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I Feel Fine

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For the EP by Black Lab, seeI Feel Fine(album).

"I Feel Fine"
Singlebythe Beatles
B-side"She's a Woman"
Released23 November 1964(1964-11-23)
Recorded18 October 1964
StudioEMI,London[1]
Genre
Length2:25
Label
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin
The BeatlesUS singles chronology
"Matchbox"
(1964) 		"I Feel Fine"
(1964) 		"Eight Days a Week"
(1965)
The BeatlesUK singles chronology
"A Hard Day's Night"
(1964) 		"I Feel Fine"
(1964) 		"Ticket to Ride"
(1965)
Promotional film
"I Feel Fine"onYouTube

"I Feel Fine"is a song by the English rock bandthe Beatlesthat was released in November 1964 as theA-sideof their eighth single. It was written byJohn Lennon[4]and credited to theLennon–McCartneypartnership. The recording includes one of the earliest uses of guitarfeedbackin popular music.

The single topped charts in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. In the UK, it was the fifth-highest-selling single of the 1960s.[5]

Origin[edit]

Lennon wrote the song's guitar riff while the Beatles were in the studio recording "Eight Days a Week"in October 1964, and kept playing it between takes.[6]He later recalled: "I told them I'd write a song specially for the riff. So they said, 'Yes. You go away and do that', knowing that we'd almost finished the albumBeatles for Sale.Anyway, going into the studio one morning, I said toRingo,'I've written this song but it's lousy'. But we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A-side, so we decided to release it just like that. "[7]

Both Lennon andGeorge Harrisonsaid that the riff was influenced by a riff in "Watch Your Step",a 1961 song written and performed byBobby Parker[7]and covered by the Beatles in concerts during 1961 and 1962.[8]Paul McCartneysaid the drums on "I Feel Fine" were inspired byRay Charles's 1959 single "What'd I Say".[4]

At the time of the song's recording, the Beatles, having mastered the studio basics, had begun to explore new sources of inspiration in noises previously eliminated as mistakes (such as electronic goofs, twisted tapes, and talkback). "I Feel Fine" marks one of the earliest examples of the use offeedbackas a recording effect in popular music. Artists such asthe Kinksandthe Whohad already used feedback live, but Lennon remained proud of the fact that the Beatles were perhaps the first group to deliberately put it on vinyl.

Structure[edit]

"I Feel Fine" is written in4
4timewith drummerRingo Starr'sR&B-influencedbeat (based on the "Latin" drumming in Ray Charles's hit "What'd I Say" ) featured through most of the song except for thebridge,which has a more conventionalbackbeat.After a brief note of heavy feedback (see below), theintrobegins with a distinctivearpeggiatedriff which starts inD majorbefore quickly progressing toC majorand thenG major,at which point the vocals begin in G. The melody, unusually, uses a major third and a minor seventh, and has been classified asMixolydian mode.Just before thecoda,Lennon's intro riff (orostinato) is repeated with a bright sound byGeorge Harrisonon electric guitar (aGretschTennessean).[9]The song ends with afadeoutof the G major portion of the opening riff repeated several times.

Audio feedback[edit]

"I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussivefeedbacknote produced by McCartney plucking the A string on his bass, and Lennon's guitar, which was leaning against McCartney's bass amp, picking up feedback. This was the first use of feedback on a rock record. According to McCartney, "John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pickup on it so it could be amplified... We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it… it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!' And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' 'Wow, it's a great sound!'George Martinwas there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was afound object,an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp. "[4]Although it sounded very much like anelectric guitar,Lennon actually played the riff on anacoustic-electric guitar(aGibsonmodelJ-160E),[9]employing the guitar's onboardpickup.

Later, Lennon was very proud of this sonic experimentation. In one of his last interviews, he said: "I defy anybody to find a record – unless it's some old blues record in 1922 – that uses feedback that way."[10]

Release and commercial performance[edit]

Backed by "She's a Woman","I Feel Fine "was issued as a singleA-sideon 23 November 1964 in the United States, with the UK release following on 27 November.[6]Public demand for the single was unprecedented, according to authorNicholas Schaffner,particularly in the US, where the market had been saturated with Beatles releases over the first seven months of 1964, "making the ensuing gap seem like forever". He recalled that fans remained "glued" to their transistor radios over the ten days between the single's unveiling on radio and its retail release, and that this established a fan ritual for all the band's subsequent records.[11]

"I Feel Fine" reached the top of the UK charts on 12 December, displacingthe Rolling Stones' "Little Red Rooster",and remained there for five weeks. In Canada, the song also reached number one.[12]

The song topped the USBillboardHot 100chart for three weeks in late 1964 and early 1965.Cash Boxmagazine ranked "I Feel Fine" as the 19th biggest US hit of 1965.[13]It was the sixth single by the Beatles to hit number one on theBillboardHot 100 in a calendar year (1964), an all-time record. In order, these singles were "I Want to Hold Your Hand","She Loves You","Can't Buy Me Love","Love Me Do","A Hard Day's Night"and" I Feel Fine ". For songwriters Lennon and McCartney, it was the seventh number-one they wrote in the same calendar year, which was another all-time record. The song was the first of six Hot 100 number one chart-toppers in a row (not counting the EP4 – by the Beatles) by one act, also a record at the time. The subsequent singles were "Eight Days a Week","Ticket to Ride","Help!","Yesterday"and"We Can Work It Out".[14]

By 2012, "I Feel Fine" had sold 1.41 million copies in the UK.[15]As of December 2018, it was the 53rd-best-selling single of all time there – one of six Beatles songs included on the top sales rankings published by the UK'sOfficial Charts Company.[16]

Promotional film[edit]

