SHE LOVES YOU

The 1960s gave us a lot of things. The Cuba crisis, John F. Kennedy, Sputnik, Flower Power.... and this single. Oh yes, She Loves You should be rated alongside the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It gave it's name to this yeah yeah generation. It broke The Beatles around the world and banned their music among Communists and fundamental Christians. The Russians went berserk and called this single a CIA plot to destroy communism. Some American politicians also went berserk and called this single a KGB plot to destroy the western civilization. In other words; this single divided opinions....

The song itself is pretty close to be a stroke of brilliance. The melody, the yeah yeah yeah screaming chorus and the lyrics itself. This song is a perfect riot, in every sense of the word. I have spent thirty years hating it since I got an overdose of Beatles through my neighbor in a young age. But now, I really like She Loves You. He loves it......... very funny.

This song, make that a cultural icon, also have some subtle details well worth checking out. Listen to George Harrison's five seconds long guitar licks scattered along this two minutes long song. Brilliant, they are. Listen to Pau's subtle bass lines. Listen to John and Paul's vocal harmonies. Listen to Ringo's small kicks on the drums. This song is not all about yeah yeah yeah. Hold onto your hats.................... this is actually a brilliant song !

The B side I'll Get You is also a superb song, very much in the Please Please Me album era type of songs. It is a very naive, sweet and inoffensive song which pleases every mother in law...... and her parrot. But the main song is She Loves You and that is why I award 4 stars. Send me to a mental hospital if you want.

4 stars

This is just a funny idea I got this morning: to write a set of reviews from subsequent years. Most of them will be on singles, but since the only point is to proceed year by year, there may be some albums along the way, too. I'm increasing the personal challenge by starting BEFORE the year 1967 which I see as a turning point in pop music. I have a minimal relationship with pre-'67 pop/rock in general, Simon & Garfunkel being among the few exceptions.

My own relationship with The Beatles is sovereignly based on their magnificent later albums, but like everybody I couldn't have avoided to hear many of their earlier hits. I was born in 1970, so I wasn't there when The Beatles made pop history, but I can imagine how much the band has meant to the older generation.

'She Loves You' is one of the finest early Beatles songs. It starts unconventionally with the chorus which is a guaranteed earworm. Everything around it is full of interesting melodies and vocal harmonies, even some clever tempo changes. This happy song is a definite evergreen.

The B-sider 'I'll Get You' is not a commonly known Beatles song. The beginning with "Oh yeah, oh yeah" and hands clapping the rhythm is frankly not very promising, but it can't be denied there is the melodic genius of Lennon/McCartney shining through in this little song. The playing and the arrangement featuring some uninspired harmonica are perhaps slightly below the standard.