I Feel Fine

(Lennon/McCartney)

Quick Facts

Composer	John
Lead Vocal	John
Recorded	Oct 1964
Length	2:19
Key	G
Noted Takes	9
Producer	George Martin
Engineer	Norman Smith

Originally released on

I Feel Fine / She's a Woman

The Beatles' Million Sellers

Parlophone — R 5200

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Story

“I Feel Fine” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The recording includes one of the earliest uses of guitar feedback in popular music. [Wikipedia]

I Feel Fine is a song by The Beatles, written by Lennon–McCartney and led on vocal by John Lennon. The first deliberate use of guitar feedback in pop music opened this 18 October 1964 recording—“I Feel Fine” marked a production watershed. The song employs a repeating guitar riff that runs throughout the composition, and the feedback innovation signalled the Beatles’ increasing studio adventurousness.

The session work falls within the band’s Beatlemania (1962–1964) period, recorded 18 October 1964 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. George Martin produced; Norman Smith engineered; Geoff Emerick served as second engineer. The session was a marathon Sunday date running from 2.30pm to 11.30pm in which the Beatles recorded eight songs in total.

What’s distinctive

At 2:19 it sits in the lower third by length. One of 101 songs led primarily by John. Written by John Lennon. Take count: 9 — takes 1–8 concentrated on the rhythm track, vocals added on take 9, the final take. Opens with the first deliberate use of feedback on a pop record — “a Lennon idea of which he was especially proud.”¹

Recording

I Feel Fine was recorded on 18 October 1964 (Sunday) in Studio Two at EMI, Abbey Road, during a marathon session running 2.30–11.30pm. The Beatles recorded eight songs that day in total. Takes 1–9 of I Feel Fine, with takes 1–8 concentrating on the rhythm track and vocals added on take 9, the final take. “No such problems however beset the next song, ‘I Feel Fine’.”¹
Deliberate feedback introduction — “The song opens with what was described in the press at the time as ‘an electronic accident’. It was no such thing. Right from take one the Beatles had perfected the curious sounding introduction, a Lennon idea of which he was especially proud, with Paul plucking a single bass string and John getting amplifier feedback from his guitar.” The feedback was therefore an intentional compositional device, present from the very first take, not an accident discovered during the session. This makes I Feel Fine the first deliberate use of guitar feedback on a pop record.¹
Riff genesis — 6 October session tape — “The session tape also reveals that another new song, ‘I Feel Fine’, was being worked out at this time, John strumming its distinctive guitar riff between takes of ‘Eight Days A Week’.” The riff was therefore already taking shape twelve days before the formal recording session on 18 October.¹
Double-tracked guitar solo — I Feel Fine is one of six 1964 recordings documented as featuring a double-tracked guitar solo: “‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby’s In Black’, ‘Words Of Love’, ‘Matchbox’, ‘She’s A Woman’ and ‘I Feel Fine’ all had double-tracked guitar solos. Again, the fourth track of the tape machine made this a relatively simple task.” The I Feel Fine track sheet confirms the layout: Track 1 = Rhythm (drums, bass), Track 2 = Electric Guitar, Track 3 = Vocals and Guitar Solo, Track 4 = Vocals and Guitar Solo — both Tracks 3 and 4 carrying the double-tracked guitar solo alongside vocals.²
Non-album A-side — Like its B-side She’s a Woman, I Feel Fine was not intended for the in-the-works Beatles for Sale LP but was recorded specifically as the A-side of the forthcoming single (Parlophone R 5200, 27 November 1964). It sold more than a million copies in the USA within a week of issue and more than 800,000 copies in the UK within five days.¹

Equipment

Studio	EMI Studios, Abbey Road — Studio Two¹
Tape machine	Telefunken M10 four-track²
Console	REDD.51 (installed January 1964)²
Microphones	AKG D19c (drum overhead); AKG D20 (bass drum, bass amp); Neumann U47 (amplifiers); Neumann U48 (vocals, figure-of-eight)²
Outboard / effects	RS124 Altec compressor (Main Faders I & II, rhythm tracks), Fairchild 660 limiter (Main Faders III & IV, vocal tracks), EMT 140 plate reverb²
Guitars	Rickenbacker 325 (Lennon, feedback source), Gretsch Country Gentleman/Tennessean (Harrison), Höfner 500/1 violin bass (McCartney)²
Amplifiers	Vox A.C.100 Super De-Luxe (John and George, from August 1964)²
Drums	Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl kit (Ringo)²

