Home · Songs · The Beatles · Little Child
From album
With The Beatles
The Beatles · 1963
Details
TonalidadE
Compás4/4
Tempo99 BPM
Duración1:48
CompositorLennon / McCartney
ÁlbumWith The Beatles
Año1963
ISRCGBAYE0401897
Credits
Music Lennon, McCartney
If you like this, try
The story behind
When you dive into Little Child, you encounter a piece that, although sometimes described as an "album filler," has details that make it interesting to explore. The melody of the line "I'm so sad and lonely" has a connection to an earlier song by a British artist named Elton Hayes, called Whistle My Love. Curiously, that same phrase, "sad and lonely," appears in other compositions by Lennon and McCartney, such as in Bad to Me, which Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas recorded, and also in Act Naturally, which The Beatles themselves covered.
The recording of Little Child took place over several sessions throughout September 1963. On the first day, September 11th, they recorded two takes. The following day, they worked on it again, recording sixteen more takes. It was during these sessions that Paul McCartney added piano parts and John Lennon added the harmonica, an instrument he plays continuously throughout the song. On October 3rd, they made three additional takes. In the stereo mix, the harmonica has a panning effect, moving from one side of the sound spectrum to the other, especially during the solo. This solo follows a twelve-bar blues structure, something that is not repeated in the rest of the song. The lead vocal, according to some references, is by Lennon, who recorded it double-tracked. The song, with a duration of 1:48, was released on the album With the Beatles on November 22, 1963.
0:00