The inspiration behind one of The Beatles‘ earliest hits came from a person Paul McCartney has not seen in decades, the veteran songwriter confirmed.
All My Loving would mark one of the first hits for the Fab Four, even being the song they performed during their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The inspiration behind the song, McCartney explains, is romantic at heart. It may not be a surprise to hear so given McCartney’s best songs focus on domesticity and love, but the legendary performer confirmed as much when writing up the backstory to each of his tracks in his book, The Lyrics. McCartney would reveal Jane Asher is the origin of the song, but more specifically, a period where the pair were chased by the press is what influenced him to write the track.
McCartney, explaining the origins behind All My Loving, wrote, “As far as the gossip columns were concerned, Jane and I were what they would call an ‘item’. So much so that we were in a theatre one night – I liked literature and theatre, and of course, she, as an actress, did too, which might have explained a good deal why I was drawn to her in the first place – and we were sitting there, and the lights went up for the interval.
“We had decided not to go to the bar, so we were just going to sit it out. Despite some of those huge early concerts, I really was ot used to the personal burdens imposed by fame, so we were just talking in our seats, and suddenly ten paparazzi came scampering in with those cameras going flash, flash, flash, like La Dolce Vita, and then, just as quickly, they all just scampered out again.
“They were like the Keystone Cops. But, oh my God, we were shocked. The theatre had probably tipped them off to get a bit of publicity for the play.
“But precisely because Jane was my girlfriend, I wanted to tell her there that I loved her, so that’s what initially inspired this song; that’s what it was. Listening to it so many years later, I do think it’s a nice melody. It starts with F-sharp minor, not with the root chord of E major, and you gradually work your way back. When I’d finished it, I felt, almost immediately, proud of it. I thought, ‘This is a good ‘un’.”
The song would prove to be a huge hit for the band too, with McCartney saying the press of the time were unimpressed. McCartney wrote: “Some of the press the next day were a bit mean, though.
“The New York Herald Tribune – who, I might add, are no longer with us – wrote that The Beatles were ‘75% publicity, 20% haircut, and 5% lilting lament’. But then the mop top became a whole new trend in the way that teenage boys started to wear their hair. At that point, the fringe – or bangs, as they’re called in the US – wasn’t supposed to go anywhere near the eyebrows. That all changed. You could even buy Beatles wigs.”
