"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is the single that turned The Beatles from a British sensation into an American one.
Written in an afternoon and recorded in October 1963, it became their first US number one.
It was the song playing on the day America truly noticed them.
Table of Contents
- How The Beatles Wrote the Song
- A UK Number One Delayed by Their Own Record
- The US Release That Started Beatlemania
- Ed Sullivan and the Song America Already Knew
- FAQ
How The Beatles Wrote the Song
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote it face to face, on a piano.
They worked in the basement of Jane Asher's parents' house on Wimpole Street in London.
Lennon later described the method as "eyeball to eyeball."
The two of them worked out the song's key change in the same room, in real time, rather than trading finished verses.
The First Beatles Song Recorded on Four Tracks
The Beatles recorded it on October 17, 1963.
It was the first Beatles song made using four-track recording equipment.
That gave producer George Martin more room to layer the band's vocals and instruments than earlier sessions had allowed.
It took 17 takes to finish.
A UK Number One Delayed by Their Own Record
The song was released in the UK on November 29, 1963, backed with "This Boy."
It sold over a million copies on advance orders alone, enough to top the charts outright.
But The Beatles' own "She Loves You" was still charting, and blocked it for two weeks.
Once it dislodged its predecessor, it held UK number one for five weeks.
The US Release That Started Beatlemania
Capitol Records released it in the US on December 26, 1963, after earlier American labels had passed on The Beatles entirely.
250,000 Copies in Three Days
The single sold 250,000 copies in its first three days on sale.
Record stores in New York City reported moving 10,000 copies an hour at its peak.
It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 1, 1964, The Beatles' first US chart-topper.
It stayed there for seven weeks.
Ed Sullivan and the Song America Already Knew
The Beatles stepped onto The Ed Sullivan Show stage on February 9, 1964, in front of an estimated 73 million viewers.
By then, the song had already been the country's top single for over a week.
The band played it again on Sullivan's show the following week, on February 16.
By that point, the song had done more than top a chart.
It had proven a British band could dominate American radio, television, and record stores all at once.
That opened the door for the wider British Invasion that followed.
FAQ
When was it released?
It was released in the UK on November 29, 1963.
It followed on Capitol Records in the US on December 26, 1963.
Who wrote it?
It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, face to face at a piano in the basement of Jane Asher's parents' house on Wimpole Street in London.
Was it The Beatles' first US number one?
Yes.
It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 1, 1964, The Beatles' first US chart-topper, and held the spot for seven weeks.
How does it connect to the Ed Sullivan Show?
The Beatles performed it live on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, in front of an estimated 73 million viewers, and again the following week on February 16.
It is the single that made The Beatles a fixture of American radio.
It set the terms for the entire British Invasion & Beat Music movement that followed.
Hear the song that came just before it: She Loves You.
Back to the 1960smusic.net homepage to explore every genre of the decade, starting with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" itself.