6 Comments on “Til There Was You: The Beatles”

1. katry Says:

   
   November 21, 2010 at 2:21 pm

   yousendit link:

   https://rcpt.yousendit.com/993756375/6ec62a879010c5c679eabd21fd0d8aad
2. morpfy Says:

   
   November 21, 2010 at 4:21 pm

   Ahhh, such a pleasant tune for today
   • katry Says:

     
     November 21, 2010 at 9:46 pm

     One of the first of theirs I bought, Morpfy!
3. Howard Denson Says:

   
   November 22, 2010 at 10:49 am

   This lovely song comes from the Broadway musical (and later film) “The Music Man,” courtesy of Meredith Willson.
4. sblake Says:

   
   November 22, 2010 at 4:07 pm

   here we go!:

   Till There Was You, sung by Paul McCartney on the With The Beatles album, was written by Meredith Willson for the 1957 musical The Music Man.
   It also appeared in the 1962 film of the same name. McCartney, however, heard the song through Peggy Lee’s 1958 version:

   “I had an elder cousin, Elizabeth Danher, now Robbins. She was quite an influence on me… Betty would play me records like Peggy Lee’s Fever. Peggy Lee did Till There Was You as well. I didn’t know that was from the musical The Music Man until many years later. This led me to songs like A Taste Of Honey and things which were slightly to the left and the right of rock ‘n’ roll.”

   The song became part of The Beatles’ live set from 1962, with performances taking place in such varied places as Hamburg’s Star Club and the Royal Command Performance. They also performed it at their failed audition for Decca Records on 1 January 1962:

   “I could never see the difference between a beautiful melody and a cool rock ‘n’ roll song. I learnt to love all the ballady stuff through my dad and relatives – Till There Was You, My Funny Valentine – I thought these were good tunes. The fact that we weren’t ashamed of those leanings meants that the band could be a bit more varied. And there was a need for that, because we played cabaret a lot. Songs like Till There Was You and Ain’t She Sweet would be the late-night cabaret material. They showed that we weren’t just another rock ‘n’ roll group.
   The Lennon/McCartney songwriting collaboration was forming during that period. We went on from Love Me Do to writing deeper, much more intense things. So it was just as well someone didn’t come up and tell us how uncool Till There Was You was”

   Till There Was You appealed to McCartney – a fan of musicals and show tunes – and offered a contrast to The Beatles’ more rock ‘n’ roll numbers.
   “I looked at the recording scene and realised that a few people were taking offbeat songs, putting them into their acts and modernising them a bit. So I looked at a few songs with that in mind. Till There Was You was one; no one was doing that except Peggy Lee so I thought it’d be nice to play.”
   he Beatles performed Till There Was You at their famous appearance at the Royal Command Performance on 4 November 1963. It was later released on 1995’s Anthology 1
   They also recorded it eight times for BBC radio, the first of which took place on 1 June 1963. The Beatles’ last version, recorded for the From Us To You programme on 28 February 1964, was included on 1994’s Live At The BBC.

   Till There Was You was the second song performed during The Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in America, on 9 February 1964. It was the only song played that night which was not one of their hits.

   Till There Was You was first recorded on 18 July 1963, during the first session for the With The Beatles LP. On the same day the group also recorded You Really Got A Hold On Me, Money (That’s What I Want) and Devil In Her Heart.

   The Beatles recorded three takes of the song, two of which were complete. However, it was felt they were unsatisfactory, and a re-make was attempted on 30 July.
   • katry Says:

     
     November 22, 2010 at 10:23 pm

     sblake,
     Wow! I knew the song wasn’t original but had no idea of its parentage. I am not a big musical theater fan which is why I missed it on The Music Man.

     It is so true that their singing songs like this set them apart. They colored outside the rock and roll lines, and I think that gave other groups the okay to be more than just a rock and roll band.

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