Paul McCartney Said The Beatles’ ‘From Me to You’ Was a ‘Pivotal Song’
TL;DR:
- Paul McCartney said The Beatlesβ βFrom Me to Youβ βheralded a new batchβ of songs.
- He discussed how it was written.
- John Lennon said The Isley Brothers inspired βFrom Me to You.β
Paul McCartney felt The Beatlesβ βFrom Me to Youβ was a typical early Fab Four song in one way. On the other hand, he said it was a turning point for the band. John Lennon revealed why he was happy to sing lead vocals on the track.
Paul McCartney said The Beatlesβ βFrom Me to Youβ βwent to a surprising placeβ
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the importance of βFrom Me to You.β βThere was a little trick we developed early on and got bored with later, which was to put βI,β βme,β or βyouβ in it, so it was very direct and personal: βLove Me Do,β βPlease Please Me,β βFrom Me to Youβ we got two of them in there; βShe Loves You.β
βThe thing I liked about βFrom Me to [You]β was it had a very complete middle,β he added. βIt went to a surprising place. The opening chord of the middle section of that song heralded a new batch for me. That was a pivotal song. Our songwriting lifted a little with that song. It was very much co-written.β
John Lennon said The Beatles took inspiration from The Isley Brothers to write the song
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono includes an interview from 1980. In the book, John discussed the origin of βFrom Me to You.β βWe were writing it in a car, I think, and I think the first line was mine,β he said. βI mean, I know it was mine.
βAnd then after that we took it from there,β he added. βIt was far bluesier than that when we wrote it. The notes β today you could rearrange it pretty funky.β John said the song was intended as the follow-up to βShe Loves You.β In fact, the tune was released after βShe Loves You.β
John said βFrom Me to Youβ was influenced by The Isley Brothersβ βTwist and Shout.β Specifically, The Beatles sang βwoo-wooβ in βFrom Me to Youβ and βShe Loves Youβ because The Isley Brothers sang that phrase in their version of βTwist and Shout.β Notably, The Beatles covered βTwist and Shoutβ and their cover is likely the most famous version of the song.
Why John Lennon liked singing the lead vocal on βFrom Me to Youβ
John said he got competitive with Paul. For that reason, he liked singing the lead on early Beatles tunes like βFrom Me to You,β βI Want to Hold Your Hand,β βShe Loves You,β and βPlease Please Me.β
John felt he dominated the group during that period of their career. Despite this, John said female Beatles fans were more interested in Paul. He revealed his following was primarily male.
βFrom Me to Youβ is a great song and it wouldnβt be the same without the combined talents of John and Paul.