P.S. I Love You

P.S. I Love You was written by Paul McCartney when on the Hamburg tour in 1961. It was released on the B-side of the first recorded Beatles single on October 5, 1962 with Love Me Do on the A-side. P.S. I Love You probably would have been the A-side song, had Peggie Lee not released a song with the same name somewhat earlier.

The song was recorded on September 11 in Abbey Road, with session drummer Andy White. Ringo Starr was relegated to the maracas. The drums have a light touch, in something of a cha-cha rhythm, and thus is distinguished from the heavier hand of Ringo, which came to be part of the more evolved Beatles sound.

John Lennon reports that he did not have much to do with the arrangement of P.S. I Love You. He said that Paul was trying for a sound like the Shirelles' Soldier Boy, which at the time was number 1 in the States. McCartney was a big fan of the Shirelles.

Some fans believe that the "P.S." in the title is an allusion to Buddy Holly (Peggy Sue), whom McCartney also admired; however, this remains unconfirmed.

The song displays McCartney's sophistication in musical arrangement, inserting jazz-like chord changes previously unheard of in pop-rock songs. In the opening phrase, for example, the commonplace shift from G to D has a C#7 chord in the middle as a transition, evidence that the Beatles sound was truly a sea change from run-of-the-mill pop groups of the time.