics to the songs "Happy Days Are Here Again", which was used by Franklin Roosevelt as the theme ...

. It was published in 1927 by Ager, Yellen & Bornstein, Inc. It became popular in the first half of the 20th century and typified the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western world, Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultura ...

. Like "

Happy Days Are Here Again "Happy Days Are Here Again" is a 1929 song with music by Milton Ager and lyrics by Jack Yellen. It was originally published by Ager, Yellen, and Bornstein. The song is a standard that has been interpreted by various artists. It appeared in t ...

" (1929), it became a

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

standard. Both Ager and Yellen were elected to the

Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work represent and maintain the heri ...

wrote "Ain't She Sweet" for his daughter Shana Ager, who in her adult life was known as the political commentator Shana Alexander.

Recorded versions

"Ain't She Sweet" was also recorded by

Fabian Forte Fabian Anthony Forte (born February 6, 1943), professionally known as Fabian, is an American singer and actor. Forte rose to national prominence after performing several times on ''American Bandstand''. He became a teen idol of the late 1950s ...

, Hoosier Hot Shots,

Ray Anthony Ray Anthony (born Raymond Antonini; January 20, 1922) is an American retired bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor. He is the last living member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Biography Anthony was born to an Italian family in Bentleyv ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

Tiny Hill Harry Lawrence "Tiny" Hill (July 19, 1906 – December 13, 1971) was an American band leader of the big band era. During the height of his career, Hill was billed as "America's Biggest Bandleader" because of his weight of over . His signatu ...

, The Playboys, The Viscounts, and Frankie Lymon. The song was also covered in 1990 on the album '' Funk of Ages'' by

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American Keyboard instrument, keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. In later years, he also worked with ...

and several former members of

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...

Versions by the Beatles

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 ...

regularly performed the song live from 1957 to 1962. According to Beatles historian

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.

, " John ennonmay have known the song through his

mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

; he certainly knew it from

Gene Vincent Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American rock and roll musician who pioneered the style of rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-a-Lula", is ...

's 1956 recording on the LP '' Bluejean Bop!''" In ''The Beatles as Musicians'', Walter Everett offers a similar assessment, writing simply that it was "based on Gene Vincent's record."

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 ...

and writer

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 ...

also agrees with this view. Lewisohn further notes that, "John Lennon's vocal rendition was different from Vincent's, it would seem that he arranged his own unique version... He may have also been influenced by

Duffy Power Duffy Power (born Raymond Leslie Howard; 9 September 1941 – 19 February 2014) was an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later. Career Ray Howard ...

's 1959 version". In the Beatles' ''

Anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

'' book, McCartney recalls that "Songs like '

Till There Was You "Till There Was You" is a show tune written by Meredith Willson, popularised by his 1957 stage production ''The Music Man'' and its 1962 movie musical adaptation, and further popularised by the Beatles cover. The song became the first To ...

' and 'Ain't She Sweet' would be the late-night

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

material. They showed that we weren't just another

rock'n'roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

group."

Recording

On June 22 or 24, 1961, during their first professional recording session, the Beatles recorded a cover of "Ain't She Sweet". Recorded at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in

Hamburg, Germany Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, produced by

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born ; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-kno ...

and engineered by Karl Hinze, the session saw the Beatles backing

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

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 ...

later recalled that the group misunderstood the purpose of the recording session and only learned upon arrival that they would be backing Sheridan. Harrison further added, "It was a bit disappointing because we'd been hoping to get a record deal as ourselves." "Ain't She Sweet" was one of two songs recorded without Sheridan with Lennon instead on lead vocal. In 1968, Lennon reflected, "We thought it would be easy: the Germans had such shitty records, ours was bound to be better." MacDonald surmised that the Beatles decided to record a cover to save their stronger originals, such as McCartney's " Like Dreamers Do" and Lennon's " Hello Little Girl". In a 1975 radio interview, Lennon explained that Gene Vincent's cover was "very mellow and very high pitched, and I used to do it like that, but they said ''harder, harder''—you know, Germans all want it a bit more like a march—so we ended up doing a harder version of it." Lewisohn remarks that Lennon "gives it a good and powerful go, but there's a strange timbre to his voice, as if he was suffering from 'Hamburg throat' while also straining to deliver Kaempfert's brittle sound on a song that didn't suit it." Everett describes Lennon's singing style as "very detached, slightly hiccuping" and notes his use of a

mordent In music, a mordent is an ornament indicating that the note is to be played with ''a single'' rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trills, they can be chromatically modified by a small flat, sharp or natural accidental. The ...

for emphasis. Lewisohn further evaluated that

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (; born 24 November 1941) is an English retired musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed shortly before the band achieved worldwide fame and is one of several people referred to as a ...

's drumming "lacks imagination" and McCartney's "bass is accomplished." Harrison's guitar solo "judged even in its place and time... wasn't good." Everett comments that, "as a whole, these recordings are hardly representative of the future Beatles." MacDonald judges it similarly, writing, "...it Ain't She Sweet"made little sense as a choice for the Beatles' first professional recording and fails to reward attention in hindsight." In ''The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles'', Howard Kramer writes that the session was "musically unspectacular" and "the Beatles' instrumental backing shows competence, but little more."

Release

After the session, the Beatles expected that a single of "Ain't She Sweet" b/w "Beatle Bop" would be released in America, Germany and Britain in the weeks that followed. It was not until October 23, 1961 that a single was released 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 ...

exclusively, except it was instead "

My Bonnie ''My Bonnie'' is a 1962 album by English rock and roll singer-songwriter and musician Tony Sheridan. Sheridan, then playing in clubs in Hamburg with the Beatles, was discovered by producer Bert Kaempfert and subsequently signed with him to reco ...

