Even in his earliest songs with The Beatles, George Harrison came at his writing from a different angle than John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He was more interested in telling it like it was than in trying to adhere to expectations. On the 1965 track “You Like Me Too Much”, Harrison gets inside the head of a guy who is almost obnoxiously confident about his romantic relationship. It added a little bit of acidity to the sweetness for which The Beatles were known.
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“Much” Ado
From his very first song, George Harrison displayed an impulse for idiosyncrasy and tartness. His Beatles buddies John Lennon and Paul McCartney focused on love. Meanwhile, Harrison’s first writing credit with the band was a song called “Don’t Bother Me”. Its sentiments pretty much match the sourness of the title.
That song was found on The Beatles 1963 album With The Beatles, the second that they released in the UK. Then came 1964, and Harrison did not write a single song for the band. It was one of the most remarkable and momentous years for music delivered by any artist in history.
You can’t completely blame Harrison for his absence as a writer from the early Beatles’ recordings. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had a bit of a head start as writers on the younger Harrison, which made it difficult for him to develop ideas with the band.
The good news is that 1965 represented a turning point in that George Harrison would be included as a writer on at least one song on every Beatles album from that point on. First up was Help!
Harrison ended up with two writing credits on the record. “I Need You” was a lilting love song that very much fell in line with some of the sentiments being expressed by Lennon and McCartney. But “You Like Me Too Much”, as the title gives away, was a bit pricklier. In fact, the narrator seems like a bit of a jerk at times throughout the song.
Examining the Lyrics of “You Like Me Too Much”
The basic premise of “You Like Me Too Much” is that the narrator can get away with pretty much anything in his relationship. He knows that his girl will always come running back because of her unshakable affection for him. The stage is set in the first lines.
“Though you’ve gone away this morning you’ll be back again tonight / Telling me there’ll be no next time if I just don’t treat you right.”
In other words, he’s in the clear no matter what he does. The refrain makes this clear: “You’ll never leave me and you know it’s true / ’Cause you like me too much and I like you.”
His confidence crosses the line into cockiness in the following verse. Harrison sings, “You’ve tried before to leave me but you haven’t got the nerve.” Even though he admits that he deserves to be left behind, she keeps coming back.
In the final verse, he comes off a bit like a stalker. He says that he’ll follow the girl to get her back, even if she does work up the courage to leave. Only at the very end does he show a modicum of modesty and regret.
“’Cause I couldn’t really stand it / I’d admit that I was wrong.”
Maybe “You Like Me Too Much” isn’t as lovey-dovey as other Beatles songs. But there’s something refreshingly honest about its approach. It certainly showed that George Harrison was unafraid to strike out on his own unique songwriting path.
Photo by REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
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