| "P.S. I Love You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US picture sleeve | ||||
| Single bythe Beatles | ||||
| from the albumPlease Please Me | ||||
| A-side | "Love Me Do" | |||
| Released |
| |||
| Recorded | 11 September 1962 | |||
| Studio | EMI, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:04 | |||
| Label |
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| Songwriter | Lennon–McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| The Beatles UK singles chronology | ||||
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| The Beatles US singles chronology | ||||
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"P.S. I Love You" is a song recorded by English rock bandthe Beatles in 1962. It was composed principally byPaul McCartney[1] (credited toLennon–McCartney), and produced byRon Richards. The song was released in the UK on 5 October 1962 as theB-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their debut albumPlease Please Me (1963). It was later included on the American releaseIntroducing... The Beatles (1964), its reissueThe Early Beatles (1965), and the Beatles compilation albumLove Songs (1977).
The version featured on the single and album was recorded in tentakes on 11 September 1962 at EMI'sAbbey Road Studios, London. ProducerGeorge Martin had booked session drummerAndy White as a replacement forPete Best, whom he considered not technically good enough for recording purposes; Martin had been unaware that the other Beatles had already replaced Pete Best withRingo Starr, who attended the session and plays maracas on the song. White was a freelance show band and session drummer, and gave the recording a lightweightcha cha treatment.[2]
Martin was not present at the session and it was run byRon Richards. Richards told the group that the song could not be theA-side of their single because of anearlier song with the same title: "I was originally a music publishing man, a plugger, so I knew someone had done a record with that title. I said to Paul, 'You can have it as B-side, but not an A-side.'"[3]
With Starr playing drums, the Beatles recorded the song at theBBC on 25 October 1962, 27 November 1962 and 17 June 1963 for subsequent broadcast on the BBC radio programmesHere We Go,Talent Spot andPop Go the Beatles, respectively. The 17 June 1963 recording was officially published on theOn Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 album (2013).
Written in spring 1962,[4] while Paul McCartney was inHamburg, this song is sometimes considered to be a dedication to his then-girlfriend Dot Rhone.[5] However, McCartney denies this:
It's just an idea for a song really, a theme song based on a letter, like thePaperback Writer idea. It was pretty much mine. I don't think John had much of a hand in it. There are certain themes that are easier than others to hang a song on, and a letter is one of them... The letter is a popular theme and it's just my attempt at one of those. It's not based in reality, nor did I write it to my girlfriend from Hamburg, which some people think.[6]
John Lennon commented:[7]
That's Paul's song. He was trying to write a "Soldier Boy" likethe Shirelles. He wrote that inGermany, or when we were going to and from Hamburg. I might have contributed something. I can't remember anything in particular. It was mainly his song.
Melodically typical of McCartney's later writing style, the song demonstrates two notable exceptions to the contemporaneous model: during the opening chorus the chord D♭7 is placed incongruously between G and D (onwrite), and during the song's title phrase a sudden shift to B♭ occurs underneath "P.S. I loveyou" whichIan MacDonald described as "a dark sidestep".[2] Lennon contributes a single note harmony emphasising the beginning of eachstanza. Lyrically constructed with their female audience in mind, the Beatles included it as part of theirCavern Club song set.[2]
On its 20th anniversary, Parlophone re-issued "P.S. I Love You" as apicture disc, and shortly afterwards as a 12-inch disc.[8]
Engineered byNorman Smith
For the Beatles' BBC session recorded 17 June 1963 and released on the albumOn Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 (2013), Starr plays drums.
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