" b/w " The Saints", credited as "Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers". The Liverpool music newspaper ''

Mersey Beat ''Mersey Beat'' was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and ...

'' reported that the Beatles were dissatisfied with "Ain't She Sweet" and "Cry For A Shadow" and so sold their rights back to Kaempfert's company, Bert Kaempfert Produktion (BKP).

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

's first worldwide release of "Ain't She Sweet" was on the February 1964 French EP, '. Polydor released it in the U.K. as a single on May 29, 1964 b/w "If You Love Me, Baby", a mistitling of the

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...

song " Take Out Some Insurance". On July 6, 1964

ATCO Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

released the track as a single in America b/w the

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian country music guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' country charts betw ...

song " Nobody's Child". In August 1964, the song peaked at number 19 on the US

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

. In Sweden, it reached number 4 on Sweden's Kvällstoppen Chart and also reached the top spot on the '' Tio i Topp'' chart. It was the highest-charting Beatles single with original drummer

. The Beatles were neither paid nor owed royalty payments for the release. The track has been included on several releases, including '' Ain't She Sweet'' (1964), '' The Beatles' First'' (1964) and '' In the Beginning (Circa 1960)'' (1970). The Beatles included the recording on the 1995

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 ...

Anthology 1 ''Anthology 1'' is a compilation album of music by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, inclu ...

''. On 24 July 1969 during a recording session for " Sun King"/" Mean Mr. Mustard", Lennon began an impromptu jam of "Ain't She Sweet" along with the other Gene Vincent songs, "Who Slapped John?" and " Be-Bop-a-Lula". Lewisohn remarked that this version was more in the style of Gene Vincent than the Beatles' original 1961 version. The Beatles included this version of "Ain't She Sweet" on the 1996 compilation album ''

Anthology 3 ''Anthology 3'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 28 October 1996 by Apple Records as part of '' The Beatles Anthology'' series. The album includes rarities and alternative tracks from the final two years of the band's c ...

''.

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald: The Beatles *

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 ...

– lead vocal, rhythm guitar *

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 ...

– bass guitar *

– lead guitar *

– drums

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Film appearances

* Hazel Green & Company, a

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

musical short (1927) * In January 1928, a short film of ''Ain't She Sweet'' sung by Chili Bouchier was filmed in the DeForest

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...

sound-on-film process * '' Duck Soup'' (Paramount Pictures, 1933) * ''

Margie Margie is a feminine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of the related names Margaret, Marjorie, or Margarita, all of which mean "pearl". Margie may refer to: People * Margie Abbott (born 1958), Australian businesswoman * Margie Ac ...

'' (Twentieth Century Fox, 1946) * '' You Were Meant for Me'' (Twentieth Century Fox, 1948) * ''You're My Everything'' (Twentieth Century Fox, 1949) * ''

Force of Arms ''Force of Arms'' (reissued under the title ''A Girl for Joe'') is a 1951 romantic war drama film set in the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian campaign of World War II, starring William Holden, Nancy Olson, and Frank Lovejoy. Directed ...

'' (Warner Brothers, 1951) * '' Strangers on a Train'' (Warner Brothers, 1951) * '' Feed the Kitty'' (1952) Merrie Melodies cartoon * '' East of Eden'' (Warner Brothers, 1955) * ''

The Eddy Duchin Story ''The Eddy Duchin Story'' is a 1956 American biopic film of band leader and pianist Eddy Duchin starring Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. Filmed in CinemaScope, the Technicolor production was directed by George Sidney and written by Samuel A. T ...

'' (Columbia Pictures, 1955) * ''

Picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

'' (MGM, 1955) * '' Miss Mary'' (1986)John King, Sheila Whitaker, Rosa Bosch. An Argentine Passion: Maria Luisa Bemberg and Her Films. 2000. p.129-130 * ''

Midnight in Paris ''Midnight in Paris'' is a 2011 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. Set in Paris, the film follows Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a screenwriter and aspiring novelist, who is forced to confront the shortcomings of his relationsh ...

'' (Sony Pictures Classics, 2011)

TV appearances

* ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family ...

'' Season 1, Episode 8: "Jethro Goes to School" (sung by ''

Phil Gordon (actor) Phil Gordon (May 5, 1916 – June 15, 2010) was an American actor and dialect coach, most known for his work in television. Gordon's work included roles on ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' (playing Jasper "Jazzbo" Depew), ''Green Acres'', and ''Pett ...

''; 1962) * ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'', sung by Sylvia Goodwin and others * ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American sitcoms in the United States, sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as ''Archie Bunker's Pla ...

'', Season 5, Episode 1: "The Bunkers and Inflation", Part 1 (1974) * '' House M.D.'' Season 2, Episode 9: "Deception" * '' You Rang, M'Lord?'' Season 2, Episode 5: "The Wounds of War" * ''

Heartbeat (UK TV series) ''Heartbeat'' is a British police procedural period drama series, based upon the ''Constable'' series of novels written by Nicholas Rhea, and produced by Yorkshire Television until it was merged with ITV, then by ITV Studios, from 1992 until 2 ...

'' Series 16, Episode 12: "Vendetta" (2007) * '' Bunheads'' Season 1, Episode 1: "Pilot" (2012) * '' Being Human'' Season 4, Episode 5: "The Honeymooners"

Footnotes

References

Sources

* * * * * * Accessed 24 February 2021. * * * * * * {{Authority control 1927 songs 1964 singles American songs Articles containing video clips Atco Records singles The Beatles songs The Beatles with Tony Sheridan songs Frankie Lymon songs Eddie Cantor songs Jazz compositions in C major Music published by MPL Music Publishing Number-one singles in Sweden Polydor Records singles Songs with music by Milton Ager Songs written by Jack Yellen