Although released on their second album With The Beatles, ‘Hold Me Tight’ was originally attempted by The Beatles during the mammoth 11 February 1963 session that yielded the bulk of songs for Please Please Me.
That was Paul’s. Maybe I stuck some bits in there – I don’t remember. It was a pretty poor song and I was never really interested in it either way.
‘Hold Me Tight’ was an early Lennon-McCartney original, written at the latter’s home in Forthlin Road, Liverpool, and featured in The Beatles’ live set from 1961 to 1963.
When we first started it was all singles and we were always trying to write singles, That’s why you get lots of these two minute 30 second songs; they all came out the same length. ‘Hold Me Tight’ was a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
The Beatles recorded 13 takes of ‘Hold Me Tight’ on 11 February 1963, but when it was deemed surplus to requirements the tape was destroyed.
Seven months later they resurrected it for With The Beatles, completing it in nine attempts on 12 September 1963.
The nine takes were numbered 20-29. The album version was an edit of takes 26 and 29; the edit was made by George Martin on 30 September.
I can’t remember much about that one. Certain songs were just ‘work’ songs, you haven’t got much memory of them. That’s one of them.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
The Beatles evidently didn’t rate ‘Hold Me Tight’ too highly, and the fluffed lyrics, lack of bass in the mix and Paul McCartney’s often out-of-tune vocals suggest they didn’t take the recording too seriously either.
That was unfortunate, because the recording – which was varispeeded to raise the key from E to F, adding drive and energy – is generally held to be a solid example of an early ’60s Beatles rocker, with some clever songwriting features thrown in.
The release
‘Hold Me Tight’ was first released on 22 November 1963, as the ninth song on the band’s second UK album With The Beatles.
Its US release followed two months later, on 20 January 1964, where it was the tenth song on the Meet The Beatles! album.
this song is a pure rocker, cool rhythm and all. a few out-of-tunes just suits this song perfectly well!
Hold me tight is one of my favorite beatles song. Is a rocker and I love the relentless rhythum guitar by john along with the claps of the four beatles. It would be great to see this song re-release again it would be a big hit today. Every time I put the “with the beatles” cd in my car I hear this song over and over again back to back.
“Hold Me Tight” is one of the best!!
Full of energy and the guys were so young it just makes me happy—even by todays standards—a great song!
I’ve always wondered if McCartney wrote it himself or shared credit with Lennon. Some books consider it co-written but most likely the lion’s share was written by McCartney.
At this period, although probably primarily written by Paul, they were still pretty closely involved in each other’s songs adding/changing/elaborating on at least a few bits here and there. Even the little influences on each other’s work is part of that chemistry of what makes The Beatles, in my opinion, so great.
Whoever wrote it usually sang it. So it was probably Paul.
It was written by Paul McCartney. With No help from John! With John Lennon saying “MAYBE, I stuck some bits in there – I don’t remember.” But, with John saying that! All people who loved John & who’s favorite Beatle is him, will take in to gospel and he must have helped Paul! Paul is quite capable of writing songs and he does such a amazing job.
I actually like this song, it’s a pretty straight-forward rocker.
It’s a neat little R&B number that they could have done better. Actually, they should have given the song to a Girl Group while Girl Groups were still relatively popular. A group like the Shirelles might have even scored a hit with it.
I rather like the cover from “Across The Universe,” too…
Did the beatles ever played the this tune live back in 1963?Hold me tight!
They did perform it live (61-63), but not once they tried it out for PPM. There are no recorded live versions from it. I guess thirteen failed takes of a song you do loads must be a pretty disillusioning experience.
Let me know where in history they played this song live, hold me tight.
The only information available is that it was played live in 1961, ‘62 and ‘63 but there is no information about when or where. I suspect it was played once somewhere in ‘63 and dropped because it proved too difficult to perform. They obviously didn’t regard the song very highly themselves,
Rather underrated song from With the Beatles, played loud it really drives and makes a nice change from the more well known songs from this period – could almost be an “unreleased out-take” from the Anthology series as far most people would be concerned (although it seems some, including John, would suggest that is what it should have been in the first place !)
Why do they turn it down….that’a great song…like Chuck berry would say : ” it’s got a back beat you can’t lose it…”
A french version of that song was made in french by ” Les Baronets ” in Quebec.
Was very popular at the time…though every song was.
It might have been a good song but the treatment George Martin gave to it was really poor. In my opinion it is one of the worst produced by him, really horribly recorded.
A great rocker and the sloppy recording gives it a really raw effect like some of the Stones and Who stuff. John was so full of s**t about a lot of these songs in his interviews. He either didn’t really remember them or was saying things just to piss off Paul or Beatles fanatics.
