On January 29, 1964, The Beatles went to the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, France, and recorded their hits “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in German.
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When they were done, “She Loves You” became “Sie Liebt Dich” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was “Komm gib mir deine Hand” and were released as non-album singles in West Germany in March 1964.
At the time, it was standard for many popular artists to record songs—even their own—in German for the international market. In 1963, The Beach Boys reworked their song “In My Room,” which was translated and recorded as “Ganz Allein” in German. Johnny Cash recorded German versions of “I Got Stripes” and “Five Feet High and Rising,” while Connie Francis released an entire album of songs sung in the language.
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Despite all the Germanophile recordings of the time, The Beatles were still reluctant at first to record German versions of their songs.
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Die Beatles
Though John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” Camillo Felgen, who was a program director at Radio Luxembourg, translated both into German lyrics. Felgen had less than 24 hours to finish the German lyrics and coach the band on how to sing them in German.
The recordings marked the first time the band recorded outside of London and the only time they recorded anything in German.
Once released, The Beatles’ new songs peaked high on the charts in Germany. The German version of “Sie Liebt Dich” (“She Love You”) went to No. 1 and “Komm gib mir deine Hand” (“I Want to Hold Your Hand”) peaked at No. 7 on the German charts. Additionally, “Sie Liebt Dich,” also managed to break onto the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 97, while “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” was released on the band’s 1964 album Something New.
Lennon’s “She Loves You” Guitar Switch
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On the German version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the band overdubbed the new vocals on top of the original music recording, but they couldn’t do the same for “She Loves You,” since the tapes had been erased and had to record it with instrumentation, and in German, from scratch.
The band stuck to the same arrangement except Lennon’s guitar. In the original “She Loves You” he played his Gibson J-160E, while on the German one, he used a Rickenbacker 325 Capri.
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
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While The Beatles were in Paris, they also recorded one more song at the Pathé Marconi Studios—in English—”Can’t Buy Me Love.” The song appeared on their third album A Hard Day’s Night, and the Richard Lester 1964 film of the same title.
“Can’t Buy Me Love” went to No. 1 in the U.S., UK, and multiple countries, and no, The Beatles never recorded in German.
Listen to The Beatles’ “Sie Liebt Dich” (“She Love You”) and “Komm gib mir deine Hand” (“I Want to Hold Your Hand”) below.
