From Me To You

Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 5 March 1963
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith

Released: 11 April 1963 (UK), 27 May 1963 (US)

John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass guitar
George Harrison: harmony vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums

Available on:
Past Masters
1
Anthology 1

Released in 1963, From Me To You was The Beatles' third single, and their first to top all the UK charts.

It could be done as an old ragtime tune... especially the middle-eight. And so, we're not writing the tunes in any particular idiom. In five years' time, we may arrange the tunes differently. But we'll probably write the same old rubbish!

Lennon and McCartney wrote From Me To You on 28 February 1963, on a tour bus heading to Shrewsbury. The title was inspired by From You To Us, the letters section of the New Musical Express.

The night Paul and I wrote From Me To You, we were on the Helen Shapiro tour, on the coach, travelling from York to Shrewsbury. We weren't taking ourselves seriously - just fooling around on the guitar - when we began to get a good melody line, and we really started to work at it. Before that journey was over, we'd completed the lyric, everything. I think the first line was mine and we took it from there. What puzzled us was why we'd thought of a name like From Me To You. It had me thinking when I picked up the NME to see how we were doing in the charts. Then I realised - we'd got the inspiration from reading a copy on the coach. Paul and I had been talking about one of the letters in the From You To Us column.

The Helen Shapiro tour took in 14 shows, mostly in theatres, and lasted from 2 February to 3 March 1963. Other names on the tour were Danny Williams, Kenny Lynch, The Kestrels, The Red Price Orchestra, The Honeys and MC Dave Allen.

I remember John and Paul coming up to me to ask if I would like to hear a couple of songs that they had just written. They were looking for opinions because they were undecided about which should be their next single. We crowded around a piano and Paul played, while the two of them sang their latest composition. One was Thank You Girl, and the other was From Me To You, which I liked best.

The genesis of From Me To You was later recounted by Roger Greenaway of The Kestrels.

The Beatles at this time had had their first number one, and John and Paul were writing songs at the back of the coach. Kenny Lynch, who, at this time, fancied himself as a songwriter, sauntered up to the back of the coach and decided he would help John and Paul write a song. After a period of about half an hour had elapsed and nothing seemed to be coming from the back, Kenny rushed to the front of the coach and shouted, 'Well, that's it. I am not going to write any more of that bloody rubbish with those idiots. They don't know the music from their backsides. That's it! No more help from me!' The song that John and Paul were writing at this time was a track called From Me To You.

Although The Beatles had planned to release Thank You Girl as their next single, they swiftly changed their plans after writing From Me To You.

We'd already written Thank You Girl as the follow-up to Please Please Me. This new number was to be the b-side. We were so pleased with it, we knew we just had to make it the a-side, Thank You Girl the b.

Lennon and McCartney wrote From Me To You in response to a request from George Martin, who told them to come up with more hits once Please Please Me became a success.

There was a little trick we developed early on and got bored with later, which was to put I, Me or You in it, so it was very direct and personal: Love Me Do; Please Please Me; From Me To You - we got two of them in there...

That was a pivotal song. Our songwriting lifted a little with that song. It was very much co-written. We were starting to meet other musicians then and we'd start to see other people writing. After that, on another tour bus with Roy Orbison, we saw Roy sitting in the back of the bus, writing Pretty Woman. It was lovely. We could trade off with each other. This was our real start.

Lennon and McCartney were particularly pleased with the song's middle section.

That middle eight was a very big departure for us. Say you're in C then go to A minor, fairly ordinary, C, change it to G. And then F, pretty ordinary. But then it goes, 'I got arms...' and that's a G minor. Going to G minor and a C takes you to a whole new world. It was exciting.

Another key feature of From Me To You was the falsetto "Whoo!", which swiftly became a Beatles trademark. Although the group had previously used the motif on Twist And Shout, on the Please Please Me LP, From Me To You was the first single to feature it. The group repeated the trick on their next single, She Loves You.

The song was adapted as the theme song for From Us To You, a BBC radio series. Four editions were recorded, each lasting two hours, which ran on public holidays from December 1963 to June 1965. A version of the From Us To You theme, recorded on 28 February 1964, was included on the Live At The BBC collection.

A version of From Me To You was also recorded by Del Shannon, who had performed alongside The Beatles on a 15-act bill at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 18 April 1963. The group had performed From Me To You and Twist And Shout during the concert.

After the performance, Shannon told John Lennon that he intended to record From Me To You. Lennon was initially flattered, but came to believe that a cover version may harm The Beatles' prospects of having a US hit. As it transpired, neither versions were immediately successful, although Shannon's minor hit was the first Lennon-McCartney song to enter the American charts.

Related articles:

• Live: Granada Cinema, Shrewsbury
• Thank You Girl
• I Should Have Known Better
• Recording: From Me To You, Thank You Girl, One After 909
• US single release: All You Need Is Love