That Means a Lot

There is an interesting story behind That Means a Lot, a song that, although it did not become a big hit for The Beatles at the time, ended up being recorded by another artist and released in 1965. The piece was primarily written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. However, John Lennon himself, in a 1980 interview, pointed out that it was mostly McCartney's work. The band recorded several takes of the song in February and March 1965, intending to include it in the film and soundtrack of Help!. Despite their efforts, The Beatles were not satisfied with the result, feeling they couldn't perform it as they wanted. In fact, Lennon commented that they felt they had "ruined" the song and decided to give it to someone who could do it better.

It was Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager, who facilitated the song's assignment to P.J. Proby, another artist he represented. Proby's version, produced by Ron Richards and with arrangements and direction by George Martin, was released in September 1965 and reached number 24 on the NME chart. The Beatles' recording, on the other hand, did not see the light of day until 1996, when it was included on the album The Beatles Anthology 2. McCartney, in a conversation with Mark Lewisohn in 1988, acknowledged that there were several songs that didn't fully convince them or that they felt were not completely finished, and That Means a Lot was one of them.