Which songs did The Beatles record in German?
None of The Beatles were keen linguists. Though they did learn some very basic, functional German while in Hamburg, they were resolutely English in their approach to pronunciation, intonation and attempting to mimic accent.
The Beatles recorded four songs in German but only two were officially released “She loves you - Sie liebt dich” and “I want to hold your hand - Komm gib mir deine Hand”.
These were both recorded at the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris in January1964. They would be the last Beatles recording made outside London.
The Paris sessions were strictly driven by commercial considerations. EMI's German division lobbying for a version tailored to their national market. This consisted of the original backing track and a vocal in German.
The translation was hastily completed by Radio Luxembourg programme director Camillo Felgen. Felgen was also the vocal coach at the session - giving line line by line phonetic instructions. Though they recognised words and phrases, The Beatles did not understand what they were singing.
Why were there no subsequent foreign language versions?
The Beatles only did the German versions for commercial reasons. The received wisdom was that singing in the language of the potential market was the key to sustained success. This was seen as particularly important in Germany and France.
Until 1963 their ambitions were firmly focused on the UK singles chart. The advent of Beatlemania in the late summer dramatically widened these horizons. This allowed them to bypass the international cabaret circuit and record on their own terms
