Till There Was You

Written by: Meredith Willson
Recorded: July 30, 1963 (Studio 2, Abbey Road Studios, London, England)
Mixed: August 21 and October 29, 1963
Length: 2:10
Takes: 8

Musicians:

John Lennon: rhythm guitar (1962 Gibson J160E)
Paul McCartney: lead vocal, bass guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1)
George Harrison: lead guitar (1950 Jose Ramirez classical)
Ringo Starr: bongos

Released on: (CDs in bold)

• With The Beatles, (UK: Parlophone PMC 1206; PCS 3045, Parlophone CDP 7 46436 2, US: Capitol CLJ 46436)

• Meet The Beatles, (US: Capitol (S)T 2047, Capitol CDP 7243 8 66875 2 4)

History:

• The only Broadway number ever recorded by the Beatles and a live favorite of both their Cavern Club and Hamburg days, "Till There Was You" was actually introduced to Paul McCartney via Peggy Lee's version, which saw some airplay in the UK. Paul's babysitter Bette Robins had been a fan of Lee, and he'd picked up a copy of Peggy's 1960 album Latin a la Lee, which promised "Broadway hits styled with an Afro-Cuban beat." The band's arrangement is simpler and faster than Lee's but otherwise very similar, with George taking lead on acoustic guitar instead of the flute present in Peggy's version.
• The group performed "Till There Was You" at their Decca audition on January 1, 1962, and has since been widely bootlegged, finally finding an official release on the 2013 two-disc set I Saw Her Standing There.
• "Till There Was You" was attempted at the first session for With The Beatles on July 18, 1962, but not perfected until another try on July 30, just after recording their version of "Money" and just before "Roll Over Beethoven."

Live versions: July 1962 and others (Cavern Club, Liverpool, England), December 18, 1962 (The Star Club, Hamburg, Germany), November 4, 1963 (The Royal Command Performance, Prince of Wales Theatre, London, England), February 9, 1964 (Ed Sullivan Theater, New York, NY, The Ed Sullivan Show)

BBC versions: 8 (for the BBC radio programs Pop Go The Beatles, Saturday Club and From Us To You)
Trivia:

• This song was one of the fifteen the Beatles performed at their ill-fated Decca audition on January 1, 1962. It was also featured as the second song in their historic CBS-TV Ed Sullivan appearance on February 9, 1964.
• At the Royal Command Performance on November 4, 1963, Paul jokingly introduced the song as being "from the show The Music Man, and it's also been recorded by our favorite American group... Sophie Tucker." Tucker had become infamous as a bawdy "minstrel" blues singer.
• During the Ed Sullivan version of this song, one of the show's technicians flashed a message on the screen, under John's shot: "Sorry girls, he's married."