Wednesday, February 28, 1968
Recording "Step Inside Love"
For Cilla Black
Last updated on December 7, 2024
Wednesday, February 28, 1968
For Cilla Black
Last updated on December 7, 2024
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Previous session Feb 15, 1968 • Mixing "Lady Madonna"
Article Feb 24, 1968 • The first Apple ad appears in the New Musical Express
Interview Feb 24, 1968 • Paul McCartney interview for Evening Standard
Session Feb 28, 1968 • Recording "Step Inside Love"
Article Feb 29, 1968 • "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" wins four Grammy Awards
Article March 1968 • "She's Leaving Home" and "The Family Way" win Ivor Novello awards
Next session Late May 1968 • The Esher recordings
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Step Inside Love / I Couldn't Take My Eyes Off You" 7" Single
Paul McCartney wrote “Step Inside Love” as the theme for “Cilla,” a BBC television show hosted by singer Cilla Black. They had previously recorded a demo and a first version with orchestra on November 21, 1967.
The program debuted on January 30, 1968, generating a positive reception for the song. However, at that time, it only featured one verse and a chorus. Thus, in early February, Paul expanded “Step Inside Love” by adding a second verse.
On this day February 28, 1968, Cilla Black entered the studio to record the complete version of “Step Inside Love,” which would become her forthcoming single. Paul didn’t attend the session, as he was in India with the other Beatles and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
After a few weeks of my TV show I was fed up singing it and I thought the public would be, too. […] Paul McCartney had to write the middle a couple of days before he went to India so I could record it.
Cilla Black – From Melody Maker – April 13, 2021
All he had given us was one verse and a chorus with him playing on guitar. We played it that way for the first couple of weeks and then decided that we needed a second verse. Paul came over to the BBC Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush and sat with me and Cilla and worked on a second verse. It started off with the line, ‘You look tired, love’, because Cilla was tired after a lot of rehearsing and most of what he wrote related to what was going on that day.
Michael Hurll – Director and producer of the “Cilla” TV show – From “The Complete Beatles Songs: The Stories Behind Every Track Written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner, 2015
CILLA BACKS BEATLES AGAIN
The letters bombarded the BBC. “Please Cilla,” they said, “where can we get a recording of your theme song?“
That’s the Lennon-McCartney song, “Step Inside Love” used on Cilla’s own show.
“So I just had to do a recording,” cooed Cilla this week in that fetching Liverpudlian accent.
“Actually, it’s the first Beatles song I’ve done since ‘It’s For You’.” That was back in July, 1964.
“Oh,” corrected Cilla, “I did do ‘Yesterday’ – but that was used as the B-side to ‘Love Is Just A Broken Heart’. This new one will be the first A side since ‘It’s For You’.“
Why such a shortage of Beatles songs in Cilla’s repertoire? “I never go to people and ask them to write a song for me,” says Cilla. “I think it takes the edge off“.
“Paul asked me if he could do the signature tune for my series. Now I’m recording it because I’ve had so many requests following the TV shows. It’s quite a simple song, but we had three goes at it before we got it right. Paul writes simple songs, but they are difficult to arrange and get the sound you want. On the first recording, Paul played it on guitar, but the key didn’t suit me – I had to have it taken up. Then the second recording was disappointing. I just couldn’t get my teeth into it. But we did a great recording last Wednesday, and the record is out this week. One advantage of doing a TV series, you can experimentally try songs out and see what sort of reaction you get. We got a good one to ‘Step Inside Love’, so we decided to go ahead with it“. […]
From Melody Maker, March 9, 1968
’68 CILLA RAVES OVER THE 1930s
[…] What does she think of the song? “I’m very pleased with it. It’s not an out and out ballad and I’m pleased that everybody likes it. It’s very important to me that my friends like it and that it gets good reviews. I like pleasing my friends“.
She tells how Paul came to write the song. “We had decided on a typical type opener for the show. Ringo was coming on and Paul said he would like to write a song for Ringo and I to sing but Paul’s Dad had already thought of a song we could do. So Paul asked if he could write a signature tune. Everybody thought he was daft when he came up with ‘Step Inside Love’. They all said: ‘You can’t open and close a TV show with a quiet number.’” The song’s success has proved Paul right.
Although the number was never intended as a single, it has been released now due to the fantastic demand from viewers. And it may surprise you to know that up to a few weeks ago “Step Inside Love” consisted of only the beginning and end parts heard in the series. Says Cilla: “It was only when we started getting these letters that I said: ‘How about a middle part?’ So Paul wrote it just before he went away.“
From New Musical Express, March 23, 1968
Recording
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