If I Fell

If I Fell is a song by The Beatles which first appeared on the 1964 UK album A Hard Day's Night and the US compilation album Something New. It was written primarily by John Lennon.

Background
This is one of John's beautiful songs, and is very revealing. In the early draft, John had written, "I hope that she will cry"/ "When she hears we are two."

Structure
The song is notable for its unusual structure, which includes an unrepeated introductory section (introduced as an afterthought as of take 11) followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section. The song also features a two-part harmony, sung by Lennon and McCartney together into a single microphone at their suggestion, and intricate chord changes. The key changes from D flat major to D major between the introduction (a series of descending barre chords) and the main song, which uses mainly open chords, including an unusual D ninth.

Recording and performance
Lennon played acoustic guitar and sang, McCartney played bass and sang, George Harrison plucked out single notes on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr played drums.

There is an alternate take of the song in which McCartney's voice strains and cracks at the end of a line, which first appeared on the Love Songs compilation double-LP, by an archivist's error when returning to the master tapes in Capitol's vault. Since then, this version has appeared in many places and is often heard on oldies stations in some markets. This version is the stereo version now found in The Capitol Albums box set. In the mono version, Paul's voice strains, but does not crack.

The stereo mix of the song (found on the Hard Day's Night LP and Something New) features a double-tracked opening by John. This was also Kurt Cobain's favourite Beatles song, and was played by Nirvana whenever there were technical problems at their concerts.

"If I Fell" was a part of The Beatles repertoire during The Beatles' US and Canadian tour in 1964. The group typically performed the song faster than the studio version, and Lennon and McCartney often sang it with barely suppressed laughter. On more than one occasion it was introduced as "If I Fell Over".

Single releases

 * UK: In the UK it was released on 4 December 1964 as an A-side (b/w "Tell Me Why") on Parlophone DP 562
 * USA: It was also the B-side of the US single "And I Love Her" (Capitol 5235)
 * Norway: The song was released as a single in Norway, where it hit number one.

Credits

 * John Lennon - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1964 Gibson J-160E)
 * Paul McCartney - backing vocals, bass (1963 Hofner 500/1)
 * George Harrison - lead guitar (1963 Rickenbacker 360/12)
 * Ringo Starr - drums

Cover versions

 * Maroon 5 performed an acoustic version of the song on their 1.22.03.Acoustic album.
 * Evan Rachel Wood sang the song in the Across the Universe film.
 * Sammy Kershaw performed a cover on the album Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles, which appeared later on his album Covers the Hits.
 * Dominican band Caña Brava performed a merengue version on their 1994 album The Best of the Best.
 * Rita Lee performed a version of the song as a bonus track to her Beatles cover album Aqui, Ali, em Qualquer Lugar.
 * Adrian Belew performed an acoustic version on his 1993 album The Acoustic Adrian Belew.
 * The Rutles' song "With a Girl Like You" is based on this song.
 * Jason Castro performed the song during the Top 12 week of American Idol's 7th season.
 * Reba McEntire performed the song on the BBC 1 Television tribute to the Beatles on 2000-04-29.

Links
If I Fell lyrics at LyricWiki