Anne Murray’s version of a song from The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ is awful in a bizarre way. Her rendition became a modest hit.
Anne Murray put her spin on several of The Beatles‘ songs. Murray’s cover of a song from The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night outshone the original. Despite this, her version of the Fab Four’s track is terrible and doesn’t fit the song’s lyrics.
The Beatles’ “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” was barely a hit. It reached No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week. The tune appeared on the album A Hard Day’s Night. That record topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks, lasting on the chart for 56 weeks.
Murray’s cover of “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” was a bigger hit. Her version of the tune peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for six weeks. Murray included “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” on her album Somebody’s Waiting. The album reached No. 88 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 15 weeks.
It’s fitting that the public reacted to the two recordings of “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” so differently. After all, the two renditions could not be more distinct. The Beatles’ track is a rock ‘n’ roll number with some surf rock elements. It’s the sort of upbeat tune that would get mop tops dancing.
Murray’s cover, on the other hand, is a horrid easy listening song. It sounds less like a dance song and more like a Barbra Streisand ballad. To try to give this interpretation of the song some energy, it transitions into a waltz at a few points. Murray’s “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You” is strange, awful, and a perfect encapsulation of why her music is mostly forgotten.
