All My Loving

(Lennon/McCartney)

Quick Facts

Composer	Paul
Lead Vocal	Paul
Recorded	Jul 1963
Length	2:08
Key	E
Noted Takes	14
Producer	George Martin
Engineer	Norman Smith

Originally released on

With the Beatles

All My Loving EP

Parlophone — PMC 1206 / PCS 3045

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Story

“All My Loving” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their second UK album With the Beatles (1963). It was written by Paul McCartney, and produced by George Martin. Though not officially released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, the song drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP. [Wikipedia]

All My Loving is a song by The Beatles, written by McCartney and led on vocal by Paul McCartney. Words written first — rare for Paul; opened the Ed Sullivan debut. Within the catalogue, its letter thread connects it to P.S. I Love You, Please Mister Postman. A Paul McCartney composition recorded for With the Beatles on 30 July 1963, ‘All My Loving’ features Paul’s lead vocal and bass line contributing melodic interest within the tight rhythm arrangement. The song’s straightforward pop-love message and Paul’s assertive vocal delivery established the track as an early concert favourite.

The session work falls within the band’s Beatlemania (1962–1964) period, recorded 30 July 1963 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. George Martin produced; Norman Smith engineered. The recording was completed efficiently, with the rhythm section providing a tight anchor for the harmonic backing vocals. George Martin’s arrangement kept the production spare, relying on the melody and vocal performance rather than orchestral sweetening.

What’s distinctive

McCartney’s first song where he wrote the words before the tune — composed on a tour bus during the Beatles’ 1963 tour with Roy Orbison, then set to music on a backstage piano.¹ Lewisohn calls it “by far his best, most complex piece of songwriting yet.”¹ Take count: 13 (numbered 1–14, no take 5); takes 12–14 purely overdubs; master = take 14 onto take 11.¹

Recording

All My Loving was the last song recorded in the evening session of Tuesday 30 July 1963 at EMI Studios (Studio Two), Abbey Road, 5.00–11.00pm. The evening session was the second of the day; the Beatles had already taped five other songs that morning and afternoon (including ‘Please Mister Postman’ and ‘It Won’t Be Long’) and had a BBC radio rehearsal and recording at the Playhouse Theatre between the two sessions. “Paul’s magnificent ‘All My Loving’, by far his best, most complex piece of songwriting yet. It was recorded in just 13 takes (numbered 1–14 but there was no take five), 12–14 being purely overdubs. The master version was an overdub, take 14 onto take 11.”¹
McCartney described the composition as the first song where he wrote the words before the tune: “I think it was the first song where I wrote the words without the tune. I wrote the words on the tour bus during our tour with Roy Orbison. We did a lot of writing then. Then, when we got to the gig, I found a piano and worked out the music. That was the first time that I’d actually written that way.”¹
The session used the BTR3 Twin-Track tape machine — the standard EMI tracking format through 17 October 1963, when the Telefunken T9U and M10 four-track machines took over. On Twin-Track, instruments were recorded to one track and vocals to the other via the REDD.37 console in Studio Two, with Norman Smith balancing the mix. The Twin-Track-to-Twin-Track overdub method was used for the vocal double-tracking that characterises the album; the process involved superimposing a second vocal performance onto the vocal track of a separate Twin-Track tape running in sync.^1,2
Double-tracking on With the Beatles was pervasive. “The first set of tricks on the records was double-tracking on the second album,” recalled John Lennon. “We discovered that, or it was told to us, ‘You can do this,’ and that really set the ball rolling. We double-tracked ourselves off the album.” Only four of the album’s fourteen tracks were spared the treatment. George Martin: “I started double-tracking voices back in 1962… I thought it was a useful technique for getting different sounds. John, in particular, was always wanting his voice changed, so we did quite a lot of double-tracking.”²

Equipment

Studio	EMI Studios (Studio Two), Abbey Road
Tape machine	EMI BTR3 Twin-Track (tracking); EMI BTR2 (mono mixdown); EMI BTR3 (stereo mixdown)²
Console	REDD.37²
Microphones	Neumann U48 (vocals, figure-of-eight); STC 4038 (drum overhead); STC 4033-A (bass drum); Neumann U47/U48 (guitar, piano)²
Outboard / effects	RS124 compressor, EMI RS114, RS127 Presence Box; echo chamber; double-tracking (Twin-Track-to-Twin-Track superimposition)²
Drums	Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl (20″/12″/14″/14″ snare) — Ringo’s first Ludwig kit, in use from 1 July 1963²
Guitars	Rickenbacker 325 Capri (Lennon); Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman (Harrison); Höfner 500/1 bass (McCartney); Gibson J-160E acoustic²
Bass amplifier	Vox T.60 head + T.60 speaker cabinet (in use March–October 1963)²
Guitar amplifiers	VOX AC30 Twin (Top Boost status uncertain for July 1963; both non-Top-Boost and Top-Boost-modified units documented during the year)²

