It’s the song that just about everyone alive has heard. And it was one of the first songs to put the Fab Four on the map. On this day, February 1, 1964, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was a major first for the Liverpool band, who had previously not hit No. 1 in America before. The song entered the coveted chart at No. 45 in mid-January, and by the time it made it to No. 1 a few weeks later, the British Invasion movement was in full swing.
“I Want To Hold Your Hand” would hold that top spot for a whopping seven weeks. From there, it would be replaced by another Beatles tune, “She Loves You”. The former song, however, would stay on the Hot 100 chart for an additional 15 weeks. Today, it remains The Beatles’ best-selling single globally and has sold more than 12 million copies.
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The Legacy of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles Lives On
“I Want To Hold Your Hand” was conceived by John Lennon and Paul McCartney at the behest of Brian Epstein. He (and their label) wanted the band to produce a song that would appeal to American listeners. It was in the basement of Jane Asher’s parents’ home where McCartney and Lennon took to the piano and composed the tune.
“We wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball,” Lennon said of the song’s composition. “Like in ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher’s house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, ‘Oh you-u-u/ got that something …’ And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘Do that again!’ In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that—both playing into each other’s noses.”
The Beatles would later record the song at EMI Studios in October 1963, along with the B-side, “This Boy”. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” would be the first Fab Four tune to be recorded using four-track tech at the time. After its US release on December 26, 1963, the song would be a No. 1 hit across the board. It topped charts in the US, UK, and several countries in Europe.
Photo by THA/Shutterstock
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