The version featured on the single and album was recorded in ten takes on 11 September 1962 at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, London.

Producer George Martin had booked session drummer Andy White as a replacement for Pete Best, whom he considered not technically good enough for recording purposes; Martin had been unaware that the other Beatles had already replaced Pete Best with Ringo Starr, who attended the session and plays maracas on the song.

The 17 June 1963 recording was officially published on the On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 album (2013).

Written in spring 1962,[4] while Paul McCartney was in Hamburg, this song is sometimes considered to be a dedication to his then-girlfriend Dot Rhone.

It was mainly his song.Melodically typical of McCartney's later writing style, the song demonstrates two notable exceptions to the contemporaneous model: during the opening chorus the chord D♭7 is placed incongruously between G and D (on write), and during the song's title phrase a sudden shift to B♭ occurs underneath "P.S.

Lyrically constructed with their female audience in mind, the Beatles included it as part of their Cavern Club song set.