Saturday, September 7, 2013

Englishmen Recording German Songs in a Paris Studio

On January 29 1964, The Beatles had an obligation to record two of their previous number one hit singles (in the UK) using the same instrumental parts but adding German lyrics for the German market - naturally. Since the Beatles were still performing in Paris (France) at the time, it made sense to book an EMI studio in Paris. The studio in question was EMI Pathe Marconi Studios. The two songs in question for the translation were German versions of "She Love You" as "Sie Liebt Dich" and the recent single at the time: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand". George Martin produced both sides and the single with the two songs/ German lyrics were issued as a single on Odeon in Germany.
At the same time, it was decided to use the studio time to start and record the future A-side of the next single to be released "Can't Buy Me Love". There are various outtakes available: Takes 2 and 3 can be heard on the the bootleg CD "Unsurpassed Masters, Volume 07" although take 2 in itself can also be heard in the series but on a different CD "Unsurpassed Masters, Volume 02". An edit of takes 1 (the guitar solo) and 2 (with the funky backing vocals) have been commercially released on the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "Anthology 1". You can also hear parts of "Kimm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" as a section in the "Anthology VHS/DVD but these are merely snippets and/or take announcements.
As far as I know, I haven't heard any "Sie Leibt Dich" outtakes.

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