It's Only Love

"It's Only Love" is a song written mostly by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released by the Beatles in 1965, on the Help! album in the United Kingdom, and on the Rubber Soul album in the United States.

Background and composition

"It's Only Love" was composed with the working title, "That's a Nice Hat." Lennon had the original idea for the song and completed it with McCartney at his home in Weybridge.^[1]

In 1980 Lennon told Playboy journalist David Sheff: "I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics were abysmal. I always hated that song."^[1]

In his 1997 biography Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, McCartney said of the song: "Sometimes we didn't fight it if the lyric came out rather bland on some of those filler songs like 'It's Only Love'. If a lyric was really bad we'd edit it, but we weren't that fussy about it, because it's only a rock 'n' roll song. I mean, this is not literature."^[1]

Recording

The Beatles recorded "It's Only Love" on 15 June 1965. They recorded six takes of the rhythm track, although two of these were incomplete. Lennon overdubbed his vocals onto the final take, and George Harrison recorded a guitar part with a tremolo effect.

Take two of "It's Only Love" was included on Anthology 2 in 1996, along with the incomplete third attempt.^[1]

Personnel

• John Lennon – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• Paul McCartney – bass guitar
• George Harrison – lead guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine

Cover versions

• "It's Only Love" was recorded by Bryan Ferry for his 1976 album Let's Stick Together
• Gary U.S. Bonds covered the song on his 1981 album Dedication
• Tyler Hilton covered the song on his 2000 album Tyler Hilton
• Peter Cetera covered the song on his 2001 album Another Perfect World
• Dwight Twilley covered the song on his 2009 album The Beatles

Notes

External links

• Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "It's Only Love"