Recording Timeline

6 October 1964 (Tue) — riff genesis, EMI Studio Two — Studio Two, 3.00–6.45pm and 7.00–10.00pm. Session for Eight Days A Week (takes 1–13). “The session tape also reveals that another new song, ‘I Feel Fine’, was being worked out at this time, John strumming its distinctive guitar riff between takes of ‘Eight Days A Week’.” P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Ken Scott / Mike Stone.¹
18 October 1964 (Sun) — recording, takes 1–9, EMI Studio Two — Studio Two, 2.30–11.30pm (marathon session recording eight songs). P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Geoff Emerick. Recording: I Feel Fine (takes 1–9). “Takes one to eight concentrated on the rhythm track and the vocals were added on take nine, the final take.” The feedback introduction was “perfected” from take one — Paul plucking a single bass string and John getting amplifier feedback from his guitar. No overdub or re-make sessions followed; the song was completed in a single recording date.¹
21 October 1964 (Wed) — mono mixing from take 9, Room 65 — Abbey Road, Room 65: 2.30–5.45pm. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Ron Pender. Mono mixing: I Feel Fine (remixes 1–4, from take 9). “Four remixes of ‘I Feel Fine’. Remix three was for the British single and remix four for the US. The first two were left unreleased.” The same session also mixed She’s a Woman (remix 2 for US), I’ll Follow The Sun and Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby.¹
22 October 1964 (Thu) — mono remix 5 from take 9, Studio One control room — Studio One (control room only): 11.00am–12.00 noon. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Ron Pender. Mono mixing: I Feel Fine (remix 5, from take 9). “A fifth mono remix of ‘I Feel Fine’, although this one never saw the light of day.”¹
4 November 1964 (Wed) — stereo mixing from take 9, Studio Two control room — Studio Two (control room only): 10.00am–1.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Mike Stone. Stereo mixing: I Feel Fine (from take 9). Part of a session that also stereo-mixed the remaining Beatles for Sale LP tracks.¹

The song opens with what was described in the press at the time as “an electronic accident”. It was no such thing. Right from take one the Beatles had perfected the curious sounding introduction, a Lennon idea of which he was especially proud, with Paul plucking a single bass string and John getting amplifier feedback from his guitar.— Mark Lewisohn¹

