They say that he was missing his current girlfriend Pattie Boyd, which resulted in the lyrical content of "I Need You." There’s only one problem with this theory: The song was already recorded before they left for the Bahamas! These theorists also fail to realize that the song is about a girlfriend breaking up with the singer.
Some writers claim that the song was written in late February and early March while The Beatles were filming the movie “ Help!” in the Bahamas. Their touring schedule during a good portion of this time was focused in their current home base of London while they were presenting their month-long production “ Another Beatles Christmas Show.” This would have given ample opportunity for George to refine the details of this song. Using this as a gauge, we can reliably say that George wrote “I Need You” in the three month time period of December, 1964 through February, 1965, which is just before The Beatles recorded the song. Then I add a bit more to it, so it will probably take me about three months before I finish one song.” I’ll leave it for about five weeks, then I’ll suddenly remember. “If I get something going, then I’ll tape it. During an interview in 1965, as contained in the book “ Ticket To Ride” by journalist Larry Kane, he gives a hint as to his songwriting pattern. George never appeared to have commented about “I Need You” in any interviews, so the songwriting history is left to speculation. Since this was only his second original song to have been officially recorded by The Beatles, George Harrison had every reason to be proud. During The Beatles goofy vocal rendition of “The Barber Of Seville,” George verbally reads the credit to his song, “ ’I Need You’ by George Harrison” when those words appear in print. Proof of how proud he was of having an original composition in the film is in the closing credits. This time around, both of his offerings were his own compositions, “ You Like Me Too Much” being the other song. “ I’m Happy Just To Dance With You” showed off his vocal talents in the previous film, but it was a Lennon / McCartney composition. As he had done in their first movie “ A Hard Day’s Night,” Lester decided that a vocal contribution from George would show a degree of equality within the abilities of the group. Director Richard Lester chose songs that he thought would work in the film and George’s “I Need You” proved suitable. Though new to songwriting, George Harrison was able to proudly offer two new compositions for possible inclusion in The Beatles' second motion picture, eventually to be titled “ Help!” With eleven songs submitted for consideration and seven spots open, odds were quite good that George would succeed to getting at least one of his songs onto the big screen.Īnd that’s exactly what happened.