Who wrote Beatles Till There Was You?

The Beatles performed this on their first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964, a huge event, since Beatlemania had just arrived in America. This was the only song they played that night that was not one of their hits – they put it in to appeal to the older audience that was tuned in. As they played, the camera zoomed in on each Beatle and superimposed their first name. When it got to Lennon, it read, “Sorry girls, he’s married.”

Its structure is similar to the one used by Lennon and McCartney for their early songwriting years: verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse, with the title of the song at the end of each verse used as a hook-line
The lyrics, although perfectly suited for “The Music Man”, seem over-sentimental and a bit dated among The Beatles’ song. But keeping in mind the purpose of the inclusion of this song in their repertoire, the band overlooked the old-fashioned lyrics in order to show their versatility as well as impress an older generation.

The song is about love and how it can change our perception of the world: we are incapable of enjoying the beauty of life, such as bells ringing and birds “winging,” until we met our true love and become able to appreciate the beautiful things that nature provides

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Til We Drop

Time To Hide

Master release

With The Beatles

By The Beatles

Related sessions

This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions

The Decca Audition

Jan 01, 1962

Radio audition at BBC Manchester

Feb 12, 1962

"With The Beatles" session #1

Jul 18, 1963

"With The Beatles" session #2

Jul 30, 1963

"With The Beatles" session #3

Aug 21, 1963

"With The Beatles" session #9

Oct 29, 1963

Get Back sessions - January 10, 1969 - Day 7

Jan 10, 1969

Other 1963 songs part of the 2005 US Tour setlist

I'll Get You

Officially appears on She Loves You / I'll Get You

Please Please Me

Officially appears on Please Please Me / Ask Me Why

Related interviews

Paul McCartney discusses songwriting and RAM with Mansun's Paul Draper

May 28, 2012 • From Drowned In Sound

It's exciting, it's shocking, it's frightening, it's sad, it's happy, and it's THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY

Nov 01, 1995 • From Club Sandwich

Related articles

Acetate of Beatles’ Decca recordings sold £77,500 at auction

Mar 22, 2016

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Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Till There Was You” is a song written by Meredith Willson for his 1957 musical play The Music Man, and which also appeared in the 1962 movie version. The song is sung by librarian Marian Paroo (Barbara Cook on Broadway, Shirley Jones in the film) to Professor Harold Hill (portrayed by Robert Preston) toward the end of Act Two.  It became a hit for Anita Bryant in 1959 and was later covered by The Beatles in 1963.

History

The first recording of this song to be released came even before the original cast album version of January 1958. Promotional copies of the 45 rpm single, Capitol P3847, were released on November 26, 1957, even before the Broadway production had premiered on December 19. Produced by Nelson Riddle, it featured his orchestra and 17-year-old vocalist Sue Raney. An earlier version of this song, “Till I Met You”, was first recorded by Eileen Wilson in 1950 and later appeared on the January 14, 1951 edition of The Big Show, performed by Fran Warren.

The Beatles version

Included on their albums With the Beatles (UK release, 1963) and Meet the Beatles! (US release, 1964), the song was the only Broadway tune that the Beatles ever recorded.

Paul McCartney was introduced to Peggy Lee’s music by his older cousin, Bett Robbins, who would occasionally baby-sit the two McCartney brothers. McCartney said: “I had no idea until much later that it was from The Music Man.” “Till There Was You” was part of the Beatles’ repertoire in 1962 and performed at the Star Club in Hamburg. It became illustrative of the Beatles’ versatility, proving they could appeal to all sections of an audience, moving easily from ballads to rock and roll, as in their appearance on November 4, 1963 at the Royal Variety Performance when they followed this song with “Twist and Shout“.

The band had previously performed “Till There Was You” as part of their failed audition for Decca Records in London on January 1, 1962, and it was the second of five the group sang during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.

