cccxxi. BEATLES, THE: I Want To Hold Your Hand

cccxxi. BEATLES, THE

I Want To Hold Your Hand (1964)
John, vocal, rhythm guitar, hand claps
Paul, vocal, bass, hand claps
George, lead guitar, hand claps
Ringo, drums, hand claps
(2:25)

from Meet The Beatles!

The Song That Gave Birth to Beatlemania.

The first Beatles song I ever heard. Age 11.

It was the submediant vi chord that did it (red arrow). Followed by a secondary dominant (blue arrow) [V of vi]. The bridge moves nicely to the subdominant (C).

On October 16, 1963, John and Paul were in the music room at Jane Asher's house playing piano together. They had Oh, you-u-u and got that something ... and then Paul played that magic vi chord.

John: "That's it! Do that again!"

Eyeball-to-eyeball songwriting.