Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, eventually settling with Pete Best in 1960, who played with them for two years before being replaced with then Rory Storm & The Hurricanes drummer Ringo Starr in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein molded them into a professional act and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four", with Epstein, Martin and other members of the band's entourage sometimes given the informal title of "fifth Beatle".
By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market and breaking numerous sales records. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). From 1965 onwards, they produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), and enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all four members enjoyed success as solo artists. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active.
The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart, most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and most singles sold in the UK. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and all four main members were inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. In 2008, the group topped Billboard's list of the all-time most successful artists on the Billboard Hot 100. The band received seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.
Former Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original "... In the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of African-American rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism", and "the first advance in popular music since the War".
They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley and, later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture.
Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.
According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of socio-cultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".
Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness. Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964.
In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards, the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US. In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 800 million physical and digital albums as of 2013. They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty. The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 178 million units in the US, more than any other artist. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
There are two holidays celebrated for the Beatles: Global Beatles Day on 25 June each year. On that date in 1967, the band performed "All You Need Is Love" on television. In 2001, UNESCO created World Beatles Day on 16 January each year. This date has direct relation to the opening of The Cavern Club in 1957.
Five asteroids, 4147 Lennon, 4148 McCartney, 4149 Harrison, 4150 Starr and 8749 Beatles are named after the Beatles.
03 03-You Really Got A Hold On Me
The Beatles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I love you
Seems that I'm always
Thinking of you
Oh, oh, oh
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You've really got a hold on me
You really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
Baby
I don't want you
But I need you
Don't want to kiss you
But I need to
Oh, oh, oh
You do me wrong now
My love is strong now
You've really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
You really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
Baby
I love you and all I want you to do
Is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
Tighter
Tighter
I want to leave you
Don't want to stay here
Don't want to spend
Another day here
Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
I just can't quit now
You've really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
You really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
Baby
I love you and all I want you to do
Is just hold me, please, hold me, squeeze, hold me, hold me
You really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
You really got a hold on me
(You really got a hold on me)
The Beatles' song "You Really Got a Hold on Me" describes a love-hate relationship, where the singer loves their partner deeply, but at the same time, they are treated badly. The song starts by emphasizing this duality, "I don't like you, but I love you." Furthermore, the singer can't stop thinking about the partner, although they don't treat them well.
As the song progresses, the lyrics demonstrate the singer's vulnerability to the partner's love, "You do me wrong now, my love is strong now" indicating how the partner's treatment affects them. Despite wanting to leave, the singer cannot help but feel like they are being held back, "You've really got a hold on me." The last verse repeats the idea that all the singer wants is for the partner to embrace them, "hold me, please, hold me, squeeze, hold me, hold me," solidifying the hold the partner has over them.
The song's repetition is significant in highlighting the cyclic nature of the relationship, where the singer keeps going back to the partner even though they know it's not good for them. The lyrics in "You Really Got a Hold on Me" symbolize a universal human experience of how one can be drawn inexplicably to someone who does not treat them the way they deserve to be treated.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't like you
I have negative feelings towards you
But I love you
Despite my negative feelings, I am deeply in love with you
Seems that I'm always
It appears that I am constantly
Thinking of you
Thinking about you occupies a lot of my thoughts
You treat me badly
Your behavior towards me is hurtful
I love you madly
Despite your hurtful behavior, my love for you is intense
You've really got a hold on me
You have a strong emotional grip on me
(You really got a hold on me)
Repeating the previous line for emphasis
Baby
A term of endearment for the beloved
I don't want you
I don't have a desire to be with you
But I need you
Despite my lack of desire, I have a strong emotional dependency on you
Don't want to kiss you
Physical intimacy with you is not what I desire
But I need to
Despite my lack of desire, I have a strong emotional compulsion to be physically intimate with you
You do me wrong now
Your actions towards me are unjust
My love is strong now
Despite your unjust actions, my love for you has grown stronger
I love you and all I want you to do
My love for you is so overwhelming that all I ask is for you to hold me in your arms
Is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
Repeating the previous line for emphasis
Tighter
As I am held, I want to feel an even stronger emotional and physical connection with you
I want to leave you
I have a desire to end our relationship
Don't want to stay here
I don't want to continue being in this relationship
Don't want to spend
I have no desire to waste any more time
Another day here
Remaining in this relationship for even one more day is not what I want
Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
My desire to end our relationship is very strong
I just can't quit now
Despite my desire to end the relationship, I am unable to do so
You really got a hold on me
Your emotional grip on me is so strong that I cannot leave you
(You really got a hold on me)
Repeating the previous line for emphasis
Please
An plea for emotional comfort from the beloved
Squeeze
A request for even greater emotional and physical closeness
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: William Robinson Jr.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nour Jurdi
Thank you! I was waiting for this performance all of episode 2!
Stouthuyzen Bob
@xXDante78Xx O_o word!
xXDante78Xx O_o
Well at least it was on the Let It Be film. But what a kick in the balls that it isn't in the Get Back Doc
heroína
me too:(
mfc3067
Thank you. One of my favorite parts of the "Let It Be" movie, and Billy Preston seems more pronounced in the movie mix.
Querelle7
Marvelous !!!
Yani Gemdd
This is so good 😃 thanks man
eddyrocks
At some parts it almost feels like their younger selves crying for help to each other, as if to say they all long for easier times.
Peter John Roche
If this was released now in 2022 it would probably be a massive hit...it would be in keeping with the UK government at the moment completely out of it's brains.😁
Capitán Gorila
If you listen the 1963 version of "You Really Got A Hold On Me" is in A and also Sounds like "Let it Be Sessions" why? Because had very similar melody sound and style of "Dig A Pony". Do it the prube
First put "You Really Got A Hold On Me" from WITH THE BEATLES and later put "Dig A Pony" and you will see and find whole lotta similarities in both songs. 🍏