The Beatles Recorded in German Once, and It Hit Number One
Detetive Curioso
·4 min read·Pop Culture·2 views
In January 1964 the Beatles sang their two biggest hits in German at a Paris studio. The single topped the West German chart, and they never translated a song again.
The Beatles recorded in a foreign language exactly once. On January 29, 1964, at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios near Paris, they sang "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" in German. The German single reached number one in West Germany, and the band never made a translated version of any song again.
The idea came from EMI's German side. The Odeon and Electrola labels told manager Brian Epstein and producer George Martin that the group would only sell big in West Germany if it sang in German. Recording special versions for foreign markets was normal business in the early 1960s, and plenty of British and American stars did it.
The timing was perfect for a quick session. The Beatles were in Paris for a run of concerts at the Olympia Theatre, and in the middle of that stay "I Want to Hold Your Hand" hit number one in the United States. EMI sent Camillo Felgen, a well-known presenter from Radio Luxembourg, to prepare the lyrics. He worked under pen names such as Jean Nicolas and Lee Montague, which is why those names appear in the songwriting credits.
The band did not want to do it. When the session was due to start, the four musicians simply stayed at the George V hotel. George Martin later told author Mark Lewisohn that he stormed into their suite and found Jane Asher, Paul McCartney's girlfriend, pouring tea while the others hid behind cushions and curtains. Within minutes they were on their way to the studio.
The two songs were made in very different ways. For "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" (Come, give me your hand), the Beatles sang new German vocals and handclaps over the original backing track brought from London, in 11 takes. "Sie liebt dich" was harder: the two-track tape of "She Loves You" had been erased after the mono master was made, so the band rebuilt the whole song from scratch in 13 takes, then added the German vocals.
They finished so fast that Martin cancelled a second session booked for two days later. With the studio time left that day, they recorded four takes of a brand-new McCartney song, "Can't Buy Me Love". According to the session logs compiled by Lewisohn and other researchers, it was the only time the group recorded together outside the United Kingdom.
The German translation took liberties. The famous "yeah, yeah, yeah" survived, but the chorus of "Sie liebt dich" says, in translation, that only with you can she be happy. The title "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" is not even a literal rendering of "I want to hold your hand".
The single topped the West German chart, while "Sie liebt dich" peaked at number seven. In the United States, the small Swan label released "Sie liebt dich" in May 1964, and it spent one week on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 97. Capitol added "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" to the American album Something New. Decades later, director Taika Waititi used it in the 2019 film Jojo Rabbit.
Martin later admitted the whole exercise was unnecessary, since the records would have sold in English anyway. The Beatles had already scored hits in Sweden and Finland without translating a word. Music writer Ian MacDonald argued that, by refusing to make foreign versions after 1964, the band helped push English as the shared language of pop music around the world.
Sources: Wikipedia, Komm, gib mir deine Hand; The Beatles Bible, 29 January 1964 session; The Paul McCartney Project; Session logs based on Mark Lewisohn; Komm gib mir deine Hand on YouTube. Cover: The Beatles arrive at JFK Airport, 1964.
