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“This Boy“ is a song by the Beatles, written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney). It was released in November 1963 as the B-side of the band's Parlophone single “I Want to Hold Your Hand“. In the United States, it was issued in January 1964 on Meet the Beatles! which was Capitol Records' reconfigured version of the With the Beatles album. The Beatles performed the song live on 16 February 1964 for their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. An instrumental easy listening arrangement by George Martin, re-titled “Ringo's Theme (This Boy)“, was featured in the film A Hard Day's Night and the United Artists soundtrack album. This version was also issued as a single, reaching number 53 in the US and number one in Canada. “This Boy“ was remastered for compact disc by George Martin and released in 1988 on the Past Masters, Volume One compilation. On 9 September 2009 it was re-released on the two CD set Past Masters, as part of the remastering of the original Beatles' catalogue, and was included in The Beatles Stereo Box Set and in The Beatles in Mono box set. The track's composition was Lennon's attempt to write a tune in the style of Motown star Smokey Robinson, and specifically his song “I've Been Good to You“, which has similar circular doo-wop chord changes, melody and arrangement. The tune and arrangement also draws from “You Don't Understand Me“, a B-side to a Bobby Freeman single. Paul McCartney cites the Teddy Bears' 1958 hit “To Know Him Is to Love Him“ also as being influential. Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison joined to sing an intricate three-part close harmony in the verses and refrain and a similar technique is employed in later Beatles songs, notably “Yes It Is“ and “Because“. Originally the middle eight was conceived as a guitar solo but altered during the recording process. Written in D major, the song revolves around a 1950s-style I-vi-ii-V doo-wop sequence in 12/8 time before moving to the harmonically complex middle eight (G-F#7-Bm-D7-G-E7-A-A7) and back again for the final verse and fade-out.[4] William Mann describes the song as, “ of their most intriguing, with its chains of pandiatonic clusters“. The Beatles recorded “This Boy“ on 17 October 1963, the same day they recorded “I Want To Hold Your Hand“, the group's first fan club Christmas single, and a version of “You Really Got a Hold on Me“. They recorded fifteen takes of “This Boy“ followed by two overdubs. The song was recorded with a rounded ending, although it was faded out during a mixing session on 21 October. Two takes were joined to make the final master, with the edit between the middle eight and final verse (1:28). Alternative recordings have also been officially released. A live version performed on Two of a Kind in 1963 was released on Anthology 1 and two incomplete takes from the original recording were released as a track on the single “Free as a Bird“. Shirley Abicair (born 26 October 1930) is an Australian-born singer, musician, television personality, actress and author. In the 1950s and 60s, she was probably best known as an exponent of the zither. Shirley Abicair was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The zither was, along with her Australian-ness, to become her trademark. She released her first record “Careless Love“ that year. In 1953 the Empire theatre in Nottingham billed her as “TV's zither girl“. On 26 March 1956, Abicair appeared on BBC TV Off The Record. Through the middle/late 1950s she hosted (with help from her puppet friends, Australian indigenous children, Tea Cup and Clothespeg), a series called Children's Hour, a children's TV show. In the process, she became an unofficial ambassador and promoter of Australia to a generation of British children. This Australian image was reinforced by her release of records with titles such as “(I Love You) Fair Dinkum“ and “Botany Bay“. This tour was filmed and later released as a TV special “East of Howerd“. During 1966–67 she released a number of more mature songs on record including her version of the Gerry Goffin–Carole King song “So Goes Love'“ and Paul Simon's “Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall“. She had previously, in the early 1960s, released three albums of folk songs. Abicair joined up with harmonica player Larry Adler in 1968 to do a children's theatre show. She began her own one-woman theatre show in 1969 at the Arts Theatre in London. In 1971, Abicair moved to Oregon in the United States, where she appeared in a series of college concerts with the American writer Ken Kesey. Abicair lives in London and divides her time between Britain, the US and Australia.
