Music Blog, Musing

Hold Me Tight

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Thursday Inspiration #295 –
“What I Like About You”. Here’s my take.

For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams asks us to respond to the challenge by using the prompt word ‘tight’, referring to the song “What I Like About You” by The Romantics or another one of their songs, or by anything else we feel fits. Jim’s prompt took me to back to a place where I’m always happy … with the Beatles.

“Hold Me Tight” is a 1963 song by the Beatles, co-written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon in 1961; it was initially intended as a single but became an album track instead. The song was first recorded during the Please Please Me album sessions but was not included. It was later re-recorded and released on their second UK album, With the Beatles, and its US counterpart, Meet the Beatles. Both McCartney and Lennon expressed distaste for the song, with McCartney calling it “a failed attempt at a single” and Lennon deeming it “a pretty poor song”.

That’s unfortunate, because the recording has drive and energy and is generally held to be a solid example of an early ’60s Beatles rocker, with some clever songwriting features thrown in.

Regardless of John and Paul’s dismissal of the song, they obviously put a lot of work into it during the writing process. McCartney described the song as “a bit Shirelles,” indicating that it was influenced by the work of one of their favorite female groups of the time, The Shirelles. The Beatles had a particular fondness for the girl groups of the early ’60s, The Shirelles being the first all-girl group to make the #1 spot on the American Billboard Hot 100. Among The Shirelles’ songs that the Beatles performed in the early ’60s, both “Baby It’s You” and “Boys” were recorded for their first British album Please Please Me.

 “Hold Me Tight” was one of five original Lennon/McCartney compositions recorded during their marathon recording session on February 11th, 1963. Since they were determined to achieve success by recording their own compositions, like their musical heroes Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, they set out to record as many of their original songs as possible. Six other songs were started and completed during that full day at EMI Studio Two, making a total of eleven songs in one day.

The song has also taken a lot of flack throughout the years because of the lyrics, which have been considered pedestrian and cliché heavy. While this may be true, it isn’t any less complex than many Beatles songs written up to that point,  “I Want To Hold Your Hand” being a prime example. The lyrics are a simple plea from the singer to ‘hold him tight’ and thereby explaining what it would mean to him. No consideration is given to the feelings of the girl in question, which is standard for McCartney lyrics at the time. On the other hand, the song has been called “explicit” by many, simply by its inclusion of the phrase “making love,” which was risqué for 1964. It passed by the censors probably because it wasn’t released as a single and didn’t get very much radio airplay anywhere. 

For those who look for flaws, there are many to be found in “Hold Me Tight” as well as a lot of other Beatles songs. For those who just like to enjoy the music, like me, these flaws are minimal in significance aside from showing the human element in full force. 


This is “Hold Me Tight” by the Beatles

LYRICS

It feels so right now hold me tight
Tell me I’m the only one
And then I might
Never be the lonely one

So hold (hold)
Me tight (me tight)
Tonight (tonight)
Tonight (tonight)
It’s you
You, you, you, ooh, ooh

Hold me tight
Let me go on loving you
Tonight, tonight
Making love to only you

So hold (hold)
Me tight (me tight)
Tonight (tonight)
Tonight (tonight)
It’s you
You, you, you, ooh, ooh

Don’t know
What it means to hold you tight
Being here alone tonight with you

It feels so right now, to hold me tight
Tell me I’m the only one
And then I might
Never be the lonely one

So hold (hold)
Me tight (me tight)
Tonight (tonight)
Tonight (tonight)
It’s you
You, you, you, ooh, ooh

Don’t know
What it means to hold you tight
Being here alone tonight with you

It feels so right now, to hold me tight
Let me go on loving you
Tonight, tonight
Making love to only you

So hold (hold)
Me tight (me tight)
Tonight (tonight)
Tonight (tonight)
It’s you
You, you, you, ooh, ooh
You, oh, oh

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: John Winston Lennon/Paul James Mccartney
Hold Me Tight lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Northern Songs Ltd., Mpl Communications Inc

Thursday Inspiration #295 What I Like About You

Many thanks Jim Adams for this inspiration. Thanks to you all for stopping by for a look and a listen.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

25 thoughts on “Hold Me Tight”

  2. This takes me back to 1975 when I was 8 years old and just discovering The Beatles. Thank you for the reminder tonight! I loved the Meet The Beatles American album.

