Tuesday

Love Love Me Do


Paul McCartney (and Lennon)
From Please Please Me (1963)
Listen to "Love Me Do" on YouTube











The Grammar

Although this song comprises only three sentences and four fragments, the opening phrase was deceptively complicated.  I had to consider several options: (1) the statement is a command in which an assumed "you" is instructed to love, with the verb being repeated for stylistic effect, (2) The Beatles have invented a new verb, to "love love" (which, I assume, implies a greater degree of intensity than simply to "love."), or (3) a subject referred to as "love" is being instructed to "love."  I decided that the latter, with "love" acting as subject and then verb, made for the simplest and most elegant diagram.

While the grammar enthusiast in me found it difficult to leave the fragments predicateless, my goal isn't to correct Beatle grammar, so the "someone" (to love, like you) doesn't actually do anything, which--I assume--is precisely what Paul wanted.

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