From Me to You
John Lennon and Paul McCartney began writing From Me to You while on a coach heading to Shrewsbury as part of the Beatles' tour with Helen Shapiro. The title was inspired by the name of the letters section of the New Musical Express, which they had been reading: From You to Us. McCartney noted that their early songs tended to include the words I, me or you in them, as a way of making them very direct and personal to the band's fans. This collaborative process happened during a specific moment of travel between gigs. They turned a simple phrase from a magazine into a song that would define their early sound.
From Me to You comprises five verses and two bridges. The form is Intro V V B V V B V Coda. The first half of the fourth verse is instrumental. The last half of each verse is a mini-refrain, while the lyrics of the bridges are identical. The verses each consist of a rather short eight measures played in C major. In the bridge, the song modulates to the subdominant key: F major. The tonic-subdominant modulation is almost a cliché, but Lennon & McCartney avoid the cliché by going another route from I to IV than the standard I, I7, IV. At the bridge's climax, the chord changes are accompanied by woo! Another characterising element in the bridge is the augmented chord , a Gaug , that ends the bridge and leads back to home key (C major). Lennon plays prominent harmonica solos during the beginning, middle and end of the song, as he did with Love Me Do.
The recording on the 5th of March 1963 at EMI Studios took 6 takes with 7 edit pieces and went without a hitch. On the 11th of April Parlophone released From Me to You in the UK as a single, with Thank You Girl on the B-side, catalogue number R5015. George Martin said of the song, I asked them for another song as good as Please Please Me, and they brought me one, From Me to You. There seemed to be a bottomless well of songs. The idea of singing the song's opening lick, the da da da da da dum dum da part, was suggested by George Martin, the Beatles' producer. The group thought it unusual but put their trust in Martin. In a way, this made [the Beatles] aware of George's enormous musical sense, EMI producer Ron Richards later said.
Nine days after release, it kicked off a twenty-one week run in the British charts, reaching number one on the 4th of May, a position it would retain for seven weeks. From Me to You was the first Beatles song to reach number one in the UK and is widely considered to be their first chart-topping song. For although Please Please Me reached the summit on almost every chart, it was only number two on Record Retailers chart, generally considered to be the most authoritative for the time. From Me to You would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by the Beatles. A true indication of how successful the Beatles became thanks to From Me to You was expressed by McCartney: The first time I thought we'd really made it, was when I was lying in bed one morning, and I heard a milkman whistling From Me to You. Actually, I'm sure that I once heard a bird whistling it as well. I swear I did!
When it released Please Please Me in the United States, Vee-Jay Records signed a licensing agreement giving it the right of first refusal on Beatles records for five years. Despite the failure of Please Please Me to catch on, Vee-Jay chose to release From Me to You; as a result, it was never turned down by Capitol, because it was never offered to them. From Me to You was released on Vee-Jay 522, with Thank You Girl on the B-side, on the 27th of May 1963. Even though Cash Box magazine called it a Pick of the Week when it was released, it initially failed even more miserably than its predecessor; through the end of June, From Me to You sold fewer than 4,000 copies and had failed to chart anywhere.
In early June, Bigtop Records released Shannon's version of From Me to You as the follow-up to Two Kinds of Teardrops. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 on the 29th of June, becoming the first Lennon, McCartney composition to make the American charts. It spent four weeks on the chart and peaked at number 77. It was even more successful in Chicago as it peaked at number 15 on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey. At that time no one had heard of the Beatles here (the US), but I knew they were great writers so I just picked up on one of their songs, Shannon said later. The cover followed the Beatles' original almost verbatim, except for a slightly faster tempo and fade-out.
From Me to You made its first album appearance overall on the Canadian Twist and Shout LP in 1964. That same year, it made its US album debut on Vee-Jay's Jolly What! England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage; its first appearance on a regular US Beatles album wouldn't come until 1973 when it appeared on the double LP compilation 1962, 1966. In 1966, From Me to You was first issued in the UK on A Collection of Beatles Oldies, followed by the 1962, 1966 compilation seven years later. The first release on CD was in 1988 when it was included in the Past Masters compilation. It was later released on the 1962, 1966 double CD and the single CD compilation 1. In November 2008, a slowed-down cover version using only piano and vocals became the first Beatles song to be used in a British advertising campaign when it was used in John Lewis' Christmas marketing.
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Common questions
Who wrote the song From Me to You by the Beatles?
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song From Me to You while traveling on a coach to Shrewsbury during a tour with Helen Shapiro. They drew inspiration from the New Musical Express letters section titled From You to Us.
When was the single From Me to You released in the UK?
Parlophone released From Me to You as a single in the UK on the 11th of April 1963 with Thank You Girl on the B-side. The recording session took place at EMI Studios on the 5th of March 1963.
How many weeks did From Me to You stay at number one in the British charts?
From Me to You reached number one on the 4th of May 1963 and retained that position for seven weeks. It kicked off a twenty-one week run in the British charts nine days after its release.
What musical key does From Me to You modulate to in the bridge?
The verses of From Me to You are played in C major before the song modulates to F major in the bridge. An augmented chord ends the bridge and leads back to the home key of C major.
Which artist had the first Lennon McCartney composition to make the American charts?
Shannon's version of From Me to You became the first Lennon McCartney composition to enter the Billboard Hot 100 on the 29th of June 1963. This cover peaked at number 77 on the chart and spent four weeks on it.