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All I've Got To Do Lennon/McCartney Lyrics:
Whenever I want you around yeh
All I gotta do
Is call you on the phone
and you'll come running home
Yeh that's all I gotta do
And when I, I wanna kiss you yeh
All I gotta do
Is whisper in your ear
the words you want to hear
and I'll be kissing you
And the same goes for me
whenever you want me at all
I'll be here yes I will
whenever you can
You just gotta call on me, yeh
you just gotta call on me
And when I, I wanna kiss you, yeh
All I got to do
Is call you on the phone
and you'll come running how
yeh, that's all I gotta do
And the same goes for me
whenever you want me at all
I'll be here yes I will
whenever you can
You just gotta call on me, yeh
you just gotta call on me
oh, you just gotta call on me
Ooh, ooh
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This song appears on UK/US Albums:
Lead Singer: John Recording: 9/11/63
Mixing: 9/30/63, 10/29/63
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Notes: © 1963 Northern Songs. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. "All I've Got to Do" is a song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their second United Kingdom album, With the Beatles. In the United States, "All I've Got to Do" originally appeared on Meet the Beatles.
Inspiration
Lennon said he was "trying to do Smokey Robinson again," and Ian MacDonald compared it to "You Can Depend on Me" by the Miracles, both musically and lyrically. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic said it sounds like Robinson but also Arthur Alexander. Beatles biographer Bob Spitz said the song is "restlessly dark and moody," and compared it to The Shirelles "Baby It's You" and early Drifters recordings.
It was one of three songs Lennon wrote solo for With the Beatles, with "It Won't Be Long" and "Not a Second Time." Lennon said that it was written specifically for the American market; the idea of calling a girl on the telephone was unthinkable to a British youth in the early 1960s. For instance, Lennon said in an interview regarding “No Reply”: “I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the 'phone, although I have never called a girl on the 'phone in my life! Because 'phones weren’t part of the English child’s life”.
Recording
The Beatles recorded the song in a single recording session on 11 September 1963 in 14 takes with one overdub, take 15. The master take was take 15. It was mixed for mono on 30 September and for stereo on 29 October.
Although Steve Turner claims the song was written in 1961, MacDonald said the song was never in the Beatles' live repertoire, and that explains why 8 of the 14 takes were incomplete: the band was unfamiliar with the song.
Alan Pollack suggests that the hummed fade-out verse is more than just a convenient way to make the ending different. He says, " [I]t rather effectively drives home the underlying self-satisfied subtext of the lyrics; to the extent that some things in life, such as the comfortable equilibrium of a relationship [defy] adequate expression in words."
Release
In the UK, "All I've Got to Do" was released on With the Beatles which also includes the Beatles' cover of "You Really Got a Hold on Me" by the Miracles, the most direct connection between the album and Robinson's music. In the U.S., Capitol Records pulled "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" off Meet the Beatles, releasing it later on The Beatles' Second Album.
Credits
* John Lennon — lead vocal, rhythm guitar
* Paul McCartney — backing vocal, bass guitar
* George Harrison — backing vocal, lead guitar
* Ringo Starr — drums
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