The early Beatles song "And I Love Her" has long been one of my favorite tracks by the Fab Four. What follows is a close look at this beautiful ballad for those who enjoy it as much as me.
"And I Love Her" was the 5th song on side 1 of The Beatles album A Hard Day's Night. This this great album is, of course, the soundtrack to the 1964 movie by the same name. Most Beatles experts consider it to be a big step forward and easily the best of the band's first 4 albums. It's also the only Beatles album to include only Lennon/McCartney originals (mostly because their later LPs include songs by George Harrison too.)
It is true that in some ways "And I Love Her" is a very simple, very repetitive song and one could make a strong argument that the lyrics are cliche. But the melody is remarkable enough and there are enough subtle touches that the song is still a standout in-spite of these apparent weaknesses.
Something that's really interesting about this track is how it goes into four different keys throughout the song This is because it flips back and forth between major and its relative minor through most of the song and then during Harrison's tasteful guitar solo it takes a half-step up and finishes there when Paul McCartney's vocals come back in.
On the Anthology 1 CDs we hear an earlier version of the song that uses a full band sound and does not have the tasty guitar riff that marks the final version. The huge difference between this version and the official version shows how a better arrangement can really make a song work.
As a cool final touch "And I Love Her" ends on a major version of the relative minor "1" chord. In English this means instead of the telegraphed D minor it ends on a D major chord instead. The Beatles were brilliant at adding these subtle little touches to their songs.
"And I Love Her" was the 5th song on side 1 of The Beatles album A Hard Day's Night. This this great album is, of course, the soundtrack to the 1964 movie by the same name. Most Beatles experts consider it to be a big step forward and easily the best of the band's first 4 albums. It's also the only Beatles album to include only Lennon/McCartney originals (mostly because their later LPs include songs by George Harrison too.)
It is true that in some ways "And I Love Her" is a very simple, very repetitive song and one could make a strong argument that the lyrics are cliche. But the melody is remarkable enough and there are enough subtle touches that the song is still a standout in-spite of these apparent weaknesses.
Something that's really interesting about this track is how it goes into four different keys throughout the song This is because it flips back and forth between major and its relative minor through most of the song and then during Harrison's tasteful guitar solo it takes a half-step up and finishes there when Paul McCartney's vocals come back in.
On the Anthology 1 CDs we hear an earlier version of the song that uses a full band sound and does not have the tasty guitar riff that marks the final version. The huge difference between this version and the official version shows how a better arrangement can really make a song work.
As a cool final touch "And I Love Her" ends on a major version of the relative minor "1" chord. In English this means instead of the telegraphed D minor it ends on a D major chord instead. The Beatles were brilliant at adding these subtle little touches to their songs.
About the Author:
A Hard Day's Night can be heard in remastered stereo and mono with The Beatles in Stereo CD Box Set and The Beatles in Mono CD Box Set.