Recording Timeline

30 July 1963 (Tue) — recording, EMI Studios (Studio Two) — 5.00–11.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Richard Langham. Recording: ‘All My Loving’ (takes 1–14; no take 5). Thirteen takes total — the basic track was built up through takes 1–11, with takes 12–14 being purely overdubs. The master version was an overdub of take 14 onto take 11. Recorded on the BTR3 Twin-Track; instruments to one track, vocals to the other, via the REDD.37 console. The same evening session also produced additional takes of ‘It Won’t Be Long’ (takes 11–23), further work on ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, a remake of ‘Till There Was You’ (takes 4–8), and ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ (takes 1–8).¹
21 August 1963 (Wed) — mono mixing, EMI Studios (Studio Three control room) — 10.00am–1.00pm, 2.00–5.30pm. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Geoff Emerick. Mono mixing: ‘All My Loving’ (from take 14). Part of a full-day editing and mono-mixing session for the With the Beatles LP; the same session also produced mono mixes of ‘Devil In Her Heart’, ‘Money’, ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’, ‘Please Mister Postman’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, and ‘It Won’t Be Long’.¹
29 October 1963 (Tue) — stereo mixing, EMI Studios (Studio Three control room) — 10.00am–1.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Geoff Emerick and B.T. [full name unknown]. Stereo mixing: ‘All My Loving’ (from take 14). A single session produced the stereo mixes of all fourteen With the Beatles tracks. The REDD.37’s Twin-Track panning options were limited to hard left/right positioning of the two tracks; the stereo mixes from this period were prepared without the band present and are now considered secondary by purists.^1,2

I think it was the first song where I wrote the words without the tune. I wrote the words on the tour bus during our tour with Roy Orbison… Then, when we got to the gig, I found a piano and worked out the music.— Paul McCartney¹

Studio Notes

Twin-Track recording constraints — With only two tracks available, Norman Smith had to commit to the balance between instruments and vocals during recording. Session tapes reveal that reverb from the echo chamber was simultaneously recorded in stereo across both tracks — not just the vocal track. The amount and panning of chamber echo varied from song to song; in many cases, most of the vocal reverb ended up on the backing track, leaving only a small trace on the vocal track itself. This may have been done so that a secondary application of chamber could be added at the mixing stage without smearing the original echo. The stereo mixes from these Twin-Track sessions were limited to hard left/right panning of the two tracks, which is why some listeners incorrectly interpreted certain songs as four-track recordings.²
Ludwig kit — among the earliest Beatles recordings — The 30 July session falls within the first month of Ringo’s Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl kit (20″/12″/14″/14″ snare with Zildjian cymbals), acquired from 1 July 1963 to replace his earlier Premier Mahogany Duroplastic set. The Ludwig kit’s sharper attack and more resonant tone would become the characteristic Starr drum sound for the remainder of the Beatles’ recording career.²
Bass amplification in transition — By 30 July 1963, McCartney had moved from the EMI-provided bass rig (a Leak Point One preamp driving a Tannoy Dual-Concentric 15″ speaker in a coffin-style cabinet, used before March) to a Vox T.60 head and speaker cabinet (in use from March). The T.60 head itself would be replaced in August by the Vox AC30 Super Twin head (with added Top Boost), but the T.60 speaker cabinet remained through October. The 30 July session therefore catches the bass rig at a specific transitional moment — still on the T.60 head, one month before the Super Twin upgrade.²
Vocal microphone: Neumann U48 in figure-of-eight — The standard vocal microphone for 1963 sessions was the Neumann U48, operated in its figure-of-eight polar pattern. This bidirectional pattern picked up sound equally from front and rear, which contributed to the vocal leakage between performers that Norman Smith initially encouraged (on the Please Please Me album he used no screens between performers) but later managed more carefully with closer microphone placement on the With the Beatles sessions.²

Releases

1963 UK mono LP With the Beatles (22 November 1963, Parlophone PMC 1206, side A track 3) — Mono master mixed at EMI Studios (Studio Three control room) on 21 August 1963 from take 14. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Geoff Emerick. With astonishing British advance orders of 300,000, the LP swiftly passed the half-million and, in 1965, the one million sales mark.¹
1963 UK stereo LP With the Beatles (22 November 1963, Parlophone PCS 3045, side A track 3) — Stereo master mixed at EMI Studios (Studio Three control room) on 29 October 1963 from take 14. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Geoff Emerick and B.T. The stereo mix pans the two Twin-Track channels hard left and right; these stereo mixes were prepared without the band present.¹
1964 UK EP All My Loving (7 February 1964, Parlophone GEP 8891, mono) — Title track of a four-track EP. A: ‘All My Loving’; ‘Ask Me Why’. Though never released as a single in the UK or US, the song drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue the EP.¹

Sources

Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), 10, 34, 37, 200.
Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums (Houston: Curvebender Publishing, 2006), 357, 362, 365, 369.

Frequently asked

Who wrote All My Loving?

“All My Loving” is credited to Paul McCartney (Lennon–McCartney).

Who sings lead on All My Loving?

The lead vocal on “All My Loving” is by Paul McCartney.

When was All My Loving recorded?

“All My Loving” was recorded 30 July 1963 at EMI Studios (Studio Two), Abbey Road.¹

How many takes did All My Loving require?

Thirteen — takes were numbered 1–14 with no take 5 recorded; takes 12–14 were purely overdubs. The master was an overdub of take 14 onto take 11.¹

On this page

Story

What’s distinctive

Recording

Equipment

Recording Timeline

Studio Notes

Releases

Sources

Frequently asked