"Little Child" is a song by the English rock band

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 ...

from their 1963 UK album ''

With the Beatles ''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the release of the band's debut album, '' Please Please Me''. P ...

''. It was written by

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 ...

and

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 ...

for

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 ...

, but Starr was instead given "

I Wanna Be Your Man "I Wanna Be Your Man" is a Lennon–McCartney-penned song first recorded and released as a single by the Rolling Stones, and then recorded by the Beatles for their second studio album '' With the Beatles''. The song was primarily written by Pau ...

" as his album song.

Background

McCartney describes "Little Child" as being a "work song" or an "album filler". He admits to taking the melody of the line "I'm so sad and lonely" from the song "Whistle My Love" by British balladeer and actor

Elton Hayes Elton Hayes (16 February 1915 – 23 September 2001) was a British actor and guitarist. Life and career Elton Hayes was born in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, England. Both his parents were actors, and he made his first stage appearance aged nin ...

. The phrase "sad and lonely" also appears in the Lennon-McCartney number " Bad to Me", originally recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, as well as " Act Naturally", which the Beatles covered (with Starr singing) for the album ''

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 ...

''.

Recording

The song was recorded in three different sessions, with the first on 11 September 1963, where the Beatles recorded two takes. They later returned to it the next day, recording 16 takes, including overdubs of piano from McCartney and harmonica from Lennon, which he plays non-stop throughout the song. They later returned to it on 3 October, when they recorded three more takes. In the stereo mix, the harmonica pans from left to right for the solo, then pans back from right to left after the solo. The song's solo follows a "twelve-bar blues format that does not appear in the rest of the ong"

Reception

Music 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 ...

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 ...

said of the song: "It might have been one of the less sophisticated and impressive tracks on the record, but it was still pretty good", and "'Little Child' might not be a work of genius, but it's sheer rock 'n' roll fun".

Personnel

–

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 ...

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 ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

– vocal,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

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 *

–

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 ...

, additional drums :Personnel per Ian MacDonald According to MacDonald, the vocals were "credited to Lennon and McCartney, but more ikelythe former double-tracked." However, it is possible that McCartney sings a lower harmony to Lennon's lead during the verses. Moreover, McCartney can be heard singing "Oh yeah" at the end on his own, which suggests the original credit is probably correct.

Cover versions

Wreckless Eric Eric Goulden (born 18 May 1954), known as Wreckless Eric, is an English rock music, rock and New wave music, new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single "Whole Wide World (song), Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two d ...

covered the song with James Nicholls for '' Mojo'' magazine's CD ''We're With the Beatles'' in 2013. The song was also covered by the fictional band Snow Pink on an episode of the television series '' CHiPs'', titled "Battle of the Bands" (1982).

Notes

References

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External links

* {{authority control The Beatles songs Song recordings produced by George Martin 1963 songs Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Songs published by Northern Songs