Oh you are so brave to beat up on a dead man. And to act like you or anyone else would know all of the reasons why John Lennon “was saying things”.
You talk as if John didn’t have the right to comment about any song the Beatles wrote unless of course his opinion matched your opinion.
Interesting to read that it was attempted in the PPM sessions. I like it better than a lot of the PPM “filler”.
Good points: Nice interplay between the guitars. Nice rocking feel. Nice contrast in the bridge. Nice triumphant “It feels so right” at the end of the bridge.
Bad points: Uninspired lyrics other than “It feels so right”. Rhymes “only one” with “lonely one” (this rhyme works better in “Misery” and “loving you” with “only you”. Inaudible bass.
I don’t really mind the out-of-tune background vocals the third time they build toward the “it’s you” chorus. It adds some garage appeal.
I prefer the EQ on the American vinyl version to that on the 2009 CD version. Even without any audible electric bass, it rocks.
I’ve always felt this song was poorly sung, poorly produced and yet inside there is a potentially amazing song dying to get out. If someone figures out how to do a really tough remake – this song could be fierce. It’s a shame they never bothered to polish this gem.
Funny how almost all the songs that Lennon dismisses as “poor” are usually my favorites.
Some people are easily amused.
I’m amused too. HMT has a great back beat; if the Beatles played this live with Paul’s bass, it rates with the top straight rock songs.
Mostly a bad recording of a bog-standard early Beatles rocker. There are some good bits here and there (I particularly like the call and answer “Hold/me tight/tonight/tonight” section and the kind of in medias res beginning), but they really, really didn’t care about this one at all and it shows.
I liked it, most of you are complaining ’bout nothin’
Perhaps because the song and the recording of it ARE nothin’ ….
John was right about this one.
No he wasn’t. Why do you need John to back you up? His opinion, like yours. I like it.
It’s a fine song, but the recording is really bad. Is it just me or Paul sings out of tune here?
Hold Me Tight is a poorly produced song, no way around that. Add that to the fact that McCartney managed to get the lyrics wrong EVERY TIME on the transitional
“It feels so right SO hold me tight”, McCartney sings “NOW hold me tight”,
Which makes it seem unprofessional.
Definitely She Loves You, I’ll Get You,
I Want To Hold Your Hand or This Boy would have fared better here
Obviously, no one took it seriously.
Geez, what a bunch of nit picking techo phobes. ‘Hold Me Tight’ is a terrific early Beatles recording, flaws and all. Picture them playing this as released on Meet The Beatles in the early 60s. Pure magic.
The Beatles were well known for releasing songs in a raw format, in fact there are sites dedicated to detailing every instance of a background noises, poor editing etc. Even the now and again “out-of-tune” vocals can be heard on other records. A friend of mine once said that it’s exactly this which gave them their “sound”.
Also, the Beatles were well versed in Rock & Roll boogie riffs from Hamburg days. McCartney being a bassist would have known thousands of variations. From a musical point of view, it is very cleverly contructed i.e. replacing the diatonic Gm (In the key of F) with a G7 gives the song the Major sound that drives. The 7th add a dark or urgent feel and McCartney make good use of the b7 by leading into chords from this interval. Sorry for some technical jargon, but the muso’s will know 🙂
Anyway, great song!!!!!
I love this Paul McCartney composition. Sure it was left over from the”Please Please Me” sessions, but it fits in perfectly to”With the Beatles”. If this had of been released as a single I have no doubt it would have been a big hit.
Paul wrote so he can sing however he wants, He can change lyrics if he wants.
Well I think it’s a great song with a cool bassline and excellent harmonies. It is always disappointing to hear John trashing Paul’s songs but more surprising that neither George Martin or Paul himself was very impressed with it. I think it sounds exciting and inspired. Great bridge with an interesting turn for the bass at the “Don’t know – what it means to hold you tight” part that makes this song unusual from a basic boogie-woogie bass line and leads to an ecstatic return to the verse on the “feels so right to” (or “now”) part. Makes a great girl group song or solo for a young female with a ukulele, as can be seen on YouTube.
The 10 April ’64 US release date given above for Hold Me Tight is the release date for Capitol’s “Beatles Second Album”, but Hold Me Tight was on Meet the Beatles, which was released on 20 January 1964.
LOVE this song. Great beat – raw vocals by Paul (flawed to perfection). One of the very best of the early Beatles songs.
Agree 100%
Loved it ever since I was a kid.
