About This Track
If I Fell first appeared on the 1964 UK album A Hard Day’s Night and the US compilation album Something New. It was written primarily by John Lennon, with help from Paul McCartney.
Structure
The song is notable for its unusual structure, which includes an unrepeated introductory section (introduced as an afterthought as of take 11) followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section. The song also features a two-part harmony, sung by Lennon and McCartney together into a single microphone at their suggestion, and intricate chord changes. The key changes from D flat major to D major between the introduction (a series of descending barre chords) and the main song, which uses mainly open chords, including an unusual D ninth.
Recording and performance
Lennon played acoustic guitar and sang, McCartney played bass and sang, George Harrison plucked out single notes on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr played drums.
There is an alternate take of the song in which McCartney’s voice strains and cracks at the end of a line, which first appeared on the Love Songs compilation double-LP, by an archivist’s error when returning to the master tapes in Capitol’s vault. Since then, this version has appeared in many places and is often heard on oldies stations in some markets. This version is the stereo version now found in The Capitol Albums box set. In the mono version, Paul’s voice strains, but does not crack.
The stereo mix of the song (found on the Hard Day’s Night LP and Something New) features a double-tracked opening by John. This was also Kurt Cobain’s favourite Beatles song, and was played by Nirvana whenever there were technical problems at their concerts.
Structure
The song is notable for its unusual structure, which includes an unrepeated introductory section (introduced as an afterthought as of take 11) followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section. The song also features a two-part harmony, sung by Lennon and McCartney together into a single microphone at their suggestion, and intricate chord changes. The key changes from D flat major to D major between the introduction (a series of descending barre chords) and the main song, which uses mainly open chords, including an unusual D ninth.
Recording and performance
Lennon played acoustic guitar and sang, McCartney played bass and sang, George Harrison plucked out single notes on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr played drums.
There is an alternate take of the song in which McCartney’s voice strains and cracks at the end of a line, which first appeared on the Love Songs compilation double-LP, by an archivist’s error when returning to the master tapes in Capitol’s vault. Since then, this version has appeared in many places and is often heard on oldies stations in some markets. This version is the stereo version now found in The Capitol Albums box set. In the mono version, Paul’s voice strains, but does not crack.
The stereo mix of the song (found on the Hard Day’s Night LP and Something New) features a double-tracked opening by John. This was also Kurt Cobain’s favourite Beatles song, and was played by Nirvana whenever there were technical problems at their concerts.
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Albums featuring this track
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A Hard Day's Night
The Beatles
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Love Songs
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- Amazon $99.99
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Something New
The Beatles Buy- Download Album
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EP Collection
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Shouts
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summerreveries wrote:
Perfect harmony! :)
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larilovesmusic wrote:
So, I hope you see that I would love to love you.
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WiseJake237 wrote:
Kurt Cobain's favorite Beatles song. Amazing, amazing song.
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retrowens wrote:
When I think of all the great Beatles HARMONIES, this song has their best harmony vocals in my opinion. Just classic!
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Midnighttosix wrote:
I am completely incredulous of John having composed this.
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corky64 wrote:
Great....<3
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StefanyK wrote:
Would you promise to be true?
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knaser wrote:
i especially love, how they sing in two voices: "... don't hurt my pride like her 'cause I couldn't stand the pain...", just great
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AranRyan wrote:
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
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jakobdorof wrote:
iq3htjdahtjdahtkyqtgk SO good
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Indyjones45 wrote:
In my opinion, it just might be the best love song ever made c:
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silversn0ww wrote:
<33333
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Cudia wrote:
"that we are two"
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Whiskey-Bar wrote:
Perfect harmony between John and Paul.
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robertsona_last wrote:
best 'early beatles' song
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juanbrujox wrote:
This one has a very special meaning to me
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bluuefish wrote:
No words for this!
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bexestabueno wrote:
best lovesong ever.
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itapiss wrote:
I love how John uses this song to serenade Ringo to make him feel better on A Hard Day's Night. Classic.
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Moluccella wrote:
¨¨˜"ª¤.¤ª"˜¨¨¯¯¨¨˜"ª¤ ♥ ♫ ♥ ¤ª"˜¨¨¯¯¨¨˜"ª¤.¤ª"˜¨¨
Track Stats
1,312,781 Scrobbles
246,420 Listeners
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Recent Activity
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ihateelliott, Ginormous621, akihavermillion and 4 other people loved The Beatles – If I Fell. 1 hour ago
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czeskka added If I Fell to czeskka’s library. yesterday afternoon
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rwawa, mperrone, always_patti and 14 other people loved The Beatles – If I Fell. yesterday afternoon
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lemartravis1 added If I Fell to lemartravis1’s library. Sunday evening
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grimmscott, hedera--helix, monica_gems and 3 other people loved The Beatles – If I Fell. Sunday afternoon
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skullwithabow added If I Fell to the playlist love story. Saturday evening
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izabelim, Fabiduddy, karolyork and 34 other people loved The Beatles – If I Fell. Saturday afternoon
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Rocheska shared If I Fell with a deleted user. 14 days ago
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Rocheska, notashk and arcobran loved The Beatles – If I Fell. 14 days ago
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amelianadia added If I Fell to amelianadia’s library. 15 days ago
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