Thank You Girl

Infobox Song
Name = Thank You Girl
Type = B-side to "From Me to You"
Artist = The Beatles
Released = 11 April 1963 (UK)
27 May 1963 (US) [http://stevesbeatles.com/vinyl/american/singles.asp Beatles US singles]
Recorded = Abbey Road Studios 5 March 1963
Genre = Beat, Rock and roll
Length = 2:01
Writer = McCartney-Lennon
Label = Parlophone R4949
Vee-Jay 522
Producer = George Martin"Thank You Girl" is a song by The Beatles and released as the B-side of "From Me to You", which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963). It wasn't on a British Beatles album, but was featured as the second track on "The Beatles' Second Album" in the US. As the B-side to "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", it hit #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1964.

Originally titled "Thank You, Little Girl",cite book |first=Mark |last=Lewisohn |authorlink=Mark Lewisohn |title=The Beatles Recording Sessions |year=1988 |pages=28 |publisher=Harmony Books |location=New York |isbn=0-517-57066-1] John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song as a tribute to the band's many female fans. McCartney said, "We knew that if we wrote a song called, 'Thank You Girl' that a lot ["sic"] of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine thank you. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans."cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dba01please.html |publisher=The Beatles Interview Database |title=Thank You Girl |accessdate=2007-12-19]

Lennon said the song was originally intended as a single: "'Thank You Girl' was one of our efforts at writing a single that didn't work. So it became a B side or an album track."cite book |first=David |last=Sheff |title=All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono |year=2000 |pages=169 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-25464-4] In April 1972 he told "Hit Parader", " [This was written by] Paul and me. This was just a silly song we knocked off." Paul McCartney, the song's co-composer, seemed to agree describing it as "a bit of a hack song, but all good practice."

The song was recorded in thirteen takes, the same number of takes needed to perfect "From Me To You." This recording session is also notable because it marks the first studio appearances of two Lennon/McCartney songs that would not be released until much later in the band's career: "One After 909" from "Let It Be", and "What Goes On" from "Rubber Soul". Although both songs were rehearsed, only "One After 909" was recorded, and even then the results were deemed unsatisfactory for release.

The original stereo mix of the song is noticeably different to the mono mix (which is the mix used on "Past Masters, Volume One") in the middle 8, where a couple of extra harmonica lines can be heard. It's also available on "The Beatles' Second Album" in the US, not in the UK or some countries in worldwide.

Both "From Me to You" and "Thank You Girl" were credited to McCartney-Lennon, as were all the songs on the "Please Please Me" album. The songwriting credit would be permanently changed to the more familiar Lennon/McCartney for their next release, the "She Loves You" single.

Personnel

*John Lennon – double-tracked vocal, rhythm guitar, harmonica
*Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass
*George Harrison – lead guitar
*Ringo Starr – drums:Credits per Ian MacDonaldcite book |first=Ian |last=MacDonald |authorlink=Ian MacDonald |title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties |year=2005 |pages=80 |edition=Second Revised Edition |publisher=Pimlico (Rand) |location=London |isbn=1-844-13828-3]

Notes