“I Want To Hold Your Hand”
“I Want To Hold Your Hand” is the first Beatles single to go number one in America, it is basically the first song most Americans heard by the Beatles on the radio or TV. The song went number one, February first and stayed number one for seven weeks before being dislodged by their second number one hit “She Loves You” and staying on the Billboard charts for 15 weeks.. The song is one of the Beatles biggest selling hits along with “Hey Jude” and has achieved Billboard magazine’s “44th greatest song of all time” and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Much has been written about this song “I Want To Hold Your Hand” has broken many records and been awarded many honors. People have asked “where you were when the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan show” that fateful Sunday evening, February 9, 1964, in front of an estimated 73 million people, in 23 million American homes via TV, from 8 to 9 pm, eastern standard time. It was said that crime completely stopped for an hour during the Beatles debut on Ed Sullivan show.
Many contemporary artists like Bob Dylan recall the first time they heard the Beatles fondly. Mostly for that raw rock & roll sound that reminisced of the late 50’s rock & roll, the good all days (and also mishearing the vocal phrase of “I Can’t Hide” on the song with “I Get High”. I wasn’t alive when the song hit and therefore will never ever know the energized feeling that the Beatles prompted out of America.
That old-time rock & roll sound of the 50s that was still fresh in the minds of post-Kennedy’s assassination. The song was a fast-paced form of electric guitar rock & roll that was fresh and energizing to a new young generation. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the first #1 single in the US that Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn and Dave Crosby of the Byrds, and other artists gave positive reviews upon hearing the Beatles for the first time.
Later, in 1966, when the music and lyrical content had matured, Grace Slick from the Jefferson Airplane noted that it became quite comical for a 23-year-old man (at the time in 1964) was writing about holding hands. A little childish for a grown man to be singing about. It is reflective of what was the early 60’s pop/rock supposed innocence in conservative America.
‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ seems like the first Beatles #1 hit to America but it was the fifth single release and third #1 hit in Britain after ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘From Me To You’ and ‘She Loves You’.
The single ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ backed with ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was released in the US by Capitol Records and entered on the US charts on January 18, 1964, at #45 and then jumped to #1, making the single the first number one single in America. Most Americans thought it was the first single released in the states when actually it was the 5th single released in America at the time.
In any event, this song exploded onto the airwaves of America at a time when a good solid rock & roll song was needed. The song influenced all of the rock & roll and later rock stars of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s (the rest of 20th Century music). Many people consider this song to be a line of demarcation, the song is 10 most important (and to some the most important) song in Rock & Roll history next to ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley and the Comets.
The song does represent the ideals and ethos of the original rock & roll era (1954-1959) 6 year period of rebellion and style. One of the reasons America fell in love with the Beatles was that the Beatles themselves were in love with America. The relationship was very symbiotic and rock and roll as a genre of music were saved to live and develop another day.