Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: George
After George wrote "Don't Bother Me", he hit a serious dry spell. In
fact, he wouldn't get another writing credit until his two songs on HELP!. I really think George was at a point where he thought 'Why should I even try?' and his self-confidence was at an all-time low.
"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is the only George song on the album and only one of two Lennon/McCartney compositions given to George (the other is, of course, "Do You Want To Know A Secret?"). It was (rather reluctantly - I really think John & Paul were under the assumption that George would be able to write another song) written specifically for George and you can tell. The song is entirely formulaic and honestly kind of feels like a re-write of "I Saw Her Standing There" with all the energy sucked out. Now, you can't knock George's vocal performance, because he gives the best performance he could with the song he was given. Plus, Ringo does a pretty good job at the drums.
I've always been disappointed to see that this song was in the movie when the masterful "I'll Cry Instead" was cut. That's a much better song, but I guess they felt that George needed a spotlight.
Like all the other movie songs (except "Tell Me Why"), "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" was released on a single during the summer of 1964 by Capitol. It landed on the B-Side of "I'll Cry Instead", which both Capitol and United Artists still assumed would be in the movie.
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