From Me To You - Mono Version / Remastered 2009

The title was taken from a letters column that ran in a popular British music newspaper called The New Musical Express (the NME). The column was called "From You to Us." When this same newspaper refered to "From Me to You" as "Below-par Beatles," it upset John Lennon, who talked about it in his last print interview before his death when he told Rolling Stone: "Maybe it wasn't as good as 'Please Please Me,' but below par? I'll never forget that one. That's when I first realized you've got to keep it up, there's some sort of system where you get on the wheel and you've got to keep going around."

In the UK, this was The Beatles' third single and their first to hit #1; it was released there on April 11, 1963 and hit the top spot on May 8. America took a while longer to embrace The Beatles. "From Me To You" was their second US single (following "Please Please Me"), released on the Vee Jay label on May 27, 1963. It rose to a lofty #116 in August at a time when the group dominated the chart in their homeland. When they finally broke through in America in early 1964, Vee Jay again released the single; it climbed to #41 in April.

This was the first song to feature The Beatles falsetto "whoooo," which became a big part of many of their hits, including "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Help!." Paul McCartney learned the "whoooo" from listening to Little Richard.