The early Beatles song "And I Love Her" has always been one of my very favorite tunes by the legendary '60s band. I'm writing today to share a closer look at this beautiful song for those who enjoy "And I Love Her" as much as me.
This song was included on side 1 of The Beatles third album A Hard Day's Night. This album is, of course, the soundtrack to the movie by the same name. Most Beatles fans consider it to be a huge breakthrough and easily the best of the first 4 LPs. It's also the only album to contain only Lennon/McCartney originals (mostly because their later albums included songs by lead guitarist George Harrison too.)
It is true that in some ways "And I Love Her" is a very simple, very repetitive song and one could certainly argue that the lyrics are kind of trite. But the melody is pretty enough and there's enough subtle touches that this song is still a great one despite these apparent weaknesses.
Something that's cool about this track is how it actually goes into 4 different keys. This is because it sways back and forth between major and its relative minor throughout the song and then during the restrained guitar solo it takes a half-step up and finishes a half step up when the vocals come back in.
On the Anthology CDs we hear an earlier version of this song that has a full band sound and doesn't have the tasty guitar riff that marks the final version. The difference between this early version and the final version shows how a different arrangement and some cool riffs can help make a song work.
As a surprising final touch the song ends on a major version of the relative minor "1" chord. In other words instead of the telegraphed D minor at the end it ends on a D major chord instead. The Beatles often added these subtle touches to their songs and that helps to set them apart.
This song was included on side 1 of The Beatles third album A Hard Day's Night. This album is, of course, the soundtrack to the movie by the same name. Most Beatles fans consider it to be a huge breakthrough and easily the best of the first 4 LPs. It's also the only album to contain only Lennon/McCartney originals (mostly because their later albums included songs by lead guitarist George Harrison too.)
It is true that in some ways "And I Love Her" is a very simple, very repetitive song and one could certainly argue that the lyrics are kind of trite. But the melody is pretty enough and there's enough subtle touches that this song is still a great one despite these apparent weaknesses.
Something that's cool about this track is how it actually goes into 4 different keys. This is because it sways back and forth between major and its relative minor throughout the song and then during the restrained guitar solo it takes a half-step up and finishes a half step up when the vocals come back in.
On the Anthology CDs we hear an earlier version of this song that has a full band sound and doesn't have the tasty guitar riff that marks the final version. The difference between this early version and the final version shows how a different arrangement and some cool riffs can help make a song work.
As a surprising final touch the song ends on a major version of the relative minor "1" chord. In other words instead of the telegraphed D minor at the end it ends on a D major chord instead. The Beatles often added these subtle touches to their songs and that helps to set them apart.
About the Author:
"And I Love Her" can be heard in remastered stereo and remastered mono as a part of The Beatles box sets released in 2009.
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