The Beatles

Released: November 30, 1994

Songwriter: Tony Moon Buzz Cason

Producer: George Martin

[Chorus]
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And surrender to me (Sha la, la)
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me peacefully (Sha la, la) yeah (Sha la la)
Use your arms for loving me
Baby, that's the way it's got to be (Ooh)

[Verse 1]
There is no reason for you to declare
War on the one that loves you so
So forget the other boys because my love is real
Come off your battlefield

[Chorus]
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me peacefully (Sha la, la)
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me tenderly (Sha la, la) yeah (Sha la la)
Use your arms to hold me tight
Baby, I don't want to fight no more (Ooh)

[Verse 2]
The weapons you're using are hurting me bad
But someday you're going to see
That my love for you baby, is the truest you've ever had
A Soldier of Love, that's hard to be

[Chorus]
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me peacefully (Sha la, la)
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And surrender to me (Sha la, la) yeah (Sha la la)
Use your arms to squeeze and please because I'm the one that loves you so
(Yeah, soldier of love) Baby, lay down your arms
(Yeah, soldier of love) Baby, lay down your arms
(Yeah, yeah) (fade out)

The Beatles are arguably the most famous, critically-acclaimed, and successful rock band of all time—certainly the preeminent group of the 20th century. They started out as four teenagers playing grimy basement clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, but they progressed to become world-beating rock stars who are still influential to this day.

John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen in March 1957. A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined shortly thereafter, eventually inviting his friend George Harrison to audition for the band. After finally impressing John with his guitar skills, George was asked to join—but this juncture would be short-lived as John’s departure to college signaled the other quarrymen to go their separate ways.

By 1960, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had re-branded from ‘Johnny & the Moondogs’ to ‘The Silver Beetles’ at the behest of their new bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. The name would eventually evolve into ‘The Silver Beatles’ by July of that year, before settling on ‘The Beatles’ come August—just in time for their trip to Hamburg with new drummer, Pete Best. Though club residencies in Germany would prove fundamental to the group’s progress as a whole, the tour turned out to be a blessing and a curse, following the deportation of a then-seventeen-year-old George Harrison, and the eventual tragic death of Stuart Sutcliffe.

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