If I Fell

CHART ACTION
UNITED STATES: Also released as a single, July 20, 1964. It did not crack the Billboard Top 40, although its A side ("And I Love Her") hit No. 12.

AUTHORSHIP Lennon (.7) and McCartney (.3)
LENNON: "That's my first attempt at a ballad proper. That was the precursor to 'In My Life.' It has the same chord sequences as 'In My Life': D and B minor and E minor, those kind of things. And it's semiautobiographical, but not consciously. It shows that I wrote sentimental love ballads, silly love songs, way back then." September 1980, All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

McCARTNEY: "People forget that John wrote some pretty nice ballads. People tend to think of him as an acerbic wit and aggressive and abrasive, but he did have a very warm side to him really which he didn't like to show too much in case he got rejected. We wrote 'If I Fell' together but with the emphasis on John because he sang it. It was a nice harmony number, very much a ballad." Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now

RECORDED
February 27, 1964, at Abbey Road

INSTRUMENTATION
McCARTNEY: bass, lead vocal
LENNON: acoustic guitar, lead vocal
HARRISON: lead guitar
STARR: drums

MISCELLANEOUS
This song was part of the Beatles' repertoire for concerts in 1964. The Complete Beatles Chronicle
Lennon's manuscript of the lyrics was auctioned for L7,800 at Sotheby's, London, in early April 1988. AP (April 8, 1988)

COMMENTS BY BEATLES
McCARTNEY: "This was our close-harmony period. We did a few songs - 'This Boy,' 'If I Fell,' 'Yes It Is' - in the same vein." Playboy (December 1984)