I Wanna Be Your Man

This song carries the motifs of plea, relationship and love. It uses simile ('Like no other can'), and it is on more of the Beatles' 1964 records than any other year's. The writing draws on R&B, and the language is built on a limited vocabulary. Intentional or not, the line "Let me be your man" turns up in one other Beatles song, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'.

Written in E major and taken at about 115 BPM, 'I Wanna Be Your Man' is a rock and roll and R&B piece. The tune carries call and response, the backing vocals answering the lead singer, and 1963 is the year the Beatles reached for it most. Then, the performance shows guitars loud and close. Curiously, the harmony moves E7 → A7 → E7 → A7 → E7 → B7 → A7, the same shape 'She's a Woman' takes as A7 → D7 → A7 → D7 → A7 → E7 → D7.

The song was recorded at EMI Studio 2, finished on the spot for the Rolling Stones, then re-recorded by the Beatles in seven takes with George Martin overdubbing Hammond organ. Lennon is on the Rickenbacker 325, his guitar. The kit in the room included the Ludwig Downbeat, which turns up on 17 of that year's records. The band reached for double tracked vocal on this one, and it is on more of their 1964 records than any other year's. Five songs went down the same day, the 27th to the 31st in their career.

McCartney and Lennon wrote it, and Starr sings lead (McCartney wrote the bulk of it, then finished it with Lennon in front of the two Rolling Stones who would record it). George Martin played organ, as he also did on 'Sun King' and 'Got to Get You into My Life', with maracas. It was chosen for Ringo to sing.

The record reached the public on November 22, 1963, with With The Beatles, and was never a single. In America it arrived eight weeks later, on Meet The Beatles!, a Capitol record. It appears in the film A Hard Day's Night of 1964 as well. The Beatles have 4 songs written by a Beatle for another artist to record, and they are 'I Call Your Name', 'Come Together', 'Something' and this one. This is their 29th record, and the 27th of the 32 they released in 1963.