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"All I've Got To Do"
Song by The Beatles
from the album With the Beatles
Released	22 November 1963 UK 20 January 1964 U.S.
Recorded	11 September 1963
Genre	Rock and roll
Length	2:04
Label	Parlophone
Writer(s)	Lennon/McCartney
Producer(s)	George Martin
With the Beatles track listing
Side one "It Won't Be Long" "All I've Got to Do" "All My Loving" "Don't Bother Me" "Little Child" "Till There Was You" "Please Mister Postman" Side two "Roll Over Beethoven" "Hold Me Tight" "You Really Got a Hold on Me" "I Wanna Be Your Man" "Devil in Her Heart" "Not a Second Time" "Money (That's What I Want)"

"All I've Got to Do" is a song written by John Lennon^[1][2] (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by the Beatles on their second United Kingdom album, With the Beatles.^[3][4] In the United States, "All I've Got to Do" originally appeared on Meet the Beatles.^[5][6]

Contents 1 Inspiration 2 Recording 3 Release 4 Credits 5 Covers versions 6 Notes

Lennon said he was "trying to do Smokey Robinson again," and Ian MacDonald compared it to "You Can Depend on Me" by the Miracles, both musically and lyrically.^[7] Richie Unterberger of All Music Guide said it sounds like Robinson but also Arthur Alexander.^[8] Beatles biographer Bob Spitz said the song is "restlessly dark and moody," and compared it to The Shirelles "Baby It's You" and early Drifters recordings.^[9]

It was one of three songs Lennon wrote solo for With the Beatles, with "It Won't Be Long"^[10] and "Not a Second Time."^[11] Lennon said that it was written specifically for the American market; the idea of calling a girl on the telephone was unthinkable to a British youth in the early '60's. For instance, Lennon said in an interview regarding “No Reply (song)”: “I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the 'phone, although I have never called a girl on the 'phone in my life! Because 'phones weren’t part of the English child’s life”. ^[12].

The Beatles recorded the song in a single recording session on 11 September 1963 in 14 takes with one overdub, take 15. The master take was take 15.^[13] It was mixed for mono on 30 September and for stereo on 29 October.^[14]

Although Steve Turner claims the song was written in 1961,^[15] MacDonald said the song was never in the Beatles' live repertoire, and that explains why 8 of the 14 takes were incomplete: the band was unfamiliar with the song.^[7]

Alan Pollack suggests that the hummed fade-out verse is more than just a convenient way to make the ending different. He says, " [I]t rather effectively drives home the underlying self-satisfied subtext of the lyrics; to the extent that some things in life, such as the comfortable equilibrium of a relationship [defy] adequate expression in words."^[16]

In the UK, "All I've Got to Do" was released on With the Beatles which also includes the Beatles' cover of "You Really Got a Hold on Me" by the Miracles,^[3] the most direct connection between the album and Robinson's music. In the U.S., Capitol Records pulled "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" off Meet the Beatles, releasing it later on The Beatles' Second Album.^[5]

• John Lennon — lead vocal, rhythm guitar
• Paul McCartney — backing vocal, bass guitar
• George Harrison — backing vocal, lead guitar
• Ringo Starr — drums

Credits per Ian MacDonald^[7]

• In 2007, the Smithereens covered "All I've Got to Do"—and all the other songs on Meet the Beatles—on their tribute album Meet the Smithereens!.^[17]

• Toxic Audio covered it on Come Together: An A Capella Tribute to the Beatles.^[18]

1. ^ Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press, 193. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
2. ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 148. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 200. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. 
4. ^ Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 492. ISBN 0-595-34663-4. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 200. 
6. ^ Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record, 547-548. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, 97. 
8. ^ Unterberger, Richie. Review of "All I've Got to Do". All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
9. ^ Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 446. ISBN 0-316-80352-9. 
10. ^ Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying, 170. 
11. ^ Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying, 194. 
12. ^ Keith Badman The Beatles Off The Record P.135
13. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 35. 
14. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 36, 37. 
15. ^ Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 35. ISBN 0-06-084409-4. 
16. ^ Pollack, Alan W. Notes on "All I've Got to Do". Notes on ... Series.
17. ^ Deming, Mark. Review of Meet the Smithereens. All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.
18. ^ Legett, Steve. Review of Come Together: An A Capella Tribute to the Beatles. All Music Guide. Retrieved on March 16, 2007.