It’s been nearly two months, but I’m finally picking up with the next entry in my series on each of the original Beatles songs. “Hold Me Tight” is #9 in the series. “Misery” was #8.

This song was one of the band’s earliest originals as it had been a part of their live act from 1961 (and remained a part of it through ’63.) It was recorded on February 11, 1963 (along with most of the other songs that ended up on Please Please Me) in 13 takes but was scrapped and not put on their debut album. It was recorded again on September 12, 1963 for their second album, With The Beatles.

While it’s not among the band’s greatest songs, I do agree with Ian MacDonald’s opinion in Revolution in the Head that it’s actually quite a bit better than most (including Lennon & McCartney) give it credit for. It’s got great energy.

Musical Analysis

It’s a pretty straight forward rocker in 4/4 in the key of F. The verse is made up mostly of the I-IV-V chords (F-Bb-C) with a G7 (a major version of ii) being the exception. The bridge includes a minor version of the IV chord (Bbm) and a ii chord (Gm) along with an Ab (a flat III.)

There are two main elements that make this song memorable for me. The first of these is the repeating bass/guitar riff (the same riff is being played on both the bass guitar and the lead guitar.) The second is the call and response form of the vocals.

If you’re interested in more musical analysis of The Beatles songs check out The Beatles as Musicians books.

I should also note that I’ve read that this song was sped up from it’s original key of E to F during mastering but this doesn’t seem to be something that everyone agrees upon so I can’t really state it as a fact. Although it does make sense to me that this song would have been in E rather than F (E is a much more “rock n roll” kind of key especially for a song based on guitar riffs like this one is.)

What The Beatles Said About It

McCartney: “When we first started it was all singles and we were always trying to write singles, That’s why you get lots of these two minute 30 second songs; they all came out the same length. Hold Me Tight was a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler.”

Lennon: “That was Paul’s. Maybe I stuck some bits in there – I don’t remember. It was a pretty poor song and I was never really interested in it either way.”

Mono vs. Stereo

The stereo version is a bit awkward with the vocals on the right and the drums/guitars/bass on the left but that said, in stereo the song sounds more “alive” to me when compared it’s mono counterpart. On the other hand, if you turn up the mono version then it does rock pretty solid. I think both versions are worth a listen (The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles Mono Box Set.)

Songwriting

McCartney was the principle songwriter of this one (how much input he got from Lennon isn’t really known.)

Who Played What?

McCartney: lead vocal, bass, handclaps
Lennon: backing vocal, rhythm guitar, handclaps
Harrison: backing vocal, lead guitar, handclaps
Starr: drums, handclaps

Recording

It was original recorded to be included on Please Please Me on February 11th of 1963 (the famous marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me.) But it was not included on their debut album and was re-recorded on September 12th of that year for inclusion on their second album, With The Beatles.

Last.FM Ranking

#174. Among the least listened to Beatles songs, it’s had 119K unique listeners on Last.FM to date. To put that in context, “Come Together” has had 594K unique listeners.

Covers

A Phil Spector produced group called The Treasures released a cover version in 1964. A more recent cover was recorded for the Across The Universe soundtrack.

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