The Love Songs From The Beatles

Straight From The Heart

The Beatles’ catalog is diverse – from hard rock to ballads, with themes ranging from sex to drugs. But of course, they also didn’t have any shortage of love songs. Writing from experience or drawing inspiration elsewhere, The Fab Four just knew how to tug on our heartstrings. Honestly, it’s challenging to limit this list to just five because they simply have too many stellar tracks about falling in love, heartbreak, or love lost.

Nevertheless, we pulled out the greatest love songs they ever made.

5. If I Fell (A Hard Day’s Night, 1964)

If I give my heart to you
I must be sure
From the very start
That you would love me more than her

Although Paul McCartney helped with the song, it was written primarily by John Lennon. Singing about the risks of falling in love, Lennon once said this was semi-autobiographical. He further revealed, “That’s my first attempt to write a ballad proper. That was the precursor to In My Life… And it’s semi-autobiographical, but not consciously. It shows that I wrote sentimental love ballads, silly love songs, way back when.”

4. And I Love Her (A Hard Day’s Night, 1964)

I give her all my love
That’s all I do
And if you saw my love
You’d love her too

One of the highlights of this song is George Harrison’s signature guitar riff which elevated the entire track and according to McCartney “made a stunning difference.” McCartney wrote this at the basement of the house belonging to then-girlfriend Jane Asher’s parents. It’s possible that the song was about her. McCartney said, “It was the first ballad I impressed myself with. It’s got nice chords in it, ‘Bright are the stars that shine, dark is the sky…’ I like the imagery of the stars and the sky. It was a love song really.”

3. I Will (The Beatles, 1968)

Who knows how long I’ve loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime?
If you want me to, I will

The Beatles started working on this in Rishikesh, India. They came up with music quite quickly but had a tough time with the lyrics. McCartney initially tried writing around a moon theme but ended up with “very simple words, straight love-song words.” It’s catchy and the words may be a bit cliché but overall, it’s unforgettable and beautiful. Even McCartney’s proud and happy with the result saying, “It’s still one of my favourite melodies that I’ve written. You just occasionally get lucky with a melody and it becomes rather complete and I think this is one of them; quite a complete tune.”

2. In My Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)

Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more

John Lennon wrote this as he was reminiscing nostalgic memories of his childhood in Liverpool. Lennon later realized that the words were “ridiculous” so he reworked it. The original handwritten lyrics are displayed at The British Library. Lennon commented: “And it was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throwaway. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric.”

1. Something (Abbey Road, 1969)

Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me

An absolute masterpiece by George Harrison. A love song to his then-wife Pattie Boyd, this was one of the highlights of the album. Both McCartney and Lennon were floored when they heard the song. Everyone knew it was brilliant. Harrison later said, “I could never think of words for it. And also because there was a James Taylor song called Something In The Way She Moves which is the first line of that. And so then I thought of trying to change the words, but they were the words that came when I first wrote it, so in the end I just left it as that, and just called it Something.”