Live versions of the song were released on Live at the BBC (1994) and Anthology 1 (1995). The latter version was recorded when the Beatles played at the Royal Variety Performance; because the album was cut so that live numbers began with the actual song, John Lennon’s famous request that those in the royal box “rattle your jewelry” to “Twist and Shout” is in fact included on the “Till There Was You” track. When introducing this song (likewise placed on “She Loves You” for Anthology), McCartney commented that the song “had also been recorded by our favourite American group, Sophie Tucker“. This tongue-in-cheek comment by McCartney unwittingly began an urban legend that “Till There Was You” was an old Sophie Tucker song, when in fact, there is no record of her ever performing the tune.[…]

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

• [a] mono 21 Aug 1963.
  UK: Parlophone PMC 1206 With the Beatles 1963.
  CD: EMI CDP 7 46436 2 With the Beatles 1987.
• [b] stereo 29 Oct 1963.
  UK: Parlophone PCS 3045 With the Beatles 1963.
• [b1] stereo remixed from [b] 1963, by Capitol.
  US: Capitol ST 2047 Meet the Beatles 1964.
• [b2] mono made from [b] 1963, by Capitol.
  US: Capitol T 2047 Meet the Beatles 1964.

Paul McCartney added “Till There was You” to the setlist of his 2005 US Tour, and a live performance appears on his DVD The Space Within US.

Last updated on February 8, 2016

Lyrics

There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you

Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you

Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you
Till there was you

Officially appears on

With the Beatles (Mono)

LP • Released in 1963

2:14 • Studio version • A • Mono

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineer

With the Beatles (Stereo)

LP • Released in 1963

2:14 • Studio version • B • Stereo

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineer

Meet the Beatles! (Mono)

Official album • Released in 1964

2:16 • Studio version • B2 • Mono • Mono made from [B] by Capitol

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineer

Meet the Beatles! (Stereo)

Official album • Released in 1964

2:16 • Studio version • B1 • Stereo • Stereo remixed from [B] by Capitol

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineer

Live At The BBC

Official live • Released in 1994

2:13 • Radio show • L1 • A song from the musical ‘The Music Man’, popularised by Peggy Lee. Australian born broadcaster Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman presented two From Us To You specials and his quirky sense of fun clicked with the Beatles. While Paul picks out a few heroes, John attempts to draw Fluff’s attention to his book ‘In His Own Write’ published a week earlier.

Concert From "From Us To You" in London, United Kingdom on Mar 30, 1964

Anthology 1

Official album • Released in 1995

2:54 • Live • L2

Concert From "Royal Command Performance" in London, United Kingdom on Nov 04, 1963

Meet the Beatles! (2004 remaster)

Official album • Released in 2004

2:16 • Studio version • B2.2004 • Mono • 2004 remaster

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineerTed Jensen :Remastering

Meet the Beatles! (2004 remaster)

Official album • Released in 2004

2:16 • Studio version • B1.2004 • Stereo • 2004 remaster

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineerTed Jensen :Remastering

With the Beatles (Mono - 2009 remaster)

Official album • Released in 2009

2:14 • Studio version • A2009 • Mono • 2009 mono remaster

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineerPaul Hicks :RemasteringGuy Massey :RemasteringSteve Rooke :RemasteringAllan Rouse :Project co-ordinator

With the Beatles (Stereo - 2009 remaster)

Official album • Released in 2009

2:14 • Studio version • B2009 • Stereo • 2009 stereo remaster

Paul McCartney :Bass, VocalsRingo Starr :BongosJohn Lennon :Acoustic rhythm guitarGeorge Harrison :Acoustic lead guitarGeorge Martin :ProducerNorman Smith :Recording engineerGuy Massey :RemasteringSteve Rooke :RemasteringSam Okell :RemasteringAllan Rouse :Project co-ordinator

See all official recordings containing “Till There Was You”

Bootlegs

Star Club - Hamburg, Germany - December 1962

Unofficial live

2:43 • Live • The recording date is a guess - all we now for certain is that the Star-Club tapes were recorded between December 18 and 31, 1962.

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