With the Beatles (album) 1963

- Features 14 new tracks, 8 of which are original and 6 of which are covers (mostly contemporary R&B and mo-town staples).
- Released in November, 1963.
- Unlike the previous album, this one doesn't include the new singles (From Me to You, She Loves You) released prior to it.
- Released in the U.S. (with a few track differences and two less songs) as Meet the Beatles.
- Features the first recording of a song written by George Harrison.
- Ringo starts to mix it up a bit percussion-wise on this album. In one instance he uses something called an 'Arabian loose-skin bongo'.
- The band was also given more time to put this album together than the hastily slapped-together Please Please Me album, and so they went to town with double-tracking everything.
- The album cover harkens to early promotional photos taken of the band back in Hamburg by their friend Astrid Kirchherr.

1. It Won't Be Long
- Such a great album starter. A spiritual successor to the previous album's opening track - equally vibrant and raucous, and even more modern.
- Written mainly by Lennon with some input from McCartney in regards to lyrics and arrangement.
- Pretty standard for this period of the band's songwriting: features call-and-answer vocals, a vocal solo at the end, an unusual chord for the song to end on, and an unusual bridge that bucks the trends of the genre. The unexpected chords and notes that the band often used for the bridges in their earlier songs mark certain exact points where the Beatles really pushed the boundaries of the era.
- The lyrics apparently feature the word 'Yeah' 56 times!
- Lennon intended for this to be another big Beatles single, but I Want to Hold Your Hand was chosen instead.
- This is the first time Lennon would double-track his lead vocals, something that would become commonplace for the rest of his career.
- The original mono version of this song had a few vocal glitches in the final chorus.
- Runs for just over two minutes, and took 17 takes.

2. All I've Got to Do
- Another Lennon track, this time influenced by Smokey Robinson, The Miracles, Arthur Alexander and other similar mo-town artists.
- This is one of three songs that Lennon pretty much wrote all by himself for this album (the other two are the aforementioned It Won't Be Long and Not a Second Time). Lennon later said that he was specifically aiming this song at an American audience, hence the phone references (as at the time phones apparently weren't really a part of British culture yet).
- Ends with Lennon humming over the verse as it fades out.
- This song was never played live, the only time the entire band played it together was during their recording of it for this album. As a result there were a lot of incomplete takes.
- Goes for the exact same amount of time as the previous song on the album, and took the same amount of takes.

3. All My Loving
- Written by McCartney. Unlike a lot of other Beatles song from this time, the lyrics were written before the music.
- McCartney wrote this while the band was on tour with Roy Orbison. He envisioned it as a country & western styled song and primarily wrote the music on the piano. The lyrics were inspired by his girlfriend of the time, Jane Asher,
- The country & western angle was dropped before recording when McCartney realised it had the potential to be a single.
- Harrison's lead guitar work was modelled after country guitarist Chet Aitkens. Unusually (for a pop song), the guitar solo takes place over a specially written bridge that doesn't feature anywhere else in the song. Usually in pop songs a guitar solo will be played over a verse or a bridge that has previously featured in the song as a vocal part.
- The incredibly fast rhythm guitar parts were supplied by Lennon, who liked this song very much.
- This song recieved a lot of praise from the press and music critics due to it's letter-styled lyrics and general composition. As a result it had a lot of airplay despite not being a single in the U.K.
- The only places where it was a single were Scandanavia, where it reach #1 in Finland, and Canada.
- The song's popularity eventually led to it being re-released as the leading track on a 1964 E.P. of other previously released material.
- McCartney did all the vocals on the recorded version, but George Harrison provided the harmony vocals whenever it was performed live.
- Folklore says that this was playing on the hospital P.A. when John Lennon was officially pronounced dead in 1980.
- Runs for just over two minutes and took 14 takes to record.

4. Don't Bother Me
- Considered to be the first song written by George Harrison. Ever!
- Harrison had previously co-written two unreleased Beatles tracks, Cry for a Shadow (an instrumental co-written with Lennon) and In Spite of All the Danger (a McCartney song for which Harrison was given credit for writing the guitar solo). Both remained unreleased until they featured on the Anthology series in 1995.
- Harrison sings the lead vocals, none of the others provided any back up vocals.
- Harrison didn't think very highly of this song but thought it was a handy exercise in songwriting. He proved to himself that he could write a whole song and it encouraged him to keep trying.
- Characteristically for Harrison (but not for the band at the time), the lyrics are downbeat and the song remains mostly in a minor key. This may also be because he wrote the song while he was sick with the flu.
- Ringo provides some latin-styled percussion.
- This song also features in the film A Hard Day's Night.
- There are demo recordings still in existence of Harrison's early attempts at this song, though none have been officially released.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 15 takes.

5. Little Child
- Written mainly by McCartney, who was inspired by a song from the Disney movie The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men.
- Is very much 'filler' material, something that McCartney even admitted himself.
- It was originally written for Ringo to sing, but he was eventually given something else.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, and also provides some of his patented harmonica action.
- McCartney plays the piano on this recording... this is the first song to feature him doing so. Due to the prominence of piano and harmonica, the guitar can hardly be heard throughout.
- Runs for just over a minute and a half, and took 18 takes to complete.

6. Till There Was You
- This is a cover of a Meredith Wilson song from the musical play The Music Man. It is the first of six covers to feature on the With The Beatles album.
- Is the only Broadway tune to be covered by the Beatles.
- McCartney first became a fan of this song after hearing Peggy Lee's cover of it in 1961. The song became a part of the band's live set long before they even realised it was from a Broadway musical (lol, sucked in!)
- Ringo plays bongos on the recording.
- The 'original' Peggy Lee version featured a flute, though Harrison replicates the melody here on his guitar. The Beatles version is also faster and a bit more simplified.
- Runs for just over two minutes, and took 8 takes to record.

