Released: November 29, 1963

Songwriter: Paul McCartney John Lennon Lennon-McCartney

Producer: George Martin

[Verse 1: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
Oh, yeah, I'll tell you something
I think you'll understand
When I'll say that something
I wanna hold your hand

[Chorus: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand

[Verse 2: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
Oh, please, say to me
You'll let me be your man
And please, say to me
You'll let me hold your hand

[Chorus: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
Now let me hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand

[Post-Chorus: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
And when I touch you
I feel happy inside
It's such a feeling that, my love
I can't hide
I can't hide
I can't hide

[Verse 3: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
Yeah, you
Got that something
I think you'll understand
When I'll
Say that something
I want to hold your hand

[Chorus: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand

[Post-Chorus: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
And when I touch you
I feel happy inside
It's such a feeling that, my love
I can't hide
I can't hide
I can't hide

[Verse 4: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
Yeah, you
Got that something
I think you'll understand
When I'll
Feel that something
I wanna hold your hand

[Chorus: Paul McCartney & John Lennon]
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand

The Beatles

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.