The Sweet Way Paul McCartney and John Lennon Wrote “I Want to Hold Your Hand"

Before they were one half of The Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon were two teenagers who loved rock and roll. The pair met in 1957 when 15-year-old McCartney was invited by his friend to see 16-year-old Lennon’s skiffle group, The Quarrymen, play at a local church event. 

Afterward, McCartney—who had been greatly impressed by Lennon—played a few songs on the guitar and piano. His performance wowed Lennon so much that he asked him to join his band a few weeks later.

The pair famously went on to enjoy one of the most creatively fruitful relationships of any musical duo ever. The Lennon-McCartney pairing generated hits ranging from “A Day in the Life” to “We Can Work It Out.” 

In later years, the pair frequently wrote separately. But early on, they penned songs in a particularly collaborative, close-knit manner—including their hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

How “I Want to Hold Your Hand” Was Written

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was written by Lennon and McCartney in the basement of McCartney’s then-girlfriend Jane Asher’s parents’ home in London. It was their response to manager Brian Epstein’s request to write something that would appeal to American audiences.

Lennon recalled the process of collaborating with McCartney in those early days in an interview with David Sheff, featured in the book All We Are Saying. “We wrote a lot of stuff together, one-on-one, eyeball to eyeball,” Lennon said. “Like in ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand,’ I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher’s house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, ‘Oh you-u-u… got that something…’ And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘Do that again!’ In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that—both playing into each other’s nose.”

McCartney echoed Lennon’s description in a 1994 interview. “‘Eyeball to eyeball’ is a very good description of it. That’s exactly how it was,” he said. “‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ was very co-written. It was our big number one; the one that would eventually break us in America.”

A Collaboration Becomes a Megahit

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was recorded in 1963 at Abbey Road Studios. It was the first Beatles song recorded using four-track technology and was released in November of that year. It knocked the Beatles' “She Loves You” off the top spot of the UK charts and made the Beatles the first band to have replaced itself at number one.

The song, needless to say, went on to do very well in America and helped to catalyze Beatlemania there. Billboard lists it as the 48th biggest hit of all time, and the song sold over 12 million copies worldwide. 

Lennon and McCartney, meanwhile, continued to share a close friendship as the Beatles ascended to stardom, with friends sometimes saying it appeared they could read each other’s minds. Yet things splintered after Lennon met Yoko Ono and McCartney met Linda Eastman, and the pair fell out. 

However, they had met up in person and had positively referenced each other in songs before Lennon’s untimely death in 1980. Lennon’s last words to McCartney—"Think about me every now and then, old friend"—show the depth and longevity of that friendship, formed in churches and basements and centered around a thrilling musical synergy that still captivates the world decades later.

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