Devil in Her Heart

The motifs of relationship, dialogue and love run through the lyric. The title refers to a woman, 1963 being the year the Beatles used it most, and the language is literary in reach ('No, no, nay will she deceive'). As it happens, the line "No no no" turns up in 4 Beatles songs, among them 'She Said She Said', 'I'm So Tired' and 'Not a Second Time'. The Religion motif first appears in the Beatles catalogue here.

'Devil in Her Heart' is a pop and R&B piece, written in G major and taken at about 125 BPM. The tune carries call and response (Backers accuse, lead refutes line by line), and 1963 is the year the Beatles reached for it most. Also, it reaches for a ninth chord, which turns up on fourteen of their records, such as 'Little Child' and 'If I Fell'. A small coincidence, but the harmony moves Am7 → D7 → G → G7, the same shape 'Real Love' takes as Fm → B♭ → E♭ → E♭7/D.

The record was recorded at EMI Studio 2, cut in six takes on the opening day of the With The Beatles sessions, alongside three other tracks. Lennon is on the Rickenbacker 325, his guitar, and they worked with the Ludwig Downbeat, which is on 17 songs from 1963. The record carries double tracked vocal, most common in their 1964 songs. This one came out of a four-song day, the 19th to the 22nd of their career.

Richard Drapkin wrote it, and it was chosen for George to sing, with maracas among the instruments, 1963 being the year the Beatles used it most.

This track reached listeners on November 22, 1963, as one track among many on With The Beatles. America got it five months later, on The Beatles' Second Album, put out by Capitol. This song was the 28th of the 32 records they released in that year, and the 30th of their career.