EVERY LITTLE THING

Welcome to "Every Little Thing", a blog discussing all 214 songs released by the Beatles from 1962 to 1970....by Daniel Seth Levine.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

#12: Do You Want To Know A Secret?

Written by: Paul McCartney & John Lennon
Released: March 22nd, 1963
Appears on: Please Please Me
Lead vocal: George

"Do you want to know a secret?
Promise not to tell?
We are standing by the Wishing Well!"


Three years before John Lennon was born, Walt Disney released the first full-length animated film made in the United States, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. When exactly Julia Lennon could have taken a young John to see it is a little bit of a mystery (the film was re-released in the US in 1944 to recoup losses made by World War II and was put out in several European countries during and immediately after the war, but IMDb does not have a UK date during this time), but anyway somehow Julia took John to see it and, as he had said, the above quoted lines from the film provided inspiration for George's second spotlight, "Do You Want To Know A Secret?".
As for the song itself, it's obviously based on a classic doo-wop structure, with the boys singing "doo-la-loop" after every line. Plus, George is perfect for this delicate song, which is probably the same reason why Ringo sings "Good Night". John really didn't want to be associated with these cuddly little songs, even if he wrote them...it was all about holding up that rough-and-tough, smart-ass, leader persona.
As a child listening to this album, this was always the one song that stuck out to me, just because it has that cute and cuddly idea to it (it was, after all, derived from an animated film).

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