# And I Love Her
**And I Love Her** is a ballad by the English rock band the Beatles, written mainly by [Paul McCartney](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-mccartney) and credited to [Lennon–McCartney](https://www.edgepedia.org/lennon-mccartney), released on 10 July 1964 as the fifth track on their third album, *[A Hard Day's Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-hard-days-night-album)*, the soundtrack to the band's first film.[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) It was the first of McCartney's unabashed original love songs to be released with the Beatles,[2](https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/ailh.shtml) and it became one of the band's most widely covered songs, ranking third behind "Yesterday" and "Something" by one count.[3](https://www.rockol.it/news-733469/mina-vs-beatles-a-confronto-su-and-i-love-her)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Released | 10 July 1964, on *A Hard Day's Night* (Parlophone); length 2:32[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) |
| Writing | Written mainly by Paul McCartney, credited Lennon–McCartney; Lennon reportedly helped with the middle eight of the song[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) • [4](https://www.beatlesfacts.org/2009/01/and-i-love-her.html) • [15](https://mccartney.com/?page_id=4874) |
| Recording | 25–27 February 1964, Abbey Road; completed on 27 February with takes 20 and 21[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) • [5](https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/02/27/recording-and-i-love-her-tell-me-why-if-i-fell/) |
| Personnel | McCartney lead vocals and bass; Lennon acoustic rhythm guitar; Harrison classical lead guitar; Starr bongos and claves[6](https://aboutthebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) |
| US single | Released 20 July 1964 by Capitol with "If I Fell" as the B-side; reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) |
| Key structure | Minor-key song that shifts to a higher key for the guitar solo and closes on a major chord heard nowhere else in the tune[7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330) |
| Live performance | Played only once outside Abbey Road, for the BBC's *Top Gear* radio show on 14 July 1964, broadcast two days later[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) |
| Covers | Among the Beatles' most-covered songs; notable versions include Esther Phillips's gender-switched "And I Love Him"[3](https://www.rockol.it/news-733469/mina-vs-beatles-a-confronto-su-and-i-love-her) • [7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330) |
## Recording
[The Beatles](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-beatles) attempted the song across three consecutive days at [Abbey Road](https://www.edgepedia.org/abbey-road). A basic track was laid down on 25 February, the song was remade on 26 February, and the final version was completed on 27 February 1964 with takes 20 and 21.[5](https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/02/27/recording-and-i-love-her-tell-me-why-if-i-fell/) • [6](https://aboutthebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) The 25 February take is recognizably the same composition but with a substantially different sonic character, making the song an early example of a Beatles recording remade from scratch across multiple sessions.[8](https://beatlesanswers.org/songs/and-i-love-her)
The instrumentation departed from the band's usual rock setup. Instead of standard drums, [Ringo Starr](https://www.edgepedia.org/ringo-starr) played bongos and claves, [George Harrison](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-harrison) supplied nylon-stringed classical guitar for the instrumental verse, and Lennon played acoustic rhythm guitar behind McCartney's lead vocal and bass.[6](https://aboutthebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) • [9](https://www.allmusic.com/composition/and-i-love-her-mc0002373651)
## Composition and arrangement
The song is built on tonal ambiguity between major and minor keys, which the musicologist Alan W. Pollack identifies as an early instance of a major/minor harmonic twist that became a favored Beatles technique.[2](https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/ailh.shtml) Its key structure is reported differently across sources: Pollack notates it as [E major](https://www.edgepedia.org/e-major)/C♯ minor moving to [F major](https://www.edgepedia.org/f-major)/D minor,[2](https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/ailh.shtml) while the Beatles Bible describes the guitar solo as switching from F♯ minor to [G minor](https://www.edgepedia.org/g-minor).[10](https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/and-i-love-her/) AllMusic describes the same device more generally: the song changes to a higher key when the guitar solo begins, and the predominantly minor-key tune ends with a major chord heard nowhere else in it, a device also used by other British Invasion groups of the time.[7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330)
The arrangement carried a Mediterranean flavor through its primarily acoustic texture, samba-like rhythm, and bongos and claves in place of conventional rock drums.[7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330) Pollack also notes a structural kinship with art song: the opening of [Robert Schumann](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-schumann)'s song cycle *Dichterliebe* (Poet's Love) has a very similar tonal design.[2](https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/ailh.shtml)
