THE BEATLES – “Can’t Buy Me Love”
“I don’t care too much for money”, they sing sweetly as they conquer the world. By accident or design, this feels like a slight nod backwards for The Beatles – a solid, skiffley strumalong married to some earthy good sense (was “money can’t buy me love” even a saying before they said it?). The song takes off halfway through with a satisfyingly jangling solo and the band performance is as impressive as ever but this is still the least thrilling of their early hits.
6
Easily weakest of all their #1s(with the exception maybe of Ballad Of John and Yoko)
insightful
That was mean, Marcello! And you know it…
The point is, at the time nobody knew how the Beatles were going to develop. In the context of what was around it, and not all of it was at all bad, CBML stood out from the crowd. So, for that matter, did Love Me Do, which we aren’t dealing with here: I know I was only eight when I first heard it but I was already an enthusiastic listener to Luxy (under the bedclothes, as you did) but Love Me Do stood out instantly when I first heard it.
Pete Murray reviewed it in MM at the time and said it wasn’t very tuneful and that it was a shame that Lennon and McCartney were giving away their best songs to artists like Peter and Gordon.
They didn’t know then and they still don’t know now.
The Beatles had the stupidest *band name* out of all this Merseysound crop. Just as well the songs were something special to rise above that devastating handicap.
Erkey Grant and The Earwigs gave them a run for their money.
Dunno if “money can’t buy you love” was in common parlance before this, but “grotty” didn’t exist before the Hard Day’s Night film.
And here’s me thinking that fun is the one thing that money can’t buy.
Getting to “play” with my parents 45′s on an old dansette as a child, my sister used to scare me with Can’t Buy me Love, as apparently the very young me was a tad unsettled by the way the vocals just come in, so loudly.
TOTPWatch: The Beatles performed ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ (and ‘You Can’t Do That’) in a specially pre-recorded studio sequence transmitted on the edition of 25th March 1964. In the Machester studio that week were; Pter & Gordon, The Applejacks and The Bachelors. Jimmy Saville was the host. No copy survives.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:
Ivy Benson, Bandleader (1971)
Sebastian Faulks, Novelist (2009).