Musicologist and writer Ian MacDonald writes, "Played a little faster, the song reveals its debt to Buddy Holly's simple three-chords schemes.
"[6] The rising and falling chromatic line of the guitar intro comes from the Crickets' cover of "Don't Ever Change",[10] especially the augmented E chord.
[10] Though Lennon sang the lead vocal as a harmony duet with McCartney, he never liked the song.
[6] Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes that while performing it, "when they got to the line 'this way will I go'—[Lennon] pulled a crip face and hunched himself Quasimodo-like around the microphone.
"[11] McCartney made a demo of the song prior to Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas recording it.
[8] Everett writes that George Harrison's guitar solo features "the clash of bent unison double-stops",[13] similar to those of Scotty Moore in Elvis Presley's "Just Because" and "Jailhouse Rock" and in Jerry Lee Lewis's "Livin' Lovin' Wreck".
[8] Lewisohn singles out the lyric "When the June light turns to moonlight" as the kind Lennon and McCartney "usually spurned" in others.
[20] Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas released their cover of the song as the B-side of their hit debut single, "Do You Want to Know a Secret"[8] on 26 April 1963.