While the popularity of most bands and musical artists tends to wax and wane over the years, there are some groups that never go out of style...for example, The Beatles. Over half a century since the height of Beatlemania, the legendary group is still as beloved as ever — and two of their classic '60s hits just re-entered the charts.
AsForbesreported, "In My Life" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" recently returned to the UK charts thanks to a "surprise surge" in interest. "In My Life," which appeared on The Beatles' 1965 albumRubber Soul, re-entered the Official Singles Downloads chart at #72 and the Official Singles Sales at #80; "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (first released as a single in 1963 before being included on the 1964 albumMeet the Beatles) re-entered the Official Physical Singles chart at #50.
Interestingly enough, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was The Beatles' first number one hit in America. It all started with a random jam session on an "old piano," asPaul McCartneyexplained in 1964, perBeatles Interviews.
"We were told we had to get down to it," McCartney explained.
"So we found this house when we were walking along one day," he continued. "We knew we had to really get this song going, so we got down in the basement of this disused house and there was an old piano. It wasn't really disused, it was rooms to let. We found this old piano and started banging away. There was a little old organ too. So we were having this informal jam and we started banging away. Suddenly a little bit came to us, the catch line. So we started working on it from there. We got our pens and paper out and just wrote down the lyrics. Eventually, we had some sort of a song, so we played it for our recording manager and he seemed to like it. We recorded it the next day."
John Lennonshared a similar recollection of the writing process for "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1980, explaining, "We wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball."
"Like in 'I Want to Hold Your Hand,' I remember when we got the chord that made the song," he continued. "We were inJane Asher's house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, 'Oh you-u-u/ got that something...' And Paul hits this chord, and I turn to him and say, 'That's it!' I said, 'Do that again!' In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that — both playing into each other's noses."
As for "In My Life," Lennon and McCartney later clashed over who came up with the melody, with McCartney disputing Lennon's claims that he wrote the music toHit Paraderin 1977, though both agreed that Lennon was responsible for the lyrics.
"I think I was trying to write about Penny Lane when I wrote it," Lennon told the same outlet. "It was about places I remembered. A nice song."
Years later, fans clearly feel the same way.
Related: John Lennon Thought This Bob Dylan Song Was So 'Pathetic' and 'Embarrassing' He Wrote a Parody
This story was originally reported byParadeon Nov 24, 2025, where it first appeared in theNewssection. Add Parade as aPreferred Source by clicking here.