All I've Got to Do

Infobox Song
Name = All I've Got To Do


Caption = "With the Beatles" album cover
Artist = The Beatles
Album = With the Beatles
Released = 22 November, 1963 (UK) 20 January, 1964 (U.S.)
track_no = 1
Recorded = 11 September, 1963
Genre = Beat
Length = 2:04
Writer = Lennon/McCartney
Label = Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (USA)
Producer = George Martin
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = With the Beatles
Type = studio
Tracks = ;Side one
# "It Won't Be Long"
# "All I've Got to Do"
# "All My Loving"
# "Don't Bother Me"
# "Little Child"
# "Till There Was You"
# "Please Mister Postman";Side two
# "Roll Over Beethoven"
# "Hold Me Tight"
# "You Really Got a Hold on Me"
# "I Wanna Be Your Man"
# "Devil in Her Heart"
# "Not a Second Time"
# "Money (That's What I Want)"

"All I've Got to Do" is a song written by John Lennoncite book |first=David |last=Sheff |title=All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono |year=2000 |pages=193 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-25464-4] cite book |first=Barry |last=Miles |authorlink=Barry Miles |title=Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now |year=1997 |pages=148 |publisher=Henry Holt & Company |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-5249-6] (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their second United Kingdom album, "With the Beatles".cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |authorlink=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=200 |publisher=Harmony Books |location=New York |isbn=0-517-57066-1] cite book |first=Craig |last=Cross |title=The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record |year=2005 |pages=492 |publisher=iUniverse, Inc. |location=Lincoln, NE |isbn=0-595-34663-4] In the United States, "All I've Got to Do" originally appeared on "Meet the Beatles".cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |authorlink=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=200] cite book |first=Craig |last=Cross |title=The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record |year=2005 |pages=547-548]

Inspiration

Lennon said he was "trying to do Smokey Robinson again," and Ian MacDonald compared it to "You Can Depend on Me" by the Miracles, both musically and lyrically.cite book |first=Ian |last=MacDonald |authorlink=Ian MacDonald |title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |year=2005 |pages=97] Richie Unterberger of Allmusic said it sounds like Robinson but also Arthur Alexander.cite web |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=33:mzdqoalabijp |title=Review of "All I've Got to Do" |publisher=Allmusic |accessdate=2007-03-16] Beatles biographer Bob Spitz said the song is "restlessly dark and moody," and compared it to The Shirelles "Baby It's You" and early Drifters recordings.cite book |first=Bob |last=Spitz |title=The Beatles: The Biography |year=2005 |pages=446 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=Boston |isbn=0-316-80352-9]

It was one of three songs Lennon wrote solo for "With the Beatles", with "It Won't Be Long"cite book |first=David |last=Sheff |title=All We Are Saying |year=2000 |pages=170] and "Not a Second Time."cite book |first=David |last=Sheff |title=All We Are Saying |year=2000 |pages=194] Lennon said that it was written specifically for the American market; the idea of calling a girl on the telephone was unthinkable to a British youth in the early 1960s. For instance, Lennon said in an interview regarding “No Reply”: “I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the 'phone, although I have never called a girl on the 'phone in my life! Because 'phones weren’t part of the English child’s life”. [Keith Badman "The Beatles Off The Record" P.135] .

Recording

The Beatles recorded the song in a single recording session on 11 September 1963 in 14 takes with one overdub, take 15. The master take was take 15.cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |authorlink=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=35] It was mixed for mono on 30 September and for stereo on 29 October.cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |authorlink=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=36, 37]

Although Steve Turner claims the song was written in 1961,cite book |first=Steve |last=Turner |authorlink=Steve Turner (writer) |title=A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song |pages=35 |publisher=Harper Paperbacks |location=New York |isbn=0-06-084409-4] MacDonald said the song was never in the Beatles' live repertoire, and that explains why 8 of the 14 takes were incomplete: the band was unfamiliar with the song.

Alan Pollack suggests that the hummed fade-out verse is more than just a convenient way to make the ending different. He says, " [I] t rather effectively drives home the underlying self-satisfied subtext of the lyrics; to the extent that some things in life, such as the comfortable equilibrium of a relationship [defy] adequate expression in words."cite web |first=Alan W |last=Pollack |authorlink=Alan W Pollack |work=Notes on ... Series |url=http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/aigtd.shtml |title=Notes on "All I've Got to Do"]

Release

In the UK, "All I've Got to Do" was released on "With the Beatles" which also includes the Beatles' cover of "You Really Got a Hold on Me" by the Miracles, the most direct connection between the album and Robinson's music. In the U.S., Capitol Records pulled "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" off "Meet the Beatles", releasing it later on "The Beatles' Second Album".

Credits

*John Lennon — lead vocal, rhythm guitar
*Paul McCartney — backing vocal, bass guitar
*George Harrison — backing vocal, lead guitar
*Ringo Starr — drums:Credits per Ian MacDonald

Cover versions

*In 2007, the Smithereens covered "All I've Got to Do"—and all the other songs on "Meet the Beatles"—on their tribute album "Meet the Smithereens!".cite web |first=Mark |last=Deming |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fpez97uykr0t |title=Review of "Meet the Smithereens" |publisher=Allmusic |accessdate=2007-03-16]

*Toxic Audio covered it on "Come Together: An A Capella Tribute to the Beatles".cite web |first=Steve|last=Legett|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:d06htr3rklmx |title=Review of "Come Together: An A Capella Tribute to the Beatles" |publisher=Allmusic |accessdate=2007-03-16]

Notes