7. Please Mr. Postman
- The last song of Side 1 of With the Beatles, and another cover.
- Originally performed by the Marvelettes, whose version was the first single from the mo-town label to reach #1.
- The Beatles version isn't really all that famous... the Carpenters released a single of it in 1974 that is probably more famous.
- Lead vocals are sung by Lennon on the recording. I really dig it. Along with Twist and Shout and You Really Got a Hold on Me, these are the only covers recorded by the Beatles that I particularly like.
- The band used to perform this live during their Hamburg days in 1962. When it was time to record this song though they hadn't performed it at all since then (for over a year and a half) and they had a bit of difficulty nailing it quickly as a result.
- Runs for two and a half minutes, and took 9 takes.

8. Roll Over Beethoven
- The first track on side 2 of With the Beatles.
- A live favourite of the band from the days before they were even called 'The Beatles'. The continued playing it live right up until 1964.
- Harrison sings the lead vocals on the recording. He gets several of the lyrics wrong due to mishearing Berry's original lyrics, and also possibly because of how fast the band plays it.
- About a million bands have released covers of this song, including ELO.
- Originally written and recorded by Chuck Berry in 1956.
- This version was released as a single in the U.S. with Please Mr. Postman as the B-side.
- Runs for two minutes and 40 seconds, and took 8 takes to finish.

9. Hold Me Tight
- Written by McCartney, and dates back as far as 1961. It was inspired by the Shirelles, and he re-worked it (with some help from Lennon) as a possible single but it didn't come quite together and was eventually considered barely acceptable as album 'filler' (!)
- Both Lennon and McCartney had a pretty low opinion of this song. As a result the band stopped playing this song before the end of 1963.
- Originally recorded for the previous album, Please Please Me, but didn't make the final cut. This original recording no longer exists.
- McCartney's vocals seem a little bit offkey in some parts, which makes this a rarity among Beatles tracks. The song also starts out strangely, as if it is already mid-song.
- The final recording was sped up a little bit in the hope of giving it some pizazz.
- Unlike over Beatles originals, very few artists have covered this track.
- Runs for two and a half minutes, and took 29 takes.

10. You Really Got a Hold on Me
- Another cover, this one was written by Smokey Robinson for The Miracles, who released a single of it in 1962.
- The Beatles started playing this one live in 1963.
- Lennon and Harrison sing the lead together. It took a lot of overdubs to complete.
- George Martin plays some piano on the recording.
- The band came up with the instrumental outro in the studio, and it was edited onto a seperate take for the ending.
- The "Oh-oh-oh" part of the vocals is a Beatles substitute for the word "though", adding some extra angst to their version.
- Runs for nearly 3 minutes, and took 11 takes to record.

11. I Wanna Be Your Man
- The Rolling Stones asked the Beatles for a song, so Lennon and McCartney promptly and literally knocked this off for them whilst they watched. McCartney had already been working on it previously, but the Stones were still very impressed with how fast the duo could write a catchy song.
- A fairly straightforward and bluesy rock n roll track, the Stones released it as a single and had an early hit with it. The Stones version is in a lower key to the Beatles one, and has a slightly different structure.
- The Beatles later decided to record their own version in order to fill out the With the Beatles album.
- Ringo sings the lead vocals, and also provides a percussive maracas track. When the band played it live Ringo would often forget the second verse and simply repeat the first one in it's place.
- George Martin plays the hammond organ on the recording.
- The Beatles played it live right up until 1966. The Stones ditched it from their set by the end of 1963 though, they had been inspired by the Beatles to start writing their own originals (the first original Rolling Stones track was an instrumental called Stoned, which featured as the B-side to their single for I Wanna Be Your Man).
- Features in the film A Hard Day's Night.
- The Beatles version runs for under two minutes and took 16 takes to record.

12. Devil in Her Heart
- A cover, originally performed and recorded by the Donays (a girl group), whose version was called Devil in His Heart. This is probably one of the most obscure songs the Beatles ever covered.
- The band often played this live in 1962, with Harrison providing lead vocals both on stage and for the recording.
- The Beatles version changes a couple of lines and is a little bit faster.
- The band spent very little time recording this, with Lennon and McCartney always keen to rush through any material sung by Harrison (unless they had written the song for him).
- Harrison's vocals are double-tracked.
- Runs for almost two and a half minutes, and took 6 takes to record.

13. Not a Second Time
- Written by Lennon, another attempt at doing something Smokey Robinson-ish.
- Has some odd chord changes, such as the end of the chorus and the notes Lennon sings at the end of the song.
- George Martin plays piano on the recording.
- Harrison doesn't feature on this recording at all.
- Music critic William Mann wrote a famous essay on this song for the British newspaper, The Times, appreciating the band's supposed adherence to classical music theory. Mann was most likely unaware that no one in the band could actually read music.
- Runs for two minutes, and took 9 takes to complete.

14. Money (That's What I Want)
- The last track of With the Beatles, and another cover.
- Originally released as a single by Barrett Strong in 1959.
- Compared to the original, the Beatles version is in a lower key and a bit slower (the opposite to how they would usually perform covers).
- The band regularly played this live during their Hamburg sets in 1962.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, and (rarely for a Beatles-recorded track), continued to perform it live post-Beatles. On the recording Lennon added a new line, "I wanna be free!"
- Evidently the band was trying to re-capture the magic of their previous album-closer, Twist and Shout. They come pretty close... Lennon's vocals are a lot more heartfelt here than on earlier live recordings of the band performing the song.
- George Martin plays piano on the recording.
- The mono and stereo mixes of this song have slightly different lead vocals.
- Runs for two minutes and 45 seconds, and took 7 takes.