A Star Watched The Beatles Write ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’
TL;DR:
- A star said watched The Beatles write “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on his family’s piano.
- He discussed why the tune became stuck in his head.
- The tune hit No. 1 in the United States and the United Kingdom.
A star heard The Beatles‘ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” before anyone else. Subsequently, the star revealed what he thought of the song when he first heard it. Notably, he had an interesting connection to Paul McCartney.
The Beatles’ ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ came together in a celebrity’s ‘music room’
Peter Asher is a pop star who has half of the pop duo Peter and Gordon. The duo is known for songs like “Lady Godiva,” “Woman,” and “A World Without Love.” Notably, Asher is the brother of Jane Asher, who dated Paul for much of The Beatles’ time together.
During a 2018 interview with Videomuzic, Asher was asked to name his favorite Fab Four song. “It would be ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ because I think of the exciting moment — I got to hear the song the instant it was written,” he revealed. “This was the period when Paul was living in our family home in London and there was a little music room downstairs.”
Peter Asher told members of The Beatles what he thought of the song
Asher said his sister told Paul he could use the family’s piano any time. One day, Paul and John Lennon started playing together. Paul and John started writing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on the piano with no guitar in sight. Paul asked Asher to come and hear what he was playing.
“And I came down and sat on the little sofa and they sat side by side on the piano and he played me ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ for the first anywhere to anyone,” he said. “And the song, alone in that room with the two of them, hammering away at the piano, it sounded incredibly good. They asked me what I thought and I said, ‘It’s amazing, it’s the best sound I ever heard in my life. Please play it again.’ and they did. So that song’s stuck in my head for understandable reasons.”
How ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” became a massive hit. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, staying on the chart for 15 weeks. The tune appeared on Meet the Beatles! in the United States. That album reached No. 1 for 11 of its 74 weeks on the Billboard 200.
According to The Official Charts Company, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” peaked at No. 1 in the United Kingdom for five weeks. The track lasted on the chart for 25 weeks. In the U.K., the tune was a non-album single, though it appeared on many compilation albums.
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” is one of The Beatles’ defining tracks and it got its start in the Ashers’ home.
