I Wanna Be Your Man

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“I Wanna Be Your Man” is a Lennon–McCartney-penned song recorded and released as a single by the Rolling Stones, and then recorded by the Beatles. The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, and finished by Lennon and McCartney in the corner of a room while Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were talking.

The Rolling Stones version

Released as their second single on 1 November 1963, the Stones’ version was an early hit, peaking at No. 12 on the British chart. Their rendition is a song featuring Brian Jones’ distinctive slide guitar and Bill Wyman’s driving bass playing. It is one of the few Rolling Stones songs to feature only Brian Jones on backing vocals. In the US, the song was released on 6 March 1964 as the B-side to “Not Fade Away“.

According to various accounts, either the Rolling Stones’ manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham or the Rolling Stones themselves ran into Lennon and McCartney on the street as the two were returning from an awards luncheon. Hearing that the band were in need of material for a single, Lennon and McCartney went to their session at De Lane Lea Studio and finished off the song – whose verse they had already been working on – in the corner of the room while the impressed Rolling Stones watched.

Mick Jagger recalled the song in 1968: “We knew [the Beatles] by then and we were rehearsing and Andrew brought Paul and John down to the rehearsal. They said they had this tune, they were really hustlers then. I mean the way they used to hustle tunes was great: ‘Hey Mick, we’ve got this great song.’ So they played it and we thought it sounded pretty commercial, which is what we were looking for, so we did it like Elmore James or something. I haven’t heard it for ages but it must be pretty freaky ’cause nobody really produced it. It was completely crackers, but it was a hit and sounded great onstage.“

Bill Wyman noted how the Rolling Stones adapted the song to their style: “We kind of learned it pretty quickly ’cause there wasn’t that much to learn. Then Brian got his slide out, his steel (guitar) out and dadaw… dadaw… and we said, Yeah, that’s better, dirty it up a bit and bash it out, and we kind of completely turned the song around and made it much more tough, Stones- and Elmore James-like.“

Released only as a single, the Rolling Stones’ rendition did not appear on a studio album. The song was released in the UK on the 1972 Decca compilation album Milestones and on the UK compilation album Rolled Gold: The Very Best of the Rolling Stones in 1975. In 1989, it was issued on the US compilation album Singles Collection: The London Years. It is included on the four CD version of the 2012 GRRR! compilation. […]

The Beatles’ version

The Beatles’ version was sung by Ringo Starr and appeared on the group’s second UK album, With The Beatles, released 22 November 1963. It was driven by a heavily tremoloed, open E-chord on a guitar played through a Vox AC30 amplifier. John Lennon was dismissive of the song in 1980, saying: “It was a throwaway. The only two versions of the song were Ringo and the Rolling Stones. That shows how much importance we put on it: We weren’t going to give them anything great, right?“

The Beatles also recorded two versions of the song for the BBC. One version was for the Saturday Club, recorded on 7 January 1964 and first broadcast on 15 February. The second version was released on the Live at the BBC collection from the From Us To You show. It was recorded on 28 February and broadcast on 30 March. The Beatles also recorded a version for the Around The Beatles TV show, recorded on 19 April 1964. This version was released on the Anthology 1 collection in 1995.

Bob Dylan recorded a song for Blonde on Blonde (1966) called “I Wanna Be Your Lover” as a “tip of the hat” to the Lennon/McCartney song. It was left off the final album, but was eventually released on the compilation boxed set Biograph (1985).

The song features a heavy Bo Diddley beat. Bo Diddley himself acknowledged this in the song “London Stomp” (album “Hey Good Lookin’“). He sings “Hey, Liverpool, we got the London Stomp” over a “I Wanna Be Your Man” background. […]

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

• [a] mono 23 Oct 1963.
  UK: Parlophone PMC 1206 With the Beatles 1963.
  CD: EMI CDP 7 46436 2 With the Beatles 1987.
• [b] stereo 29 Oct 1963.
  UK: Parlophone PCS 3045 With the Beatles 1963.
• [b1] stereo remixed from [b] 1963, by Capitol.
  US: Capitol ST 2047 Meet the Beatles 1964.
• [b2] mono made from [b] 1963, by Capitol.
  US: Capitol T 2047 Meet the Beatles 1964.
• [b3] stereo remixed from [b] 1976.
  US: Capitol SKBO-11537 Rock and Roll Music 1976.

Again, a lot of tape generations. This was the last twintrack recording started.

Paul McCartney have performed “I Wanna Be Your Man” during a few concert of his 1993 New World Tour.

Last updated on June 8, 2021

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