Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 11 February 1963
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 22 March 1963 (UK), 22 July 1963 (US)
George Harrison: vocals, lead guitar
John Lennon: backing vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass
Ringo Starr: drums, percussion
Available on:
Please Please Me
Recorded for the Please Please Me album, Do You Want To Know A Secret was written by John Lennon and sung by George Harrison.
I can't say I wrote it for George. I was in the first apartment I'd ever had that wasn't shared with fourteen other students - gals and guys at art school. I'd just married Cyn, and Brian Epstein gave us his secret little apartment that he kept in Liverpool for his sexual liaisons separate from his home life. And he let Cyn and I have that apartment.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Lennon based the song on Wishing Well, from Walt Disney's 1937 animated feature film Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.
My mother was always... she was a comedienne and a singer. Not professional, but, you know, she used to get up in pubs and things like that. She had a good voice. She could do Kay Starr. She used to do this little tune when I was just a one- or two-year-old... yeah, she was still living with me then... The tune was from the Disney movie - 'Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell. You are standing by a wishing well.'
So, I had this sort of thing in my head and I wrote it and just gave it to George to sing. I thought it would be a good vehicle for him because it only had three notes and he wasn't the best singer in the world. He has improved a lot since then, but in those days his singing ability was very poor because (a) he hadn't had the opportunity, and (b) he concentrated more on the guitar. So I wrote that - not for him as I was writing it, but when I had written it, I thought he could do it. It was just written.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
The song was later given to Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, another group managed by Brian Epstein. Lennon recorded a demo while in a Hamburg nightclub's toilet; he claimed it was the only place quiet enough to record in. At the end of the demo, now sadly lost, he pulled the lavatory chain.
The Dakotas recorded it at their debut session at Abbey Road on 14 March 1963, and later that year it reached number one in the singles charts.
In the studio
Do You Want To Know A Secret was recorded along with nine other Please Please Me songs on 11 February 1963. It was the fourth song to be recorded that day.
Do You Want To Know A Secret was 'my song' on the album. I didn't like my vocal on it. I didn't know how to sing; nobody told me how to.
Anthology
The final version was take six, which also included an overdub of the harmony vocals and two drum sticks being hit together during the middle eight. With the overdubs, this final version became known as take eight.
During the backing vocal overdub by John and Paul, Ringo added some drumsticks tapped together (recorded with echo). You can hear them from 1:09 to 1:20.
Thanks - I've added it as 'percussion' to the line-up.
Why was John Lennon so condescending with George. Obviously George could do backup harmony--------which can be more difficult than singing lead.
I still believe that despite the talent both John and Paul were insecure.
At the onset John didn't even know guitar chords and George helped. I never read about George putting down John for that.
Not at all insecure. They let George sing at least some songs. Even Ringo.
I think it's not so much some insecurity John and Paul have, but more of the fact that John was outspoken in his life not only about fellow band mates but his self in general. Also, with George being so humble and reserved to some extant we never really see George "put someone down."
Also when it comes to backup the only really hard harmony that the fab did was probably Paul's part which most often than not was the higher range. While George did the mid to low range which was already naturally in his voice and vocal range.
Well, John never had sufficient tact and never kept his mouth shut when he should have. I think John wanted to keep George "in his place" and made comments about Harrison's singing abilities to further that. George was not a singer on the same level as John or Paul However, John was never as good a guitarist as George. Harrison's singing skills improved dramatically (Something, The Inner Light, I Me Mine, While My Guitar Gently Weeps) while John's skills as a guitarist did not match George's improvement as a singer. Just my opinion.
This song was released as a single in the U.S. on the VeeJay label. It got as high as #2 on the charts in March of 1964!
I always have the feeling that George fluffs the little guitar lead-in at the beginning, after "I really care". The version on the Billy J Kramer cover is really crisp and sharp. To my untrained ears it sounds like an edit: maybe George Martin (who I presume produced the Billy JK version, correct me if I'm wrong) regretted not having cleaned up The Beatles' version...
Is the demo really missing as i'm pretty sure i had this a few years back, downloaded on Limewire. It was this and Bad To Me.
It seems odd that George didn't like his vocal on here. Maybe that's a bit of George's gripe on his vocal role in the group. It sounds like most of his early vocals on ballads. The guitar work on here is among the best on album by him here too. Backing vocals are quite solid too.
I feel kinda bad putting this out here, but I didn't really get a full grip on this one until I "played" it on Rock Band. I've enjoyed it since then.
Great guitar on this song and quite good solid vocals as well. The first time I heard it, I thought it was from later albums like A Hard Day's Night or Rubber Soul.
Did Billy J sing different words to George? In particular, did he sing "I'm not in love with you"? Who was that aimed at? Brian Epstein who took him to New York even before he took The Beatles? Was Billy J reluctant to record/release it as a single?
Sounds to me like he sang the same lyrics as The Beatles.
I'm pretty sure that Paul doesn't sing in this song. It sounds like George is doing the high doo-dah-doo part and that's why they did it as an overdub. I don't know why they wouldn't use Paul but it sounds a lot like George IMHO.
I remember reading a lengthy-ish interview with George in a guitar magazine in the 1990s('Guitar World'?) in which he said his vocal in 'While my Guitar Gently Weeps' is unlistenable, and he was still embarrassed by it. "Sounds like I'm singing in the toilet", he said.
In the same interview he slagged of John's guitar playing a bit - something like he found it difficult to play lead over certain bits as John wasn't the best guitar player in the world and couldn't keep rythim very well.
I am such a rube - for years, I thought that John sang this song! Perhaps because it is penned by John, it simply sounds like something he would sing. I actually find a lot of similarity in John and George's voices. I love George and Ringo's voices. Regardless, this one is one of my kids favorites and very catchy.
Don't feel bad, Russ - I always thought John sang this too - especially the way he sings, "Ahhm in love with you", kind of gravelly.
This was one of the first Beatles songs I ever heard. I still have the original 45 with the yellow Vee Jay label!
Okay you may think I'm stupid saying this but I have listened to the alternate takes of this song and it is definitely George singing the high vocal and in take 7 George does an "aahh" and that is 100% him. Also before take 8 George is talking with John about if they should do the Doo rah doos or whatever they are in the first verse and it is clearly John and George then.