Album This song officially appears on the One And One Is Two 7" Single.
Timeline This song was officially released in 1964
From AllMusic.com:
The Strangers with Mike Shannon (that is precisely how they were billed, not the other way around) had the honor, or misfortune, of covering the most obscure Lennon-McCartney song that was “given away” to another artist in the 1960s, and not recorded by the Beatles. This song was their May 1964 single “One and One Is Two,” and that did not chart in either the U.K. or the U.S. Of all the songs that fell into this category (with the possible exception of Carlos Mendes’ Paul McCartney-penned “Penina“), “One and One Is Two” was the most forgettable. A rather standard and plodding Merseybeat number without the melodic imagination that characterized even the weakest and most primitive songs the Beatles did on their first recordings, it attracted little notice at a time when Lennon-McCartney were the most in-demand composers in popular music.
[The song] had a rather more complex history than simply popping up on the Strangers 45 and disappearing. The composition was apparently intended for use by Billy J. Kramer, who had already covered several Lennon-McCartney tunes for hits. It was written while the Beatleswere playing an extended engagement in Paris at the beginning of 1964, and a demo of McCartney singing the song and accompanying himself on piano has been bootlegged. It has been reported thatJohn Lennon said that if Kramer recorded the song, he (Kramer) would be finished. In his extensive interview for Playboy, the ever-gracious Lennon called it “another of Paul’s bad attempts at writing a song.”
The song was offered to Kramer, who decided not to record it. It was then offered to another Liverpool act that shared management with Brian Epstein, the Fourmost, who had already covered a couple of Lennon-McCartney songs that were not done by the Beatles for hit singles. They did give it a try but, as singer and lead guitarist Brian O’Hara remembered in Beatles Undercover, “McCartney came into the studio and played bass on “One and One Is Two,” but there just wasn’t any meat in the song and we couldn’t get anywhere with it.” Thus rejected by two artists (three if you count the Beatles, too), it made its way to the lowly Strangers with Mike Shannon. […]
One and one is two
What am I to do
Now that I'm in love with you?
I'm hoping everyday
I'm gonna hear you say
"You really make my wish come true"
Can you feel when I'm holding you near
All the things that I do?
So, my love, am I making it clear?
One and one is two
One and one is two
What am I to do
Now that I'm in love with you?
I'm hoping everyday
I'm gonna hear you say
"You really make my wish come true"
Can't you see I've loved you from the start?
Don't you love me too?
I love you, but you're breaking my heart
From wanting you.
One and one is two
What am I to do
Now that I'm in love with you?
I'm hoping everyday
I'm gonna hear you say
"You really make my wish come true"
If you say that you're gonna be mine
Everything is alright
All the world would look so fine
If you'll be mine tonight
One and one is two
What am I to do
Now that I'm in love with you?
I'm hoping everyday
I'm gonna hear you say
"You really make my wish come true"
Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.
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Don • 8 years ago
I have heard another version of this song besides the one recorded by The Strangers by Mike Shannon. The version I heard had the very same lyric and melody but was slowed way down and the vocals seemed very much in the style of the sixties folk group, The Sandpipers. However, I have come across no official record of this style of recording of this particular song. I'm assuming I heard a very similar sounding song or that this recording is so obscure it has no documentation. Does anyone else know of this recording?
admin • 8 years ago
Hi Don,
Thanks for your message.
I'm not aware of any other version than the one from The Strangers by Mike Shannon, and the demo by Paul McCartney.
Don • 8 years ago
Thanks so much for looking into this. I might have been mistaken and if I do discover this version, I will certainly publish the documentation here. Thanks for running this project!
MAURO SANNA • 7 years ago
Does anybody know when Paul wrote this song?
Harry van der Burg • 5 years ago
The Badbeats (from Holland) have recorded the song. It's on Spotify
rottenrollin • 4 years ago
HOW did they become SO famous with lyrics like this?
Guess by THIS not being one of their more famous songs????
The PaulMcCartney Project • 4 years ago
@rottenrollin I guess that's why they've given it away to The Strangers, and haven't recorded it at The Beatles :)
Don • 3 years ago
"One and One is Two" has been recorded by The Weeklings (Beatles Cover Band) in 2016 for the album, The Weeklings, Vinny Fazzari for Hello, Goodbye: Songs The Beatles Gave Away in 2007, Apple Jam in 2011 for the album, Off the Beatle Track and is a single release for The Badbeats in 2019. I still have not found the recording that I was sure I heard, but now have become doubtful about the memory.
Ola • 3 years ago
Don, the recording you are refering to, might have been done by a Korean Beatles cover group some twenty years ago. I think I remember have read something like that.
Andrey Michael • 2 years ago
This version of the song by The Beats is probably the best version I've heard so far that closely imitates the Beatles' You're Going To Lose That Girl: https://youtu.be/e2SY0BNgTp4
The PaulMcCartney Project • 2 years ago
Thanks Andrey for sharing this - I didn't know this version !
