"If You've Got Trouble" is a song written by

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

and recorded by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

on 18 February 1965 with

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

singing the lead vocal. The song was intended to be Starr's vocal appearance on the ''

Help! ''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their Help! (film), film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965 by Parlophone. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the sin ...

'' album and the ''

'' film, but the Beatles were not happy with the recording and later chose to record " Act Naturally" (which is not in the film) instead. "If You've Got Trouble" remained unreleased until ''

Anthology 2 ''Anthology 2'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 18 March 1996 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the 1965 sessions for ''Help!'' until the se ...

'' in 1996.

Recording

"If You've Got Trouble" was recorded in a session beginning at 6:00pm on 18 February 1965, the fourth day of recording for ''Help!''. It was one of three songs worked on that day, the others being "

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written and sung by John Lennon (though credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on the album ''Help!'' in August 1965. Composition and recording Len ...

" (recorded earlier in the day) and " Tell Me What You See" (recorded in the same evening session). The backing track for the song was recorded in a single take. Starr then

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

a double-tracked

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

, and Harrison added an extra guitar part. A mono mix of "If You've Got Trouble" was prepared on 20 February 1965. A stereo mix of the song was created for ''Anthology 2'', and this mono mix remains unreleased.

Aborted release

"If You've Got Trouble" was prepared for release in 1984 for the '' Sessions'' album.

Geoff Emerick Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums ''Revolver'' (1966), '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) and ''Abbey Road' ...

edited the arrangement, swapping the verses around and knocking around 20 seconds off the running time. After the release of ''Sessions'' was blocked by the surviving Beatles, this version was subsequently widely bootlegged until the unedited version was released on ''Anthology 2''.

Critical reception

Music critic

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...

said the song was "the only unmitigated disaster in the Lennon–McCartney catalogue", and criticised its lyrics and melody. Beatles' historian

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

agreed, saying it was "not one of the better Lennon–McCartney numbers ... nor was it brilliantly performed." George Harrison stated that "it's the most weird song...it's got stupid words and is the naffest song. No wonder it didn't make it onto anything."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

gave a more favourable assessment, remarking that "For all its lack of seriousness, 'If You Got Trouble' is hummable, likable, and performed with good-natured spirit."

Cover versions

The song was covered by singer Fabienne Delsol with her group The Bristols, appearing on their 1999 album ''Introducing... The Bristols''. Although not technically a cover,

the Posies The Posies were an American rock band. The band was formed in 1986 in Bellingham, Washington, United States, by primary songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. Their music has its origins in Merseybeat and the Hollies. They are influ ...

' instrumental "Alison Hubbard" (included on the expanded reissue of ''Failure'') is built around a copy of the main "If You've Got Trouble" riff.

Personnel

– double-tracked

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

– producer * Norman Smith –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

References

External links

* {{authority control The Beatles songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Lennon–McCartney 1996 songs The Beatles Anthology