Joshua Lee Turner, the once teen guitar prodigy turned fully-fledged singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, recently released a video where he performed today’s Beatles track Till There Was You alongside Alice Faye. Turner featured here recently with his superb version of Bob Dylan’s fleshed-out Wagon Wheel. When I heard their short excerpt Till There Was You at 2:31 in the video, I knew I had to find the Beatles’ version.
I was swept away by the song. It really demonstrates the Beatles’ versatility – appealing to all sections of an audience with this Broadway ballad. For example, during their appearance at the Royal Variety Performance on November 4, 1963, they followed Till There Was You with Twist and Shout – talk about extremes!
I don’t think I’ve heard Paul McCartney’s voice sound so endearing and affecting as it does on this one. The old-time sweet melody just melts my heart, and I knew I had to write about it here at the first opportunity. It’s such a gorgeous song, filled with grace and longing, and it captures the tranquil spirit of the great 1950s show tunes.
Till There Was You reminds me a lot, in both feel and melody, of the adorable Irving Berlin song What’ll I Do, which Frank Sinatra popularised and Bob Dylan later covered. It remains one of my favourite latter-day songs from the Maestro and will feature here shortly.
Wikipedia:
Till There Was You was written by Meredith Willson, and popularised by his 1957 stage production The Music Man and its 1962 movie musical adaptation. The song became the first Top 40 hit for Anita Bryant in 1959, prior to being recorded and further popularised by The Beatles in 1963.
Till There Was You released on their second album With the Beatles (1963). It was the only song from a Broadway show released by the band.
In the The Beatles’ version, Paul McCartney is accompanied by George Harrison and John Lennon on dueling acoustic, classical guitars played in a Spanish style over a bolero bongo beat played by Ringo Starr.
The widow of Meredith Willson, the composer of The Music Man, has stated that her husband’s estate eventually received more income from the royalties of the Beatles recordings of “Till There Was You” than it originally received from the actual play.
The song was part of their pre-recording repertoire in 1962, and they performed it at the Star Club in Hamburg.
[Verse 1]
There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you
[Verse 2]
There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you
[Bridge]
Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet, fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew
[Verse 3]
There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you
[Bridge]
Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet, fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew
[Verse 3]
There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you
[Outro]
Till there was you
References:
1. Till There Was You – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
1963 awesome Matt!
That’s the year you were born?
I turned five, my older brother had me listening to the Beatles, something i thank him for always…
What a lovely sentiment towards your brother. Sweet memories.
Matt, I always have been impressed with your dedication to family! Thanks…
I’m afraid I haven’t been nearly as dedicated lately as I should have been. But thanks for your kind words. I hope this message finds you well Tom.
completely understand, i struggle to connect somehow someway, it’s just hard…
Everything depends on the sobriety for me, which I’ve been struggling with.
I hope you have got all that taken care of, mate.
the sobriety i can never seem control Matt, i am on a real binge right now. I’m good until about 6 pm, then all bets are off. Hang tough…..
I just went through a 2 week dry phase, because I was pretty sick from a longggggg binge spell. But been off the wagon as of two days. Ouch.
The same well wishes to you friend.
I’ll be thinking about you Matt. Sometimes it’s just plain crazy……
Shine on You Crazy Diamond
Love that!
I knew the song “Till There Was You”, because it was from the musical “The Music Man”, which I knew from seeing the movie on TV & which my junior high had performed when I was in 7th grade ~ I had auditioned for several parts but was only in the marching band at the end. I didn’t hear the Beatles version until the following year, when we had moved to another town in another state & I was babysitting for the people across the street. I used to read the lady’s books ~ “Fear of Flying” was one of them ~ & listen to her records. She had “Meet the Beatles” & I listened to that one all the time. (She also had Janis Joplin records, which changed my life).
I had never heard the Beatles version of “Till There Was You” & it really surprised me the first time I heard it ~ it seemed out of place, ya know? ~ but this cover makes sense when you consider that they worked clubs on their way up ~ “Till There Was You” was written in 1957 & would have been a decent slower dance tune ~ good rocking tunes are always great, but a boy & girl in love want a bit of a squeeze on the dance floor, right?
