All I've Got to Do

Lennon said he was "trying to do Smokey Robinson again,"Dowlding, William. Beatlesongs. New York: Touchstone, 1989, p. 49. and Ian MacDonald compared it to "(You Can) Depend on Me" by the Miracles, both musically and lyrically.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=97}} Richie Unterberger of AllMusic said it sounds like Robinson but also Arthur Alexander.{{sfn|Unterberger|2007}} Beatles biographer Bob Spitz said the song is "restlessly dark and moody", and compared it to the Shirelles' "Baby It's You" (a song the Beatles previously covered) and early Drifters recordings.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=446}}

It was one of three songs Lennon was the principal writer for on With the Beatles, with "It Won't Be Long"{{sfn|Sheff|2000|p=170}} and "Not a Second Time".{{sfn|Sheff|2000|p=194}} Lennon said that it was written specifically for the American market, because the idea of calling a girl on the telephone was unthinkable to a British youth in the early 1960s. For instance, Lennon said in an interview regarding "No Reply": "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."{{sfn|Badman|2000|p=135}}

The band 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.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=35}} It was mixed for mono on 30 September and for stereo on 29 October.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|pp=36, 37}}

Although music journalist Steve Turner claims the song was written in 1961,{{sfn|Turner|2005|p=35}} MacDonald said the song was never in the Beatles' live repertoire, which explains why 8 of the 14 takes were incomplete: the band was unfamiliar with the song.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=97}}

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,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=200}} the most direct connection between the album and Robinson's music. In the US, Capitol Records pulled "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" off Meet the Beatles!, releasing it later on The Beatles' Second Album.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=200}}

According to Ian MacDonald:{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=97}}

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

https://www.discogs.com/master/414513

• In 1979, Louise Goffin covered "All I've Got to Do" on her debut album, Kid Blue.{{cite web|title=Louise Goffin, Kid Blue|date=1979|access-date=July 9, 2025|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1723387}}
• 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!.{{sfn|Deming|2007}}
• Toxic Audio covered it on Come Together: An A Cappella Tribute to The Beatles.{{sfn|Legett|2007}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|2}}

• {{cite web

|last=Alstrand

|first=Dennis

|title=The Evolution of Rock Bass Playing; McCartney Style: 1963

|url=http://www.alstrand.com/evolution/1963.htm

|accessdate=9 December 2009

|ref={{SfnRef|Alstrand|2009}}

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100101173008/http://www.alstrand.com/evolution/1963.htm

|archivedate=1 January 2010

|url-status=dead

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Badman

| first=Keith

| year=2000

| title=The Beatles Off the Record

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Cross

| first=Craig

| year=2005

| title=The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record

| publisher=iUniverse

| location=Lincoln, NE

| isbn=0-595-34663-4

}}

• {{cite web

| last=Deming

| first=Mark

| year=2007

| title=Review of Meet the Smithereens

|publisher=AllMusic

| url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r942519|pure_url=yes}}

| accessdate=16 March 2007

}}

• {{cite web

| last=Legett

| first=Steve

| year=2007

| title=Review of Come Together: An A Cappella Tribute to the Beatles

|publisher=AllMusic

| url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r592948|pure_url=yes}}

| accessdate=16 March 2007

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Lewisohn

| first=Mark

| year=1988

| author-link=Mark Lewisohn

| title=The Beatles Recording Sessions

| publisher=Harmony Books

| location=New York

| isbn=0-517-57066-1

}}

• {{cite book

| last=MacDonald

| first=Ian

| year=2005

| author-link=Ian MacDonald

| title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties

| edition=Second Revised

| publisher=Pimlico (Rand)

| location=London

| isbn=1-84413-828-3

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Miles

| first=Barry

| year=1997

| author-link=Barry Miles

| title=Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now

| publisher=Henry Holt and Company

| location=New York

| isbn=0-8050-5249-6

| url-access=registration

| url=https://archive.org/details/paulmccartneyman00mile

}}

• {{cite web

| last=Pollack

| first=Alan W

| year=1991

| author-link=Alan W Pollack

| title=Notes on "All I've Got to Do"

| work=Notes on ... Series

| url=http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/aigtd.shtml

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Sheff

| first=David

| year=2000

| author-link=David Sheff

| title=All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

| publisher=St. Martin's Press

| location=New York

| isbn=0-312-25464-4

| url-access=registration

| url=https://archive.org/details/allwearesayingla00lenn

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Spitz

| first=Bob

| year=2005

| author-link=Bob Spitz

| title=The Beatles: The Biography

| url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesbiography00spit

| url-access=registration

| publisher=Little, Brown

| location=Boston

| isbn=0-316-80352-9

}}

• {{cite book

| last=Turner

| first=Steve

| year=2005

| author-link=Steve Turner (writer)

| title=A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song

| publisher=Harper Paperbacks

| location=New York

| edition=3rd

| isbn=0-06-084409-4

}}

• {{cite web

| last=Unterberger

| first=Richie

| year=2007

| author-link=Richie Unterberger

| title=Review of "All I've Got to Do"

|publisher=AllMusic

| url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t9761|pure_url=yes}}

| accessdate=16 March 2007

}}

{{Refend}}

{{Wikiquote|With the Beatles}}

• {{Notes on|http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/aigtd.shtml}}

{{With The Beatles}}

{{authority control}}

Category:1963 songs

Category:Song recordings produced by George Martin

Category:The Beatles songs

Category:Songs written by Lennon–McCartney

Category:Songs published by Northern Songs

Category:Songs about telephone calls