He admits to taking the melody of the line "I'm so sad and lonely" from the song "Whistle My Love" by British balladeer and actor Elton Hayes.

[2] The phrase "sad and lonely" also appears in the Lennon-McCartney number "Bad to Me",[3] originally recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, as well as "Act Naturally", which the Beatles covered (with Starr singing) for the album Help!.

They later returned to it the next day, recording 16 takes, including overdubs of piano from McCartney and harmonica from Lennon, which he plays non-stop throughout the song.

"[6] Music critic Richie Unterberger of AllMusic said of the song: "It might have been one of the less sophisticated and impressive tracks on the record, but it was still pretty good", and "'Little Child' might not be a work of genius, but it's sheer rock 'n' roll fun".

Wreckless Eric covered the song with James Nicholls for Mojo magazine's CD We're With the Beatles in 2013.