"From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the official UK singles chart but the second, after "Please Please Me", on most of the other singles charts published in the UK at the time. "From Me to You" failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. Instead, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song's becoming the first Lennon–McCartney track to enter the US pop charts. The Beatles' original was re-released in the US in January 1964 as the B-side to "Please Please Me", and reached number 41.
Composition
Lennon and McCartney began writing "From Me to You" while on a coach heading to Shrewsbury as part of the Beatles' tour with Helen Shapiro. The title was inspired by the name of the letters section of the New Musical Express, which they had been reading: "From You to Us". McCartney noted that their early songs tended to include the words "I", "me" or "you" in them, as a way of making them "very direct and personal" to the band's fans.
In his 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon recalled writing the song:
Before that interview, Lennon had stated, "We nearly didn't record it because we thought it was too bluesy at first, but when we'd finished it and George Martin had scored it with harmonica, it was alright."
McCartney also talked about rearranging the song in 1964:
Singer-songwriter Roger Greenaway recounted a story:
Regardless, the song was regarded by the Beatles as innovative and catchy enough to be released as a single. This was one Lennon–McCartney song that the duo truly co-wrote; McCartney described it as "very much co-written".
Melody and lyrics
"From Me to You" comprises five verses and two bridges. The form is Intro V V B V V B V Coda. The first half of the fourth verse is instrumental. The last half of each verse is a mini-refrain, while the lyrics of the bridges are identical. The verses each consist of a rather short eight measures played in C major. In the bridge, the song modulates to the subdominant (IV) key: F major. The tonic-subdominant modulation is almost a cliché, but Lennon & McCartney avoid the cliché by going another route from I to IV than the standard I–I<sup>7</sup>–IV. At the bridge's climax, the chord changes are accompanied by "woo!" Another characterising element in the bridge is the augmented chord – a Gaug – that ends the bridge and leads back to home key (C major). Lennon plays prominent harmonica solos during the beginning, middle and end of the song, as he did with "Love Me Do".
McCartney said of the song:
The idea of singing the song's opening lick—the "da da da da da dum dum da" part—was suggested by George Martin, the Beatles' producer. The group thought it unusual but put their trust in Martin. "In a way, this made [the Beatles] aware of George's enormous musical sense," EMI producer Ron Richards later said.
In the song, the singer offers his love to the object of his affections—he has "everything that you want". Although the song is based on singular first-person pronouns, it lacks a lead singer.
Recording and UK release
George Martin said of the song, "I asked them for another song as good as 'Please Please Me', and they brought me one—'From Me to You.' ... There seemed to be a bottomless well of songs."
The recording on 5 March 1963 at EMI Studios took 6 takes with 7 edit pieces and went without a hitch and on 11 April Parlophone released "From Me to You" in the UK as a single, with "Thank You Girl" on the B-side, catalogue number R5015. Nine days later, it kicked off a twenty-one week run in the British charts, reaching number one on 4 May, a position it would retain for seven weeks.
"From Me to You" featured Lennon playing harmonica in a Jimmy Reed-inspired blues style he had learned from Delbert McClinton, another American who was on the same bill with the Beatles in the early Sixties. "It's chiseled in stone now that I taught Lennon how to play harmonica," McClinton said. "John said, 'Show me something.' I was in a pretty unique position, because there just weren't a lot of people playing harmonica in popular music." The double-sided hit sold approximately 1.1 million copies in 1964.
Help!
An instrumental arrangement, "From Me to You Fantasy" is used in the film, Help!, arranged by Ken Thorne, and is track 3 of the original U.S. release of the soundtrack album. It appears during scenes of attempts to remove the ring from Ringo's finger while he sleeps in the Beatles' communal apartment.
Album availability
"From Me to You" made its first album appearance (overall) on the Canadian Twist and Shout LP in 1964. That same year, it made its US album debut on Vee-Jay's Jolly What! England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage; its first appearance on a "regular" US Beatles album wouldn't come until 1973 when it appeared on the double LP compilation 1962–1966. In 1966, "From Me to You" was first issued in the UK on A Collection of Beatles Oldies, followed by the 1962–1966 compilation seven years later. The first release on CD was in 1988 when it was included in the Past Masters compilation. It was later released on the 1962–1966 double CD and the single CD compilation 1.
Alternative mixes
The mono version, which was issued as a single in 1963, has appeared on the 1988 issue of Past Masters, the 1962–1966 CD reissues, the 1 compilation released in 2000, and Mono Masters in 2009. The stereo version was included on the 1966 compilation A Collection of Beatles Oldies, the original LP issues of 1962–1966 in 1973, and the 2009 reissue of Past Masters. The intro to the stereo version (recorded on two tracks) lacks the harmonica inserted into the mono mix.
Chart history
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (1963–64)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Australian Kent Music Report
|align="center"|9
|-
|Canada (CHUM Chart)
|align="center"|6
|-
|Denmark (Salgshitlisterne Top 20)
| style="text-align:center;" |18
|-
|
|-
|Italy (Musica e Dischi)
|align="center"|8
|-
|New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)
|align="center"|1
|-
|
|-
|South Africa (Springbok)
|align="center"|1
|-
|Sweden (Kvällstoppen)
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
|Sweden (Tio i Topp)
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
|
|-
|
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Chart (1963)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|South Africa
|align="center"|1
|-
|UK
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|}
Personnel
- John Lennonvocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
- Paul McCartneyvocal, bass guitar
- George Harrisonlead guitar
- Ringo Starrdrums
:Personnel per Ian MacDonald
Del Shannon cover
On 18 April 1963, the Beatles were one of 15 acts to play at Swinging Sound '63, an all-star concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They played "From Me to You" and "Twist and Shout". Del Shannon was also on the bill that night. After the concert, he told John Lennon that he was going to record "From Me to You" because he liked the falsetto parts in the song. At first, Lennon was flattered, but he quickly changed his mind, realizing that a cover version by Shannon might hurt the Beatles' chances of having a hit in the States. As it turned out, Lennon was temporarily right, but neither artist's version was a big hit in America.
In early June, Bigtop Records released Shannon's version of "From Me to You" as the follow-up to "Two Kinds of Teardrops." It entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 29 June, becoming the first Lennon–McCartney composition to make the American charts. It spent four weeks on the chart and peaked at number 77. It was even more successful in Chicago as it peaked at number 15 on the WLS "Silver Dollar Survey".
Shannon's recording follows the Beatles' original almost verbatim, except for a slightly faster tempo and fade-out. "At that time no one had heard of the Beatles here (the US), but I knew they were great writers so I just picked up on one of their songs," Shannon said later.
Chart history
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1963)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|Australia
| style="text-align:center;"|21
|-
|Canada (CHUM Hit Parade)
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
|US Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|77
|-
|US Cash Box Top 100
|align="center"|67
|-
|}
Later versions
Bobby McFerrin covered the song in his 1986 album, Spontaneous Inventions.
In November 2008, a slowed-down cover version using only piano and vocals became the first Beatles song to be used in a British advertising campaign when it was used in John Lewis' Christmas marketing.
On 4 March 2016, a remixed version of the song was released by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP.
American indie rock band Futurebirds included the song on its 2016 EP "Portico I".