The official Beatles video of this demonstrates pretty well the kind of hysteria the Beatles caused among teenage girls at their height. In the video, the band is just calmly performing the song, as wholesome as you like, and the music is layered thickly with a wall of screams.
At some performances, the Beatles’ music could barely be heard over the screams. I can’t think of any artists today who inspire that level of fandom…
This song didn’t go to number one immediately in the U.K., because another one of the band’s songs was already there…
Rest assured, it did reach number 1 a couple of weeks later, and stayed there for 5 weeks. It was also the track that broke them into the American market, as it was their first number one hit in the U.S.A.
The song is a solid burst of happy energy, witnessing the Beatles at their most exuberant. The lyrics are very polite by modern standards, which stands the song in good stead, in my view.
“I Want To Hold Your Hand” was released in 1963.