I Wanna Be Your Man: Beatles song, also The Rolling Stones.

I Wanna Be Your Man: Introduction

“I Wanna Be Your Man” is a Fab Four song on their 1963 album, “With The Beatles.” However, the track also appears on a few other Beatles’ albums. They also gave the song to Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones, then took it into the charts.

  • Release Date: November 22, 1963 (UK), January 20, 1964 (US)
  • Recorded: September 11, 12, 30, and October 3, 20, 1963
  • Genre: British R&B, beat, rock and roll
  • Track Duration: 1:58
  • Record Label: Parlophone (UK) Capitol (US)
  • Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
  • Producer: George Martin
  • Engineer: Norman Smith

You can still buy this track on the following albums:

**If you need the original version of the song, buy the 1963 album, but if you are an avid collector, get the lot!

Written mostly by Paul McCartney, but credit goes to Lennon-McCartney, “I Wanna Be Your Man” became a single by The Rolling Stones, and it reached number 12 in the UK charts. However, The Beatles would record their version as an album track sung by Ringo Starr.

“It was a throwaway. The only two versions of the song were Ringo and the Rolling Stones. That shows how much importance we put on it: We weren’t going to give them anything great, right?”

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

“We often used to say to people, the words don’t really matter, people don’t listen to words, it’s the sound they listen to. So I Wanna Be Your Man was to try and give Ringo something like Boys—an up-tempo song he could sing from the drums. So again, it had to be very simple.”

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Although they gave the song to The Rolling Stones on September 10, 1963, The Beatles would often sing it at their gigs. In fact, they even sang it at their last paid concert in America. This was on August 29, 1966, at Candlestick Park, San Francisco.

The Beatles began recording “I Wanna Be Your Man” on September 11, 1963, in Studio Two of the EMI Studios, London, during the 2.30 pm–6.00 pm session. They recorded one take and, on the same day, also taped “Little Child” (takes 1–2), “All I’ve Got to Do” (takes 1–14), “Not a Second Time” (takes 1–4) and “Don’t Bother Me” (takes 1–7)

Not content with their first take, the band recorded a further six the next day. In order to complete the song, further overdubs were necessary. For instance, on September 30, George Martin added a piano piece. Then, on October 3, Ringo Starr added the maracas. The song wasn’t finally ready until further overdubs and tweaks occurred on the 23rd of October.

Perhaps the reason why it took so long to have the recording shipshape was because their new album, “With The Beatles,” wasn’t due out until November 22, 1963. The release of The Rolling Stones’ single was on November 1, 1963, so maybe there was some other agreement between the bands.

The Beatles, never shy of publicity, of course, sang it twice for BBC Radio shows. The first version, recorded on January 7, 1964, was for the “Saturday Show,” airing on February 15. The second recording is from February 28 and was due to air on the “From Us To You” programme on March 30. Indeed, the second version appears on their 1994 album, “Live At The BBC.”

On April 28, 1964, the Fab Four recorded a television special for ITV, “Around The Beatles,” for airing on TV on May 6. As well as singing many other songs, The Beatles sang “I Wanna Be Your Man” for this show. This version is also commercially available on their 1995 album, “Anthology 1.”

Finally, take a listen to the song and leave your opinions below.

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