"[4] In Barry Miles' Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, the songwriter calls it "a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler".

[7] In their book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler call it the album's poorest track, saying it "fails because McCartney's vision of the complete tune obviously sagged somewhat".

[8] Ian MacDonald, in his book Revolution in the Head, says that the song's bad reputation is partly undeserved, adding: "Play it loud with the bass boosted, and you have an overwhelming motoric rocker strongly redolent of the band's live sound.

"[7] Writing for Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield describes "Hold Me Tight" as "horrifying" and says that it saves the band's cover of "Till There Was You", also released on With the Beatles, from being their "all-time ghastliest moment".

[9] McCartney wrote a different song called "Hold Me Tight" for a medley included on the 1973 Wings album Red Rose Speedway.