Devil In Her Heart: Introduction
“Devil In Her Heart” is a Fab Four song that is on their 1963 album, “With The Beatles.” There it sits on side 2 after track 4, “I Wanna Be Your Man,” and before “Not A Second Time.”
In Detail
- Release Date: November 22, 1963
- Recorded: July 18, 1963
- Genre: Rock
- Track Duration: 2:27
- Record Label: Parlophone
- Songwriter: Richard Drapkin
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Norman Smith
Performers And Instruments
- George Harrison: double-tracked vocal, lead guitar
- Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass guitar
- John Lennon: backing vocals, rhythm guitar
- Ringo Starr: drums, maracas
Where To Find “Devil In Her Heart”
If you need to buy the song, it is still available on the following albums:
Obviously, the BBC version comes from a recording session in the early 1960s. This was when The Beatles could capitalise on the free publicity, of course.
Devil In Her Heart: Background
To begin with, this song originally had the title “Devil In His Heart.” However, that title soon changed to “(There’s a) Devil In His Heart” on its re-release. It was a record by “The Donays,” but it didn’t chart in the UK or America. The B-side of their only single was “Bad Boy,” after which lead singer Yvonne Symington became a member of “The Elgins.”
The Beatles then changed the title of the song to “Devil In Her Heart” when they recorded it. But their “Bad Boy” is not the same as “The Donays” B-side.
While The Beatles were still establishing themselves, they would often sing cover songs. Indeed, they would often sing the more obscure songs, such as this one. They also had access to them because of their manager, Brian Epstein, who had a record shop.
“Brian had a policy of buying at least one copy of every record that was released. If it sold, he’d order another one, or five, or whatever. Consequently, he had records that weren’t hits in Britain, weren’t even hits in America.
Before going to a gig, we’d meet in the record store, after it had shut, and we’d search the racks like ferrets to see what new ones were there… Devil In Her Heart and Barrett Strong’s Money were records that we’d picked up and played in the shop and thought were interesting.”
George Harrison
Anthology
Recording Studio
The Beatles began recording “Devil In Her Heart” on July 18, 1963, in Studio Two of the EMI Studios, London, during the 7.00 p.m.–10.45 p.m. session. There were at least 5 takes that day, possibly 6, but they also recorded “You Really Got a Hold on Me” (takes 1–7) and “Money (That’s What I Want)” (takes 1-6), as well as “Till There Was You” (takes 1-3).
As well as recording this song for their second album, “With The Beatles,” they recorded it for BBC Radio too. This was for their show “Pop Go The Beatles,” airing on September 24, 1963. As a result, this version is on their 2013 album, “On Air: Live At The BBC, Volume 2.”
The Fab Four did record girl groups’ songs, but this was the last one of those.
Take A Listen
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