Hold Me Tight

This Lennon-McCartney song was composed at Paul's family home (Forthlin Road, 20, Allerton) some time in 1961 and was added into the Beatles' performance repertoire. Then the group recorded Hold Me Tight on February 11, 1963 for their first album. As the song was not needed to complete the debut release, it was deferred to a later release. In the meantime, however, the tape of the February 11 version was lost, destroyed or over-recorded. The Beatles then re-created the song on September 12, 1963 for their second album. The song starts abruptly with a two-bar intro, then pursues two 16-bar verses, an eight-bar bridge, a third verse, and then a repeat of the bridge and the third verse. The last bar of verse 2 is also the first bar of the bridge. No solos are heard in this song. The verses are in F major (on the album), and the bridge in D minor. Experts point to this song as an example of the capabilities of Lennon and McCartney as a composer team, and their understanding of song composition even at an early stage in their career.