Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Komm, gib mir deine Hand” / “Sie liebt dich” (English: “Come On, Give Me Your Hand” / “She Loves You“) was a single released on 4 February 1964 by The Beatles in Germany. They are the German language versions of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You”, respectively, and were translated by Luxembourger musician Camillo Felgen, under the pseudonym of “Jean Nicolas”.

“Sie liebt dich”, along with the original “She Loves You” B-side “I’ll Get You“, was released as a single in the United States on 21 May 1964. This release reached No. 97 in the Billboard Hot 100.

Both tracks are currently available on the Past Masters double CD compilation by The Beatles, most recently remastered in 2009 with the rest of the band’s discography.

Composition

The lyrics were translated to German language by Camillo Felgen, a Luxembourger singer, lyricist and television/radio presenter, upon request by EMI’s German producer Otto Demler. Demler also asked Felgen to fly to Paris, where the Beatles were on tour, to teach them phonetically the new lyrics of their songs during a recording session. Felgen used “Jean Nicolas” as alias for his songwriting credit—his full name was Camillo Jean Nicolas Felgen. Two other non-Beatles are credited, one “Montogue” on “Sie liebt dich”, and a “Heinz Hellmer” on “Komm, gib mir deine Hand”. It appears that both “Heinz Hellmer” and “Jean Montague” (incorrectly spelled on the credits as “Montogue”) were additional pseudonyms employed by Felgen as a tax dodge.

Recording

The German sub-label of EMI, Odeon Records, persuaded George Martin and Brian Epstein, insisting that the Beatles “should record their biggest songs in German so that they could sell more records there.” Martin agreed to the proposal, and persuaded the Beatles to comply.

In their only post-Parlophone-signing recording session outside the United Kingdom, the Beatles recorded Paul McCartney’s new song “Can’t Buy Me Love“, and the German versions of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You”, “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” and “Sie liebt dich”, respectively, on 29 January 1964 at EMI’s Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris. The band was in France for a 19-day series of concerts at the Olympia Theatre. The recording session was scheduled for 27 January, but the Beatles were reluctant to attend it.

“Komm, gib mir deine Hand” was the first song to be recorded. The Beatles recorded eleven takes, and the new German vocals were mixed with the original instrumental. The handclaps were overdubbed. As the original instrumental of “She Loves You” was destroyed by EMI after it had been mixed for mono, the Beatles had to re-record “Sie liebt dich” from scratch. The Beatles recorded the instrumental in thirteen takes, and then they recorded their German vocals. “Sie liebt dich” kept the “Yeah, yeah, yeah” refrain from the original.

The stereo mixes of “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” and “Sie liebt dich” were mixed by George Martin on 13 March 1964 at Abbey Road Studios, while the Beatles were filming A Hard Day’s Night. Copies of the mixes were sent to West Germany and the United States.

Martin later said of the songs: “They were right, actually, it wasn’t necessary for them to record in German, but they weren’t graceless; they did a good job.”

Outside Germany

Parlophone released “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” c/w “Sie liebt dich” by “Die Beatles” (A8117) as a single in Australia during the band’s tour of that country, on 21 June 1964. It was the only Beatles single not to chart in that country.

“Sie liebt dich” was released as a single in the United States on 21 May 1964, by Swan Records. The single also contained the original “She Loves You” B-side, “I’ll Get You“. Swan Records had released “She Loves You” in September 1963, and claimed the rights to issue “Sie liebt dich” as well. The single peaked at No. 97 in the Billboard Hot 100. “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” was released by Capitol Records as a track on the American Beatles album Something New on 20 July 1964. […]

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

• [a] mono 29 Jan 1964 ? at EMI Pathe Marconi, Paris. edited.
  Germany: Odeon O 22 671 single 1964.
• [b] mono 10 Mar 1964. edited.
  Germany: Electrola E 83 659 Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand 1963, Odeon O 83 756 Something New 1964.
  US: Capitol T 2018 Something New 1964.
• [c] stereo 12 Mar 1964. edited.
  Germany: Electrola STE 83 659 Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand 1963, Odeon STO 83 756 Something New 1964.
  US: Capitol ST 2018 Something New 1964.
  UK: Parlophone PSLP 261 and PCM 1001 Rarities 1978-79.
• [c1] stereo/mono made from [c] 1988 by EMI.
  CD: EMI CDP 7 90043 2 Past Masters 1 1988.

This is a new vocal dubbed onto a copy of the instrumental tracks of I want to hold your hand from October 17. The edit on all mixes is unspecified but it joins two takes of the German vocal and handclap track.

Talk (“coming”?) and at the start of the stereo mix [c] is partly cut off on Parlophone’s Rarities but it’s still there.

Mix [a], not in Lewisohn, is required by German single 22 671 being released on 4 Feb 1964, according to Moers as supported by the catalog number. By about March 10 Odeon was two singles along, Can’t Buy Me Love 22 697. If a mix was made in Paris on 29 Jan and shipped directly to Odeon, it might have escaped EMI’s bookkeeping and thus also Lewisohn’s research. This single was not available for review, so I cannot confirm whether it differs in some way from the mono mixes made later. The mixes of March seem to be for the album Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand on Electrola, and were then used for any other releases. That album was a collection of songs by various artists, issued probably March 1963. It contained two Beatles songs, the title and She loves you (not Sie Liebt Dich!).

Mix [c1] sounds superficially like mono, but there is still a slight stereo separation and it can be processed back into mix [c] with vocals on side, instruments on the other.

Last updated on May 20, 2017

Lyrics