The Beatles Anthology is an in-depth exploration of The Beatles through several projects, including a book, documentaries, and a few soundtracks. These soundtracks contained previously unreleased or unfinished songs that fans could hear for the first time. Paul McCartney didn’t want one of The Beatles’ earliest songs to be included, but the crew’s decision won.
Paul McCartney didn’t want ‘Besame Mucho’ to be in ‘The Beatles Anthology’
Before The Beatles became worldwide superstars, the fab four had to audition like many other artists. Their major audition happened in 1962 when they performed for EMI Studios. This was long before The Beatles had perfected their music and still had Pete Best on drums.
Their first EMI session saw the band playing a few songs, including “Love Me Do”, “Besame Mucho”, and “P.S. I Love You”. While several of these tracks became massive hits for the band, “Besame Mucho” was never released, and the recording wasn’t rediscovered until 1980. In 1995, it was released on Anthology 1, but Paul McCartney said he preferred it to have remained hidden
“In Volume One, there are a few songs that I would have preferred not being there, like ‘Besame Mucho’, which portrays me as a cabaret artist, whereas in my soul, I am a rock and roller – although, of course, I have done ‘Till There Was You’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘A Taste Of Honey’ and all these other things,” McCartney said in an interview with Club Sandwich. “But because the others wanted it in, because George Martin wanted it in because everyone else was happy with it, I could put down my slight reservation and say, ‘Cool. If you guys like it, then it’s got to be alright.’”
‘Besame Mucho’ is a cover of an old Spanish love song
“Besame Mucho” is a romantic ballad first written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velazquez and first recorded by Emilio Tuero. It was then translated by American composer and singer Sunny Skylar. It started reaching audiences worldwide in 1944 and became an international hit in 1963 when it was included in the film Follow the Boys.
Paul McCartney fell in love with the song after hearing The Coasters’ 1960 version and wanted to perform his own cover with The Beatles. In Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now, the “Hey Jude” singer explained the appeal of the song.
“I had this very diverse little record collection from which I was culling material,” McCartney said. “I remember I had the Coasters’ ‘Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart’, which was on the b-side of ‘Yakety Yak’. I can look back on these records and see what it was I liked. With ‘Besame Mucho’ by the Coasters, it’s a minor song and it changes to a major, and where it changes to a major is such a big moment musically. That major change attracted me so much.”
Besides their EMI audition, “Besame Mucho” was also a part of their sets in Hamburg, Germany, but it left shortly after. It can be heard briefly in Let it Be as they quickly went through it during the “Get Back” sessions.
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