I love Hold Me Tight ever since I heard it on Meet The Beatles after Christmas 1964. I was 12 and this was my first record. I got the music later than most but I did get it. This song stands out differently than any other song they have done. I feel George Martin decided to do a Phil Spector type “Wall Of Sound” here. It’s very heavy for it’s time. Everyone is playing the same riff through the whole song. Black Sabbath made a career out of that. Not even John is strumming away on his Rickenbacker. He is playing the bass line too. So it sounds huge and may explain why nobody seems to hear any bass. Not until Helter Skelter 4 years into the future would they get heavier than this. I didn’t know it was sped up to be in F though that was a cool bit of Beatles intel. I own 4 versions of this song. 1.from Meet The Beatles(stereo) 2.MTB(Mono) 3. With The Beatels(stereo) 4. With The Beatles(Mono) One of these days I will do some comparing.
Just put up the bass in your car and it turns into one of the best pure rockers for the Beatles
Sorry, this was the only way/place I could find here to make a comment which I d needed to do so bad. I absolutely love this tune. It’s instant energy I feel soon as it starts. I’m perplexed and frustrated by all the low down negativity I found associated with the tune, ESPECIALLY by Paul and John. Just can’t understand it. I feel like even they sometimes didn’t know how great some of their tunage was. This songs truly rocks! It has classic Beatles sound to the max! I also don’t understand all those who talk about the non bass line!!! They are nuts! I listen to it on my cheap phone with single tiny spkrs and I hear this driving great bass line more than I can hear a bass line on any other song using the phone. It grabs me so much. I find it mesmerizing and almost hypnotic. It reminded me of a tune I didn’t even know I was aware of from like 55 yrs ago, called the theme from Peter Gunn so I dialed that song up to see where in my head that came from and sure enough it has a similar sounding baseline at least to me it does. Also, the way the did the backup vocals as an echo, ie, “so hold HOLD, me tight ME TIGHT, tonight TONIGHT, tonight TO NITE”!!! Drives me wild! It’s sooo cool and so clutch! Oh, I too got meet the beatles in 64 or whenever it was and every song on that album has stuck pleasantly in my brain ever since. Sure, I was kinda out off by “Til there was you” because it was so different and out of place and I didn’t know it was a cover of a supposedly void tune, but even that tune I still hum or sing today having no control over myself. I not too great of a guitarist but I forced myself to learn that little bridge lead part, most likely played by George? I still play it to this day, more than 5 decades later. Point is tho, that hold me tight is a waaay better beatles style rocker! There’s another very subtle device ice always picked up on in the song but I don’t know if it was on purpose or just rubs me a certain way, but it got my attention way back then… Musically, I don’t know how to identify it, and I wish I was in Paul’s head as he was putting it to sound, but it’s right after when they sing maybe it’s the chorus?…..”its you oo oo, you you you oo oo, oo oo…. DON’T KNOW…. right there, I hear this drop down, into almost another register… it hits me like a momentary dip into another dimension, l, and then sort of follows thru with “what it means to hold you tight”….. its like the line gets 10x more intimate between the would be lovers…..and continues with “being here alone tonight with you”……whereupon it then snaps back to the original reality and KICKS YOUR ASS with “it feels so right so/now hold me tight”….then back to the echos again. Man, how could Paul and John and so many critics fail to see the rock hard greatness of thus song? I see at least a few of you agree and oh, hell, forgot to mention the great classic Beatles harmonies throughout the tune. Give me a break. I actually feel bad for this who just don’t get it. And the guy who mentioned how it sets him to dancing immediately, yes, that’s exactly 3 this tune does. So positive. So uplifting. Thanks to this board for giving me a place to vent. I hope it posts. I could go on…
This was also released on a single in Australia in 1964. It was the ‘B’ side to “Roll Over Beethoven” and charted…in a minor fashion…as a single in its own right.
(It all depended on how the salesperson rang up the sale and to which side the buyer referred when asking for the record.)
Growing up, Hold Me Tight never struck me as standing out as mediocre. While it was never one of my favorites off Meet the Beatles (the US version) — ie never at the level of All My Loving or All I’ve Got to Do — and while I can see the rushed production when it’s pointed out, it still holds its own as solid Beatles song: punchy, raunchy, and catchy. The only song off that album that I truly disliked — that felt inauthentic and unworthy of the Fabs — was Till There Was You. But Hold Me Tight holds up – and would be a career highlight for most other bands of the day.
even Paul wasn’t impressed with his own song and in this case I kind of agree, nothing special at all.
Love this song. Unique for the early stuff. So unlike the others of the 1963 era, for all the reasons stated above. I have a mix cd of the 1963 songs from the 2 albums and the singles. Just the Beatles compositions. No yukky covers. I slot this one at number 3 of the 22.
Hold me tight is sensational.
The hiccup’s that they made while singing it makes it sound life like, and lively.
Just as they would do while excited on the stage.
All acting professional, and still joking around.
The Perfect Beatle Early Style.
Fidgety
it’s amazing how good the Beatles were that the songs they seemed low quality were amazing songs on their own