Song

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Release date: 29 November 1963

Oh yeh, I'll tell you something,
I think you'll understand,
Then I'll say that something,
I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand.
Oh please say to me
You'll let me be your man,
And please say to me,
You'll let me hold your hand,
Now let me hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand.
And when I touch you
I feel happy inside,
It's such a feeling
That my love I can't hide,
I can't hide, I can't hide.
Yeh, you got that something,
I think you'll understand,
When I feel that something,
I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand.
And when I touch you
I feel happy inside,
It's such a feeling
That my love I can't hide,
I can't hide, I can't hide.
Yeh, you got that something,
I think you'll understand,
When I feel that something,
I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand,
I wanna hold your hand.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
Single by The Beatles
B-side "This Boy" (UK)
"I Saw Her Standing There" (US)
Released 29 November 1963 (1963-11-29) (UK)
26 December 1963 (1963-12-26) (US)
Format 7"
Recorded 17 October 1963,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Rock, pop
Length 2:24
Label Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Writer(s) Lennon-McCartney
Producer George Martin
Certification Gold (RIAA)
The Beatles singles chronology
"She Loves You"
(1963)
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
(1963)
"Can't Buy Me Love"
(UK-1964)
--
"Twist and Shout"
(US-1964)
Alternative covers
1992 CD issue

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment.

With advance orders exceeding one million copies in the United Kingdom, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would ordinarily have gone straight to the top of the British record charts on its day of release (29 November 1963) had it not been blocked by the group's first million seller "She Loves You", the Beatles' previous UK single, which was having a resurgent spell in the top position following intense media coverage of the group. Taking two weeks to dislodge its predecessor, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" stayed at number one for five weeks and remained in the UK top fifty for twenty-one weeks in total. It was also the group's first American number one, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number forty-five and starting the British invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February it held the number one spot -- for seven weeks -- before being replaced by "She Loves You", a reverse scenario of what had occurred in Britain, and remained in the US charts for a total of fifteen weeks. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide.

©1963 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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