Beatles fans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Beatles record, Love Me Do, on October 5. It was released as a single. Love Me Do was the A-side, and P.S. I Love You, the B-side. Both are Lennon-McCartney compositions, though owing more to Paul McCartney than to John Lennon. I love all the Beatles songs, especially the early ones, so I love Love Me Do, which peaked at number 17 when originally released in the UK in October 1962. In the US, it was a number 1 hit. But I love P.S. I Love You even more. It’s so sweet, tender and romantic.
Wikipedia says about the Beatles’ recording of P.S. I Love You:
George Martin was not present at the session, which was run by Ron Richards in his absence. Richards told the group that the song could not be the A-side of their single because of an earlier song of the same title.
Yes, there was an earlier song with the same title, but it came out long ago, in 1934. That earlier P.S. I Love You had music by Gordon Jenkins and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Here it is sung by Billie Holiday.
It was also recorded by artistes like Rosemary Clooney, Bette Midler and Frank Sinatra. But it’s not as sweet and tender as the Beatles’ P.S. I Love You.
Here are the lyrics of the two songs.
P.S. I Love You by The Beatles
As I write this letter
Send my love to you
Remember that I’ll always
Be in love with you
Treasure these few words till we’re together
Keep all my love forever
P.S. I love you
You, you, you
I’ll be coming home again to you, love
And till the day I do, love
P.S. I love you
You, you, you
As I write this letter
Send my love to you
Remember that I’ll always
Be in love with you
Treasure these few words till we’re together
Keep all my love forever
P.S. I love you
You, you, you
As I write this letter (Oh)
Send my love to you (You know I want you to)
Remember that I’ll always (Yeah)
Be in love with you
I’ll be coming home again to you, love
And till the day I do, love
P.S. I love you
You, you, you
You, you, you
I love you
P.S. I Love You
Gordon Jenkins/Johnny Mercer
Dear, I thought I drop a line
The weather is cool
The folks are fine
I’m in bed each night at nine
PS I love you
Yesterday we had some rain
But all in all I can’t complain
Was it dusty on the train
PS I love you
Write to the Brown’s just as soon as you’re able
They came around to call
And not burn a hole in the dining room table
Now let me think; I guess that’s all
Nothing else for me to say
And so I’ll close, but by the way
Everybody’s thinking of you
P.S. I love you
