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Released in 1963

Thank You Girl

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on February 7, 2016

Album This song officially appears on the From Me To You / Thank You Girl 7" Single.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1963

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interviews

From Wikipedia:

“Thank You Girl” is a song by the Beatles and released as the B-side of “From Me to You“, which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963). While not released on an LP in the United Kingdom until Rarities in 1978, the single was featured as the second track on The Beatles’ Second Album in the United States. As the B-side to “Do You Want to Know a Secret“, it hit No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1964.

Originally titled “Thank You, Little Girl”, the song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as a tribute to the band’s many female fans. McCartney said, “We knew that if we wrote a song called, ‘Thank You Girl’, that a lot of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine ‘thank you’. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans.” Written “eyeball to eyeball”, a phrase Lennon and McCartney would later use to describe their early formulaic writing sessions, “Thank You Girl” demonstrates how they were able to produce a song from scratch by working in total partnership. Lyrically, Ian MacDonald suggests that Lennon probably wrote the first line of each verse, allowing McCartney his flair for word play and inner-rhyming in completing it.

Lennon said the song was originally intended as a single: “‘Thank You Girl’ was one of our efforts at writing a single that didn’t work. So it became a B-side or an album track.” In April 1972, he told Hit Parader, “[The song was written by] Paul and me. This was just a silly song we knocked off.” McCartney seemed to agree describing it as “a bit of a hack song, but all good practice.”

Both “From Me to You” and “Thank You Girl” were credited to “McCartney–Lennon”, as were eight of the songs on the Please Please Me album. It would be permanently changed to the more familiar “Lennon–McCartney” songwriting credit for their next single release, “She Loves You“.

The song was recorded in thirteen takes, the same number of takes needed to perfect “From Me To You”. This recording session is also notable because it marks the first studio appearances of two Lennon–McCartney songs that would not be released until much later in the band’s career: “One After 909” (later appearing on Let It Be) and “What Goes On” (later appearing on Rubber Soul, credited as Lennon–McCartney/Starkey to reflect Ringo’s contribution to the lyrics). Although both songs were rehearsed, only “One After 909” was recorded, and even then the results were deemed unsatisfactory for release.

The stereo mix of the song (included on the Capitol LP The Beatles’ Second Album) is noticeably different from the original single mono mix (re-released on CD in 1988 on the compilation Past Masters, Volume One) in the middle 8. In the stereo version, a couple of extra harmonica lines can be heard, as well as at the very end of the song. In addition, this stereo mix contained reverb added by Capitol. The unadulterated stereo mix was released for the first time on the 2009 remastered CD Past Masters

The song was covered by The Smithereens on their album B-Sides The Beatles.

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

  • [A] mono 13 Mar 1963. edited.
    • UK: Parlophone R5015 single 1963, Parlophone PSLP 261 and PCM 1001 Rarities 1978-79.
    • US: Vee Jay VJ 522 single 1963, Vee Jay VJ 587 single 1964, Vee Jay VJLP 1085 and VJSR 1085 The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage 1963.
    • CD: EMI CDP 7 90043 2 Past Masters 1 1988, EMI single 1988.
  • [B] stereo 13 Mar 1963. edited.
    • US: Capitol ST 2080 Second 1964. Germany: Odeon STO 73 692 (later 1C 062-04 363) Beatles Beat 1966.
  • [B1] mono made from [B] 1964, by Capitol.
    • US: Capitol T 2080 Second 1964.

Stereo [B] has harmonica edit pieces in the middle and at the end that were not used for mono [A], and has more echo. Unlike From Me to You, the harmonica was mixed into only the vocal track. Vee Jay had some problem with [A]; it runs a little slow on the single, and a little fast on the LP.

The stereo mix has a lot of echo on it, which was probably an addition by Capitol, but we don’t have a definite non-Capitol source to compare to. Odeon (Germany) got some material from Capitol, and their stereo “Thank you girl” may be Capitol’s processed version.

Lyrics

Oh, oh, mmm

You've been good to me, you made me glad when I was blue

And eternally I'll always be in love with you

And all I've gotta do is thank you girl, thank you girl

I could tell the world a thing or two about our love

I know little girl only a fool would doubt our love

And all I gotta do is thank you girl, thank you girl

Thank you girl for lovin' me the way that you do

(Way that you do)

That's the kind of love that is too good to be true

And all I've gotta do is thank you girl, thank you girl

Oh, oh, mmm

You've been good to me, you made me glad when I was blue

And eternally I'll always be in love with you

And all I gotta do is thank you girl, thank you girl

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh

Officially appears on

See all official recordings containing “Thank You Girl”

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Thank You Girl”

Live performances

“Thank You Girl” has been played in 5 concerts.

Latest concerts where “Thank You Girl” has been played

Paul McCartney writing

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