As Beatlemania swept through the Western World, the music of Lennon & McCartney pivoted at the end of 1964. The acoustic guitars of “No Reply,” “I’ll Follow the Sun,” and “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” replaced the electric sounds on “She Loves You,” “Please Please Me,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” This was a time before they found their footing with folk/rock and started moving toward a more psychedelic sound. The Beatles used more country elements and recorded Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, and Buddy Holly songs as they filled out their album Beatles for Sale. While they were in the studio recording “Eight Days a Week,” John Lennon started playing a guitar riff, which would go on to be the main structure of their next single. Let’s take a look at the story behind “I Feel Fine” by The Beatles.
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“Watch Your Step”
“I Feel Fine” was recorded during a nine-hour session on October 18, 1964, that also included “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!” “Mr Moonlight,” “I’ll Follow the Sun,” “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby,” and “Rock and Roll Music.”
Lennon drew inspiration from a rhythm and blues record he owned by Bobby Parker. George Harrison talked about it in The Beatles Anthology: “The guitar riff was actually influenced by a record called ‘Watch Your Step’ by Bobby Parker. But all riffs in that tempo have a similar sound. John played it, and all I did was play it as well, and it became the double-tracked sound.”
Baby’s good to me, you know
She’s happy as can be, you know
She said so
I’m in love with her, and I feel fine
A Found Object
The song begins with a note that feeds back, which was a violation of the strict recording policies of Parlophone Records. The Beatles spoke of it as an accidental occurrence even though it was present from the very first of nine takes. Paul McCartney told author Barry Miles, “John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pick-up on it so it could be amplified. John and George both had them. … We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it. He really should have turned the electric off. It was only on a tiny bit, and John just leaned it against the amp when it went, ‘Nnnnnnwahhhhh!’ And we went, ‘What’s that? Voodoo!’ ‘No, it’s feedback.’ ‘Wow, it’s a great sound!’ [Producer] George Martin was there, so we said, ‘Can we have that on the record?’ ‘Well, I suppose we could. We could edit it on the front.’ It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp.”
Baby says she’s mine, you know
She tells me all the time, you know
She said so
I’m in love with her, and I feel fine
“What’d I Say” Drumming
The Beatles were drawing from many different influences at this time. Said McCartney, “The song itself was more John’s than mine. We sat down and co-wrote it with John’s original idea. John sang it, I’m on harmonies, and the drumming is basically what we used to think of as ‘What’d I Say’ drumming. There was a style of drumming on ‘What’d I Say,’ which is a sort of Latin R&B that Ray Charles’ drummer Milt Turner played on the original record, and we used to love it. One of the big clinching factors about Ringo [Starr] as the drummer in the band was that he could really play that so well.”
I’m so glad that she’s my little girl
She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know
She said so
She’s in love with me, and I feel fine, mm
The First Feedback on a Mainstream Record
In 1980, Lennon told author David Sheff, “That’s me completely, including the electric guitar lick and the record with the first feedback anywhere. I defy anybody to find a record—unless it’s some old blues record in 1922—that uses feedback that way. I mean, everybody played with feedback on stage, and the Jimi Hendrix stuff was going on long before. In fact, the punk stuff now is only what people were doing in the clubs. So I claim it for The Beatles. Before Hendrix, before The Who, before anybody. The first feedback on any record.”
Baby says she’s mine, you know
She tells me all the time, you know
She said so
I’m in love with her, and I feel fine
“I’ve Written This Song, but It’s Lousy”
Lennon was not a believer when he first came up with the song. He even shared his uncertainty with his drummer. He said this in The Beatles Anthology, “I wrote ‘I Feel Fine’ around the riff, which is going on in the background. I tried to get that effect into practically every song on the LP, but the others wouldn’t have it. I told them that I’d write a song specially for this riff. So they said, ‘Yes, you go away and do that,’ knowing that we’d almost finished the album. Anyway, going into the studio one morning, I said to Ringo, ‘I’ve written this song, but it’s lousy.’ But we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A-side, so we decided to release it just like that.”
I’m so glad that she’s my little girl
She’s so glad, she’s telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know
She said so
She’s in love with me, and I feel fine
She’s in love with me, and I feel fine, mm, mm
Is that a Barking Dog?
As the song ends, there is a faint sound rumored to be a dog barking. It turned out to be McCartney just messing around.
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