January 1964: Beatlemania Goes Deutsch with German-Language Single

Die Beatles - German for "The Beatles"
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Apple Records

The Beatles became a worldwide sensation upon their first visit to America in February 1964. But just days before that fateful trip, The Fab Four embarked on another international trip that proved their popularity: a visit to a studio to record two songs in German!

The group's only session outside of the U.K. after signing to the Parlophone label took place on Jan. 29, 1964 at EMI Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris. There, they recorded a new track, "Can't Buy Me Love," as well as German translations of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." The idea was they'd sell even better in Germany if they were using the country's native tongue - though John, Paul, George and Ringo needed convincing to do so.

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""They were right, actually, it wasn't necessary for them to record in German," producer George Martin later said, "but they weren't graceless; they did a good job." And so big was Beatlemania that "Sie liebt dich" was released as a single in America (where it spent a week at No. 97 on the Billboard Hot 100) and even appeared on the album Something New. In 1988, the whole world was introduced to "Sie liebt dich" and "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" when they were released on the Past Masters compilation.

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