As for “What’ll I Do”, my grandmother had the original sheet music. That song was written in 1923. My brother has it now. He has all that old sheet music, a giant box filled with gems. I have a copy of it, though & I still play it often on my piano. God bless IBM.
This personal reflection piece you have imparted here about “Till There Was You” is such a wonderful addendum to the post. I’m really grateful for that. As usual, your connection with certain songs from the ’60s when you were a young’un is so interesting and informative and only heightens the song’s appeal (if that were even possible). It also grounds it in something familiar and intimate. Hey, at least you were in the marching band, which is no small feat lol.
Until seeing the Josh Turner excerpt, I wasn’t aware of either the song or the musical, although the melody seemed very recognisable. That could have been because of its similarity to What’ll I Do — a song I can’t get enough of. I’m envious that you can play that on piano. A lot of Beatles songs seem to be coming out of the woodwork for me, since I wasn’t predisposed to their music in my youth as evidently you and your neighbour were.
I can see why you thought the song was out of place. I’ll be honest and say I’m nowhere near as big a fan of Paul’s singing as I am of John’s, but here he absolutely knocks it out of the park. I think it’s my favourite vocal performance from him. A deeper slow dance tune indeed. I wish I’d had the chance to enjoy this song with someone lol.
Thanks as usual, Polly. This was fun.
Check out the musical. I grew up watching musical & listening to show tunes. We had all those albums. “The Music Man”. “The Sound of Music”. “My Fair Lady”. “Oklahoma”. & in band ~ summer band, especially, which was much more “pop” than school ~ we always played lots of show music ~ those pieces that were collections of excerpts from shows. People my age grew up on show tunes.
Musicals nowadays aren’t anywhere as good as what they were years ago IMHO. But maybe I just got old.
If I get the chance, I’ll check it out. I’m not much into musicals unlike your good self, but if it has “Till There Was You” in there, it must be pretty darn good. You go way back with these classics. Wonderful. Yes, I imagine show music was far more prominent in your era growing up. I can also see why you think musicals these days don’t quite live up to their predecessors, even if part of that comes down to nostalgia.
I’m still grinning about your story of “Bold as Love”. That was a doozy!
Cute and nostalgic, Matt!
Hi Sharon! Lovely to receive your message. I hope you are well.
It was remiss of me not to ask you much earlier, how your brother was fairing?
It’s a pleasure Matt! I love music!
So nice of you to enquire, my brother is doing well. I hope to see him soon.
Are you going to follow the World Cup?
Hope all is good for you and family.
Cheers!
🥰
I’m so glad your brother recovered and is doing well. It’s wonderful that you’ll be able to catch up with him.
It did make me laugh though — and don’t take this the wrong way — when I read: “Are you going to follow the World Cup?” I’m afraid I don’t really have the means to properly entertain the idea lol.
To be honest, my interest in football has waned a bit in recent years. If Colombia or Australia don’t win it — which, realistically, they almost certainly won’t — then the teams I’d most like to see win are England and Scotland. I think England (you pommies!) have a very good chance and are probably my favourites. Will you be watching?
Everything is good here and the kids are in high spirits. Thanks for asking.
How comes you have gone off football? I was never a fan so I will not watch much of it.
Pleased to read your kids are in high spirits.
Thanks Matt.
Have a great rest of the week!
I suppose because of the money and corporation aspect and VAR seems as susceptible to corruption as before it was implemented. Also it seems to rid the game of it’s rhythm and pace.
I knew you were never a fan, but you’ll watch England, yeh? Give me some bastion of supportership hope! Haha
OK! Corruption is a big problem for many sports! it’s a shame. I will probably catch some of the England games or the highlights! 🤗
Haha ‘some’ or the highlights. Ouch. Your non committal hasn’t exactly bolstered my enthusiasm.
Beyond all that I hope I find you with peace, tranquillity and goodwill.
Thank you!