I've Just Seen a Face: Wikis

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Categories: English-language songs > 1965 songs > Songs written by Lennon/McCartney > Songs produced by George Martin > The Beatles songs

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"I've Just Seen a Face"

Song by The Beatles

from the album Help!

Released

6 August 1965

Recorded

14 June 1965

Genre

Country

Length

2:07

Help! track listing

14 tracks
Side one "Help!" "The Night Before" "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" "I Need You" "Another Girl" "You're Going to Lose That Girl" "Ticket to Ride" Side two "Act Naturally" "It's Only Love" "You Like Me Too Much" "Tell Me What You See" "I've Just Seen a Face" "Yesterday" "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"

"I've Just Seen a Face" is a song by The Beatles. It appears on their 1965 UK album Help!, although in the United States it first appeared on the Capitol version of the Rubber Soul album, along with "It's Only Love".

1 Composition
2 Recording
3 Personnel
4 McCartney live versions
5 Cover versions
6 Notes
7 References

Composition

"I've Just Seen a Face" was written by Paul McCartney^[1]^[2] (credited to Lennon/McCartney), and features McCartney on vocals. Before its release, the song was briefly titled "Aunty Gin's Theme," after his father's youngest sister, because it was one of her favorites.^[3]^[4] It is one of the very few guitar-based Beatles songs that lacks a bass track.

According to music critic Richie Unterberger of allmusic, "Several songs on 1964's Beatles for Sale, as well as "I'll Cry Instead" from A Hard Day's Night, had leaned in a country and western direction. But "I've Just Seen a Face" was almost pure country, taken at such a fast tempo that it might have been bluegrass if not for the absence of banjo and fiddle."^[5] Music critic Ian MacDonald said the up tempo song "lifted the later stages of the Help! album with its quickfire freshness."^[6]

Recording

The song was recorded on 14 June 1965 at Abbey Road Studios in London in the same session with "Yesterday" and "I'm Down"."^[7]

Personnel

Personnel per Ian MacDonald^[4]

McCartney live versions

The song has remained a favourite of McCartney's as indicated by live performances during his solo career. It was one of only five Beatles numbers performed on his Wings Over America Tour in 1976. Post-Beatles live versions appear on the 1976 album Wings over America, on the 1991 album Unplugged (The Official Bootleg), and on the 2005 DVD, Live In Red Square.

Cover versions

Notable covers of "I've Just Seen a Face" have been done by The BoDeans, The Paperboys, The Dillards, Arlo Guthrie and Warren Zevon, Holly Cole (in both jazz and pop rock renditions), The Living End, Kenny Rankin, Eddie Vedder, The String Cheese Incident, Lucy Kaplansky, Gray Matter, John Pizzarelli, Thrice, Richie Sambora, Brandi Carlile, and Tyler Hilton.
Travis used the section of "Had it had been another day..." in "All I Want to Do Is Rock".
The song is sung by actor Jim Sturgess in the film Across the Universe, a musical based on Beatles songs.
The View recorded the song as a B-side to their "Skag Trendy/The Don" double A-side single.
Beck Hansen also recorded an obscure parody titled "I've Just Seen a Face Lift", which appears on an early demo tape.
Carmen Rasmusen recorded a country version of the song. It's available on her 2004 Carmen (EP).

Notes

^ Miles 1997, p. 200.
^ Sheff 2000, p. 195.
^ Harry 2000, p. 559.
^ ^a ^b MacDonald 2005, p. 155.
^ Unterberger 2009.
^ MacDonald 2005, p. 156.
^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 59.

References

Harry, Bill (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2.
Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
Unterberger, Richie (2009). "Review of "I've Just Seen a Face"". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:j9ftxq8dld0e. Retrieved 11 December 2009.

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