On 23 November 1965, the Beatles filmed two promotional clips for the song for inclusion inTop of the Pops'round-up of the year's biggest hits.[17]Directed byJoe McGrath,both films feature the band interacting with items of gym equipment. In the first, Harrison sang into a punch-ball while Starr pedalled on anexercise bike.In the second film, the Beatles ate fish and chips while trying to mime to the song. Epstein was adamant that this film could not be used. From then on, the controversial "fish and chips" footage was kept in a 2 "videotape box labelled" I Feel Fried ". The first promotional film was included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation1,and both films were included in the three-disc versions of the compilation, titled1+.[18]

Other releases[edit]

In the United States, "I Feel Fine" was released on theCapitolalbumBeatles '65.The mono version of the LP featured an exclusive mix of "I Feel Fine" with added reverb and a shorter fade as created by Beatles producer George Martin, which was also released as a single on Capitol. The stereo version presented aduophonic(mock stereo) mix of the song featuring a layer ofreverbadded by executiveDave Dexter Jr.Both versions were released on CD in 2004 as part ofThe Capitol Albums, Volume 1box set.

In the United Kingdom, the song was released in theLPformat onA Collection of Beatles Oldiesin 1966, and the stereo version of that album included a truestereomix, which can also be found on thePast MastersVolume 1and1CDs. There is also another stereo version (virtually identical to the standard true stereo mix) in which the whispered words "'s low enough" can be heard at the beginning of the track. This "whispering version" appeared on the UK release of1962–1966and has been rereleased occasionally.[19]

A radio show outtake in mono is included on theOn Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2compilation released in 2013.

Personnel[edit]

Personnel perIan MacDonald[20]

Charts and certifications[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^"1"Liner Notes by Mark Lewisohn
  2. ^Frontani, Michael R. (2009).The Beatles: Image and the Media.Jackson:University Press of Mississippi.ISBN978-1-60473-156-9.
  3. ^Terence J. O'Grady (1 May 1983).The Beatles: A Musical Evolution.Twayne Publishers. p.56.ISBN978-0-8057-9453-3.Both "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" are heavily rhythm and blues influenced pop-rock songs.
  4. ^abcMiles 1997,p. 172.
  5. ^"Ken Dodd 'third best-selling artist of 1960s'".BBC News.1 June 2010.Archivedfrom the original on 27 October 2020.Retrieved7 September2020.
  6. ^abMacDonald 2005,pp. 133, 136.
  7. ^abThe Beatles 2000,p. 160.
  8. ^Shaheen J. Dibai, "Bobby Parker: The Real Fifth Beatle?",One Note Ahead,29 March 2007Archived8 December 2017 at theWayback Machine.Retrieved 2 November 2013
  9. ^abBabiuk 2002,p. 146–147.
  10. ^Sheff, David (2000).All We Are Saying.New York, New York: St. Martin's Press. p.173.ISBN0-312-25464-4.
  11. ^Schaffner 1978,p. 39.
  12. ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 31 May 2016.Retrieved20 December2017.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^"Top 100 Singles".Archivedfrom the original on 5 October 2012.Retrieved2 February2016.
  14. ^Wallgren 1982,pp. 38–45.
  15. ^Sedghi, Ami (4 November 2012)."UK's million-selling singles: the full list".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 18 February 2019.Retrieved4 November2012.
  16. ^Myers, Justin (14 December 2018)."The best-selling singles of all time on the Official UK Chart".Official Charts Company.Archivedfrom the original on 28 September 2018.Retrieved26 January2019.
  17. ^Winn 2008,p. 377.
  18. ^Rowe, Matt (18 September 2015)."The Beatles 1 to Be Reissued with New Audio Remixes... and Videos".The Morton Report.Archivedfrom the original on 29 December 2015.Retrieved9 January2016.
  19. ^Winn 2008,p. 279.
  20. ^MacDonald 2005,p. 136.
  21. ^"The Beatles – I Feel Fine "(in German).Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  22. ^"The Beatles – I Feel Fine "(in Dutch).Ultratop 50.
  23. ^"Top RPM Singles: Issue 5603."RPM.Library and Archives Canada.
  24. ^"The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Feel Fine ".Irish Singles Chart.Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  25. ^"Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1960: Artistit SAR - SEM".Sisältää hitin.12 August 2015.Retrieved26 March2022.
  26. ^"The Beatles – I Feel Fine "(in Dutch).Single Top 100.
  27. ^"Lever hit parades: 24-Dec-1964".Flavour of New Zealand.Archivedfrom the original on 24 January 2016.Retrieved8 April2016.
  28. ^"The Beatles – I Feel Fine ".VG-lista.
  29. ^Kimberley, C (2000).Zimbabwe: Singles Chart Book.p. 10.
  30. ^Hallberg, Eric (1993).Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P 3: Sveriges radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor 10. 7. 1962 - 19. 8. 1975.Drift Musik. p. 130.ISBN9163021404.
  31. ^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998).Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961 - 74.Premium Publishing. p. 53.ISBN919727125X.
  32. ^"Beatles: Artist Chart History".Official Charts Company.
  33. ^"The Beatles Chart History (Hot 100)".Billboard.
  34. ^Hoffmann, Frank (1983).The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981.Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 32–34.
  35. ^"Offizielle Deutsche Charts"(Enter "Beatles" in the search box)(in German).GfK Entertainment Charts.Archivedfrom the original on 3 April 2016.Retrieved16 May2016.
  36. ^"Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1965".Archived fromthe originalon 1 June 2015.Retrieved11 July2020.
  37. ^Hutchins, Chris (26 December 1964)."Beatles Scoring High in U.K. on Single, Album; New Film Set".Billboard.p. 8.Retrieved8 August2023.
  38. ^"American single certifications – The Beatles – I Feel Fine".Recording Industry Association of America.Retrieved14 May2016.

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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