Paul McCartney said 'that's going too far' after interpretations of Beatles classic
Paul was pressed on the real meaning of the song
After The Beatles secured their first US number one with 'I Want to Hold Your Hand', Paul McCartney and John Lennon were under pressure to write another hit. The band had enjoyed success across the UK and Europe in 1962 and 1963 but their rise to number one of the American charts on February 1, 1964 took matters up a level.
'I Want To Hold Your Hand' was released on November 29 1963 in the UK and then on Boxing Day of that year in the USA, hitting number one in America on February 1, 1964 - less than a week before The Beatles arrived in New York for their first American shows.
The track stayed on top of the charts in America for seven weeks and sparked Beatlemania in the country. The Beatles were on tour in Paris when they found out the news and Paul went to the piano they had installed in their hotel to write the next one.
The lyrics of 'Can't Buy Me Love' explain that all the material purchases in the world cannot compare with falling in love. About writing it, Paul said: "'Can’t Buy Me Love' is my attempt to write a bluesy mode.
"The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well but they won’t buy me what I really want. It was a very hooky song. Ella Fitzgerald later did a version of it which I was very honoured by."
John was happy to admit that it was largely Paul's work. In a 1980 interview, he recalled: "That’s Paul’s completely. Maybe I had something to do with the chorus, but I don’t know. I always considered it his song."
When Paul first played the song to The Beatles' producer George Martin, he was told to change it. Mr Martin said: "I thought that we really needed a tag for the song's ending, and a tag for the beginning; a kind of intro.
"So I took the first two lines of the chorus and changed the ending, and said 'Let's just have these lines, and by altering the second phrase we can get back into the verse pretty quickly.'" And they said: "That's not a bad idea, we'll do it that way"."
The early takes of the song were recorded - alongside their German tracks - in Paris on January 29, 1964. It was finished back at Abbey Road the following month and was released as a single in the UK and US in March, with John's 'You Can't Do That' as its B-side.
It sold two million copies in its first week and topped the US's Billboard Top 100 charts for five weeks, giving The Beatles the next hit they wanted. It also featured in the 1964 film 'A Hard Day's Night' and its accompanying album.
However, some were confused by the song's meaning, with suggestions in some quarters that it was about prostitution. Paul wasn't happy with that, saying in 1966 when questioned on its meaning: "Personally, I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggest that ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ is about a prostitute, I draw the line. That’s going too far."
Explaining what he meant by the song, he added: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want."
Despite the argument about its meaning, Paul was very pleased the song was a success. He said: "The single did really well for us, getting to number one in the UK and US at the same time. And then, funnily enough, it was knocked off the number one spot in the UK by ‘A World Without Love’, a song I wrote for Jane Asher’s brother Peter."