Studio Notes

Feedback as compositional device — present from take 1 — The feedback introduction on I Feel Fine was not an accident but a deliberate compositional element, “a Lennon idea of which he was especially proud.” Paul plucked a single bass string while John obtained amplifier feedback from his guitar, creating the “curious sounding introduction.” This was “perfected” from take one — all nine takes opened with the feedback device. The Vox A.C.100 Super De-Luxe amplifiers in use from August 1964 delivered higher wattage and more available headroom than the earlier A.C.50, which may have facilitated the controlled feedback effect at studio volume levels.^1,2
Four-track tape layout — The documented track sheet for I Feel Fine shows: Track 1 = Rhythm (drums, bass), Track 2 = Electric Guitar, Track 3 = Vocals and Guitar Solo, Track 4 = Vocals and Guitar Solo. This layout conforms to the standard 1964 four-track format, with rhythm instruments on Track 1, lead guitar on Track 2, and vocals/overdubs on Tracks 3 and 4. The guitar solo appearing on both Tracks 3 and 4 confirms the double-tracked guitar solo documented by Ryan and Kehew.²
Double-tracked guitar solo as 1964 practice — I Feel Fine is one of six 1964 recordings with a documented double-tracked guitar solo (alongside Can’t Buy Me Love, Baby’s In Black, Words of Love, Matchbox and She’s a Woman). “1964 was also the year that the double-tracking of instruments became commonplace on Beatles sessions.”²
REDD.51 console + RS124/Fairchild compressor chain — The same REDD.51 desk and outboard patching documented across the Beatles for Sale era applies: “Main Faders I and II always had RS124 Altec compressors inserted; III and IV always used… Fairchild 660 limiters (after early 1964). This patching arrangement was directly tied to the four-track tape layout.” Drums and bass (Track 1) and guitar (Track 2) passed through the Altec compressors; vocals and guitar solo overdubs (Tracks 3 and 4) through the Fairchild limiters.²
AKG microphone setup (post-transition) — By October 1964, Norman Smith had completed the transition from STC to AKG microphones on the drum kit: AKG D19c as overhead and AKG D20 on bass drum and Paul’s bass amplifier. John and George’s A.C.100 Super De-Luxe amplifiers were mic’d with U47 microphones; vocals went through a U48 in figure-of-eight. “The STC microphones are gone from Ringo’s kit.”²
Echo chamber — dry recording, chamber at mix — “At the start of 1964, Norman Smith finally stopped printing the chamber to tape during recording. Instead, everything was recorded to tape dry, and chamber was added during the mix.” I Feel Fine’s recording therefore followed the dry-to-tape approach, with any echo chamber applied during the 21 October, 22 October and 4 November remix sessions.²
Marathon session context — The 18 October session was a Sunday date squeezed between concert-tour commitments. “The Beatles had begun a UK concert tour on 9 October so were having to cram in recording sessions on infrequent days off.” In addition to I Feel Fine, the session produced recordings of Eight Days A Week (edit pieces), Kansas City, Mr. Moonlight, I’ll Follow The Sun, Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby, Rock and Roll Music and Words of Love.¹
Separate UK and US mono mixes — Like the B-side She’s a Woman, I Feel Fine received separate mono mixes for the UK (remix 3) and US (remix 4) markets, both prepared on 21 October. A total of five mono remixes were made (remixes 1–4 on 21 October, remix 5 on 22 October), with only two released. The practice of separate UK/US mono mixes reflects the different mastering requirements of Parlophone and Capitol.¹
Geoff Emerick as second engineer — The 18 October session marks one of the earliest documented instances of Geoff Emerick serving as second engineer on a Beatles session. Emerick would later become the group’s principal engineer from Revolver onwards. The 2E credit for the remix sessions went to Ron Pender (21 and 22 October) and Mike Stone (4 November).¹

Releases

1964 UK single I Feel Fine / She’s a Woman (27 November 1964, Parlophone R 5200, A-side) — Released mono master from take 9, mixed 21 October 1964 (remix 3) by Norman Smith with Ron Pender as 2E. “Another massive worldwide success, selling more than a million copies in the USA within a week of issue and more than 800,000 within five days of issue in the UK, passing the million mark on 9 December.”¹
1964 US single I Feel Fine / She’s a Woman (23 November 1964, Capitol 5327, A-side) — Released mono master from take 9, mixed 21 October 1964 (remix 4) by Norman Smith with Ron Pender as 2E. The US remix was a different mix from the UK release.¹
1964 stereo mix (from take 9, 4 November 1964) — Stereo mixed by Norman Smith with Mike Stone as 2E. This stereo mix appeared on subsequent stereo compilations. “There can’t be many albums released today containing five songs remixed for stereo in half an hour!”¹
1965 EP The Beatles’ Million Sellers (6 December 1965, Parlophone GEP 8946) — I Feel Fine included alongside other chart-topping singles.¹

Sources

Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), 49–52.
Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums (Houston: Curvebender Publishing, 2006), 376, 379–82, 384.

Frequently asked

Who wrote I Feel Fine?

“I Feel Fine” was written by John Lennon, credited to Lennon–McCartney.

Who sings lead on I Feel Fine?

The lead vocal on “I Feel Fine” is by John Lennon.

When was I Feel Fine recorded?

“I Feel Fine” was recorded on 18 October 1964 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, Studio Two.¹

How many takes did I Feel Fine require?

Nine takes; takes 1–8 concentrated on the rhythm track, and the vocals were added on take 9, the final take.¹

On this page

Story

What’s distinctive

Recording

Equipment

Recording Timeline

Studio Notes

Releases

Sources

Frequently asked