"This Boy" is a song by British rock band The Beatles composed by John Lennon,and was first released in November 1963 as the B-side of the UK Parlophone single "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The Beatles performed it live on 16 February 1964 for their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance in the USA. It also appears as the third track on side one of US release, Meet the Beatles!. Contents Its composition was an attempt by John Lennon at writing a song in the style of Motown star Smokey Robinson, specifically his song "I've Been Good To You", which has similar circular doo-wop chord changes, melody and arrangement, and Paul McCartney cites The Teddy Bears 1959 hit To Know Him Is To Love Him as also being influential. Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison join together to sing an intricate three-part close harmony in the verses and refrain (originally the middle eight was conceived as a guitar solo, but altered during the recording process) and a similar song writing technique is exercised in later Beatles songs, such as "Yes It Is" and "Because" (which, interestingly, are among the few Beatles songs which also feature three-part harmonies). An instrumental version of "This Boy", orchestrated by George Martin, is used as the incidental music during Ringo Starr's towpath scene in the film A Hard Day's Night. The piece, under the title, "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" was released as a single - but failed to chart in the UK - on 7 August 1964 with And I Love Her on the B Side, although <b>...</b>
The Beatles This Boy 1963 Album John Lennon Paul mccartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Killer Director 10
