Loving You

Loving You was written by Jerome Leiber and Mike Stoller, well-known songwriters in the 1950's who came up with Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock and several other hits for Elvis Presley. They also wrote Kansas City (sung by Fats Domino, and then later by Little Richard and the Beatles) as well as several hits for the Coasters. Loving You was to be one of several songs in Elvis's second movie – the first film in which he played the leading role. (This movie came on the heels of Love Me Tender (1956), in which he held just third place in the billing.) Eventually the film project would receive the title "Loving You" because of the importance of the song to the basic plot. The film, Loving You, was released in 1957 by Paramount Pictures.

The Beatles performed songs by Elvis Presley during their early years in Liverpool. The bass player at the time, Stu Sutcliffe, enjoyed singing Elvis-style ballads, and took the lead for both Loving You and Love Me Tender. No publicly released recording of Sutcliffe singing this song is available, though some very lo-fidelity tapings from rehearsals for the Cavern Club have been in circulation, purportedly preserving his contribution. Sutcliffe started with the Beatles in early 1960 and withdrew in mid-1961 to pursue a career in art. He lived in Hamburg with his girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1962. The Beatles did not perform or record Loving You after Sutcliffe left the group.