Time for another entry in my 'Six Favorite Songs' series.


She Loves You - The Beatles

“I distinctly remember walking down the road with a transistor radio. Then I heard ‘She Loves You.’ That turned me on. It took me to another place - and I’m still there now. If there wasn’t The Beatles, I don’t think I’d have got involved with music with such a passion.”

-Ozzy Osbourne.

Same here, Ozzy. And, you know, I’ve occasionally been told by people that they don’t like early Beatles; that it’s the ‘more serious’ music of the Fab Four’s later Sixties output that they prefer.

This sort of thing leaves me puzzled, even peeved. I figure this type of sentiment is the result of a couple of things.

First of all, the sound is of a different era. Author Ian MacDonald, in his superb book ‘Revolution in Your Head,’ notes the difference between ‘Pop’ and ‘Rock.’ The Beatles started as a pop band, more concerned with melodies, and the chords that supported them, than with grooves or riffs.

Perhaps this gives their early sound a more quaint dimeanor. A bit like an old movie, with a slightly antique intonation and less familiar styling.

And just as old films feature more careful, less natural dialoge, the lyrical themes of early Beatles tunes are more polite, and less vulgar. But does that make them less accomplished?

‘She Loves You’ is a prime example of early Beatledom. It’s got a catchy melody and an innocent theme. And yet there’s more to it, and to the early Beatle sound in general. Underlying the pretty harmonies and sweet melodies, there is a raw masculinity.

Starting with Ringo Starr’s thundering tom-tom doublets, the drums pound throughout the song, and are made all the more raucous by Starr’s patented open high hat. And the guitars dominate the sound of ‘She Loves You,’ giving it a rawness that early Sixties pop songs often lacked.

Add to all that McCartney’s typically pulsing (and underrated) bass playing, and the ‘yeah yeah yeah’ gang vocal chorus, and you have a song with plenty of moxy.

I don’t think the Beatles are ever given credit for the masculinity in their sound; they always seemed to be held up against the likes of the Stones and The Who and, though respected for their talent, are seen as not quite as swaggering. And yet they were veterans of hundreds of gigs in some of the toughest clubs in Hamburg and Liverpool, far more schooled in hard knocks and rock debauchery than any of their London contemporaries.

To use a hockey metaphor, they seem to be viewed as a great finesse player that stays away from the rough going, whereas in truth they had both skill and toughness.

As for the lyrics, the third party perspective of ‘She Loves You’ remains fairly unique. I think it’s cool. In reality, the first hints of romance or attraction are often passed on through a third party. The message of ‘She Loves You’ rings true, and the excited urgency of the song’s delivery makes it more resonant than most of the ‘mature’ rock songs that are often held up as lyrical classics.