Music video

Words Of Love

Directors – Lee Gingold and Giles Dill.
Creative Director – Pete Candeland.
Producers – Jonathan Clyde and Katrina Lofaro.

Written and originally recorded by Buddy Holly in 1957, ‘Words Of Love’ was never a hit single for the man from Lubbock, Texas. It was just one of many of Holly’s songs that The Beatles included in their live set from as early as 1958, right through until 1962. Like ‘Baby It’s You’, it was recorded for the BBC radio series, Pop Go The Beatles in the summer of 1963. The Beatles recorded it again, over a year later, when it was included on Beatles For Sale.

Having finished their tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and The Pacemakers, the band were now appearing in various seaside resorts around Britain, including Great Yarmouth, Margate, Blackpool, Rhyl and Weston-super-Mare. There was also an ongoing commitment to their 30-minute BBC radio show and so on Tuesday 16 July, having appeared at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool on the Sunday, they were back in London’s Lower Regent Street to tape three shows starting at 3 pm in the afternoon.

Sometime after 8.45 pm, they began recording ‘Words Of Love’ for the tenth show of the series, which was broadcast on 20 August. The voice at the start of the video belongs to Rodney Burke, who took over presenting Pop Go The Beatles from Lee Peters, starting at episode 5. On a single day, the band taped a staggering 18 tracks for their radio series – more songs than they put down on tape back in February 1963 to complete the recording of their, Please Please Me album.

The track comes from On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2. This clip was made in 2013 to promote the release of this second volume, which features the vast number of recordings The Beatles made specifically for the BBC radio shows at the height of their fame. The concept behind the clip according to Pete Candeland was simple, “We decided to get stock footage from 1963 and enhance the story with animation that told the story… The story of Mal Evans punching the windscreen out in the van was told to us and we got to illustrate it. Apparently it got so cold that The Beatles all had to huddle together in the van to prevent hyperthermia.” Watch out for Brian Epstein and Buddy Holly who both make cameo appearances in the clip.

Related Articles