Close Your Eyes

It's OK. You can open them up now.

The third song on the "With The Beatles" LP/CD is probably one of the best and certainly has turned into a "classic" or "standard". The song is entitled "All My Loving" and it's another original Lennon/McCartney song mainly written by Paul. The tale is that the lyrics were written first and the idea came to Paul while he was shaving (??). This is an absolute gem and it shows off the musicianship of each individual Beatle during their early days. Listen to the amazing walking bass line by Paul, the triplet type rhythm guitar by John, the shuffle drumming by Ringo and the impeccable country style guitar solo by George. On the studio recording, Paul's harmony is overdubbed but in concert George sang the last verse while Paul sang the harmony.

"All My Loving" was the last song recorded in EMI studio number two on July 30 1963. It was recorded in 13 takes. The song was mixed in mono on August 21 1963 in studio three. The song was mixed in stereo two months later on October 29 1963 also in studio three. I've not heard any studio outtakes and I doubt they exist.

"All My Loving" was a concert stable and was performed live several times. Some examples include "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" on October 1963, the "Ed Sullivan" show - including being the very first song performed live to a television audience in the US, the 1964 American Tours and the recording was also featured (albiet only a section) in the Beatles' first movie "A Hard Day's Night".

"All My Loving" can be found on the Parlophone UK "With the Beatles" LP/CD, the Capitol of Canada 6000 series LP "Beatlemania: With the Beatles", the US Capitol LP/CD "Meet the Beatles", the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1962-1966", a live concert recording can be heard on the EMI LP "The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl" and the first "Ed Sullivan" performance can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/ 2 CD "Anthology 1".

"All My Loving" was performed live on BBC radio four times: twice on "From Us to You" and twice on "Saturday Club".