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      1. My cousin introduced me to them by that album. I remember my first favorite song by them was It Won’t Be Long… and then he talked about a great song by them called Paperback Writer…I then asked my mom for money to buy “Hey Jude Again” a greatest hits that had that on it. I have been hooked ever since.

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        1. My story is pretty typical: I was a schoolgirl when we started hearing the Beatles on AM radio for the first time. We all came into school the next day a-buzz with talk about this new group we heard. It started out from the very beginning with songs like She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand. We were so smitten with this new sound, we had to see what these guys look like and when we did, it was insanity. Before then, we never saw anyone who looked like them or heard song melodies or lyrics quite like that and we were totally and completely over the moon in love with them. Thanks for bringing back these fantastic memories, Max, and for sharing your thoughts.

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          1. Thank you for sharing Nancy. I love hearing peoples stories that were there real time. It blows my mind on how big they were. I asked a country musician how big the Beatles were…I bought an amp from him and he said after the Sullivan show that they were even playing Beatle songs in country bars…you had to. He told me to times Michael Jackson by 1000…
            See I hardly ever hear from a female point of view…I can only imagine how different they were.

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            1. My young girlfriends and I were consumed. We were head-over-heels infatuated with the Beatles; they were different in every way from all the other singers in our small world. They were cute and charming and sexy with their matching suits and haircuts our father’s hated. And they had accents; that was the coolest thing ever. In a word, it was Beatlemania and we were all in!

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              1. That sounds awesome. Little did the parents know that 60 years later people would still be talking about them…and probably in another 60 years they will be as well. You got to witness real time history.

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                    1. Hahaha! Sorry to slip that in, Max. I thought you knew. Yes, I was there; I even wrote a story about it. We heard very little bc of the screams. I’d never experienced madness like that before. I was caught up in it but at the same time I realized this was history being made. It was life changing. 😎

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                    2. You know, I’ve talked to people who lived in NY at the time but could not go but never to anyone who did I don’t think. I bet it was madness…I’ve got an hour special they did at the time on that show and it’s chaos in the stands. You can say what a lot of us can’t…you saw The Beatles.

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  5. Great early Beatles song. Yes, the lyrics may not exactly be Shakespeare, but it’s still a fun song to listen to. Plus, there are countless other examples of ’60s music with lyrics that are on the pedestrian side. Even though I call myself a Beatles fan, I sometimes forget about some of their earlier songs, so thanks for reminding me of “Hold Me Tight.” 🙂

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    1. This early Beatles song is such a perfect fit for Jim’s theme on Thursday Inspiration, I simply could not pass it up. If we take a look back at very early rock ‘n’ roll songs, the lyrics are pretty basic: I love you, I need you, I love you too, yada yada yada. We weren’t getting into any existential thoughts back then. And the early Beatles songs were exactly like that. I love this song and the one thing that I failed to mention in my post is George Harrison’s incredible guitar playing throughout the whole song. For a simple rock ‘n’ roll song, his playing is fantastic. It’s always a bonus for me to remind myself and others of these cool early songs. I’m delighted to know you enjoy this one, Christian. Thank you.

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  7. I have always liked this song, Nancy and thanks for sharing it and writing this wonderful post about it. It fits perfectly with the theme, and it has this relatable desire for security and love, capturing the universal human need for emotional and physical closeness. 

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    1. Happy to share when I can, Jim. I love the song you chose by the Romantics and immediately thought of the Beatles song. When we hear some of the phrases used today, the term “making love” seems very sedate and old fashioned, but it was shocking back then. Being held tight is something we can all relate to; who doesn’t need a reassuring hug or a tender snuggle? I’m glad you enjoyed this oldie from the Beatles. Thanks!

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