Step Inside Love: A Beatles song given to Cilla Black.

Step Inside Love: Introduction

“Step Inside Love” is a Paul McCartney song that he gave to fellow Liverpudlian Cilla Black, but The Beatles also recorded an impromptu version.

Here, we will explore both versions of the song.

  • Release Date: October 28, 1996 (Anthology 3) November 9, 2018 (White Album 50th Anniversary Edition)
  • Recorded: September 16, 1968
  • Genre: Folk rock
  • Track Duration: 1:22
  • Record Label: Apple Records
  • Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
  • Producer: Chris Thomas
  • Engineer: Ken Scott

**George Harrison did not play for some reason, so he is missing from this recording.

You can still buy this song because it is available on two albums. However, you can also buy the Cilla Black single on places like eBay.

To begin with, Paul McCartney wrote this song for Priscilla Maria Veronica White, whose stage name was Cilla Black. She was also from Liverpool, The Beatles’ home town. Initially, it was for her television theme tune, but she reached number 8 in the British charts with the single version in April 1968. Indeed, this was one of many songs that the band gave to other artists.

“I ended up writing a few songs for Cilla, actually. Step Inside Love was a later one. Cilla Black was getting her first TV show with a guy called Michael Hurll, and they came to see me backstage somewhere and asked me, would I write the theme tune for it, so I said yes.

I did a little demo of it, with myself double-tracked, up at Cavendish, and that was it. I quite like the song; it’s very cabaret, it suited her voice. It was just a welcoming song for Cilla.”

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Indeed, Cilla Black went on to be one of the most successful female recording artists in the UK. Then, after a successful singing career in the 1960s, she concentrated mainly on her TV work, hosting shows such as “Blind Date” and “Surprise, Surprise“. Cilla Black died at the age of 72 on August 1, 2015, after 52 years in show business.

The Beatles recorded the song on September 16, 1968, in Studio Two of the EMI Studios, London, during the 7.00pm–3.00am recording session. They recorded just one take while they took a break from recording “I Will” for the album “The Beatles,” aka the “White Album.”

The band needed to unwind during this session because, by the time that session ended, they would record 67 takes of “I Will.” After their impromptu bossa-nova version of “Step Inside Love,” they spontaneously improvised with “Los Paranoias.”

On this day, they also recorded “Can You Take Me Back?” and “Blue Moon” as well as “The Way You Look Tonight.”

Their 1996 album, “Anthology 3”, has this song as part of The Beatles’ medley, “Step Inside Love/Los Paranoias”. Obviously, those two songs are from the same recording session. However, “Step Inside Love” is now a single track “The Beatles (White Album) 50th anniversary edition.”

The Beatles version of the song is below, so take a listen to it. Then, leave us a comment or two. For example, should the Fab Four have recorded the song professionally? Of course, with a wealth of songwriting talent, they had a lot of excess material.

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