AllMusic attributes the song's lasting appeal to the simplicity of its lyrics and to the effectiveness of Harrison's acoustic guitar solo, while crediting McCartney's melodic gift, what critics call a high "haunt count".[7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330) • [10](https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/and-i-love-her/)
## Release and chart performance
In Britain the song was not released as a single; it appeared on the *A Hard Day's Night* album and in the film.[7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330) In the United States, Capitol pulled it from the soundtrack as a follow-up to the "A Hard Day's Night" single, releasing it on 20 July 1964 with "If I Fell" as the B-side; it just missed the Top Ten, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) • [7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330)
The band performed it just once outside [Abbey Road Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/abbey-road-studios), on the BBC's *Top Gear* radio show on 14 July 1964, broadcast two days later and later released on *On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2* (2013).[1](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her) • [6](https://aboutthebeatles.com/and-i-love-her)
## Cover versions
As a romantic ballad, the song attracted more mainstream cover versions than many early Lennon–McCartney songs did. Soul-pop singer Esther Phillips recorded the gender-switched "And I Love Him", reaching the middle of the Top 100 and nearly making the R&B Top Ten. A mid-1960s reggae version by a then little-known Wailers is also noted by AllMusic, alongside listed versions by [Ramsey Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/ramsey-lewis), Bobby Womack, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Julio Iglesias, and [Neil Diamond](https://www.edgepedia.org/neil-diamond), among many others.[7](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330)
Jazz musicians have continued to reinterpret it. The [Brad Mehldau](https://www.edgepedia.org/brad-mehldau) trio's version on *Blues & Ballads*, with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard, and a trio version by Gilad Hekselman, Petros Klampanis, and Ziv Ravitz were reviewed as notable independent interpretations.[11](https://nextbop.com/blog/andiloveheracriticalanalysisofcovers) A 1970 version by the Brazilian singer Rita Lee appears on her album *Build Up*.[12](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/280849-and-i-love-her/) On the fan-rating site Album of the Year, the Beatles' original holds a user score of 87 based on 975 ratings.[13](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/15624-and-i-love-her/)
## Place in the Beatles' catalog
The covers "A Taste of Honey" on *Please Please Me* and "Till There Was You" on *With The Beatles* had been McCartney's ballads on the band's first two LPs, but "And I Love Her" was all his own.[9](https://www.allmusic.com/composition/and-i-love-her-mc0002373651) A 2023 quantitative study of the band's 217 officially released EMI tracks lists "And I Love Her" alongside songs such as "Julia" and "Something" in one of its categories.[14](https://doi.org/10.3828/jbs.2023.5) The song has been collected repeatedly, including on the *Extracts From the Film A Hard Day's Night* EP (1964), *1962–1966* (1973), *Love Songs* (1977), *The Beatles Ballads – 20 Original Tracks* (1980), *Anthology 1* (1995, take 2), and the 2013 BBC live collection.[6](https://aboutthebeatles.com/and-i-love-her)
## References
1. [And I Love Her, The Beatles (official site)](https://www.thebeatles.com/and-i-love-her)
2. [Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "And I Love Her", Soundscapes](https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/ailh.shtml)
3. [Mina vs Beatles: a confronto su "And I Love Her", Rockol](https://www.rockol.it/news-733469/mina-vs-beatles-a-confronto-su-and-i-love-her)
4. [Beatles Facts: And I Love Her](https://www.beatlesfacts.org/2009/01/and-i-love-her.html)
5. [27 February 1964: Recording: And I Love Her, Tell Me Why, If I Fell, The Beatles Bible](https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/02/27/recording-and-i-love-her-tell-me-why-if-i-fell/)
6. [And I Love Her (Lennon/McCartney), About The Beatles](https://aboutthebeatles.com/and-i-love-her)
7. [And I Love Her, The Beatles, AllMusic, review by Richie Unterberger](https://www.allmusic.com/song/and-i-love-her-mt0008424330)
8. [And I Love Her, BeatlesAnswers.org](https://beatlesanswers.org/songs/and-i-love-her)
9. [And I Love Her, Details, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/composition/and-i-love-her-mc0002373651)
10. [And I Love Her, song facts, The Beatles Bible](https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/and-i-love-her/)
11. ["And I Love Her": A Critical Analysis of Covers, Nextbop](https://nextbop.com/blog/andiloveheracriticalanalysisofcovers)
12. [And I Love Her, Rita Lee, Album of the Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/280849-and-i-love-her/)
13. [And I Love Her, The Beatles, Album of the Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/song/15624-and-i-love-her/)
14. [Quantitative analysis of the evolution of the Beatles' releases for EMI, 1962–1970, Journal of Beatles Studies](https://doi.org/10.3828/jbs.2023.5)
15. [And I Love Her - McCartney Times](https://mccartney.com/?page_id=4874)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Soft rock and adult contemporary songs › Classic soft rock ballads*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license