When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney stated that "I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that 'Can't Buy Me Love' is about a prostitute, I draw the line." He went on to say: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want." Although he was to later comment: "It should have been 'Can Buy Me Love' " when reflecting on the perks that money and fame had brought him.
"Can't Buy Me Love" was recorded on 29 January 1964 at EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, where the Beatles were performing 18 days of concerts at the Olympia Theatre.
The Beatles established four records on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Can't Buy Me Love" at number one:
Until Billboard began using SoundScan for their charts, it had the biggest jump to number one: (number twenty-seven to number one; no other single had ever done this).
It gave the Beatles three consecutive number-one songs ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was replaced at number one by "She Loves You" which was in turn replaced by "Can't Buy Me Love"). The three songs spent a combined total of 14 consecutive weeks at #1.
When "Can't Buy Me Love" went to number one (4 April 1964), the entire top five of the Hot 100 was by the Beatles, the next positions being filled by "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me," respectively. No other act has held the top five spots simultaneously.
During its second week at number one (11 April 1964), the Beatles had fourteen songs on the Hot 100 at the same time.
Rolling Stone ranked "Can't Buy Me Love" at #289 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song spent five consecutive weeks at #1. The only Beatles songs to exceed that mark were "I Want To Hold Your Hand" at seven weeks and "Hey Jude" at nine weeks.
Can't Buy Me Love became the Beatles' fourth UK number-one single and their third single to sell over a million copies in the UK.
The song was also released in the following albums: A Hard Day's Night (both the American United Artists and British Parlophone versions); Big Hits From England And The U.S.A., a various artists compilation album from Capitol issued in 1964; the British-only LP release A Collection Of Beatles Oldies; the 1970 compilation Hey Jude (also known as The Beatles Again); the 1973 double disc collection 1962–1966 (the Red Album); the 1982 release Reel Music, which features songs from Beatles films; the 1982 compilation 20 Greatest Hits (both in England and America); and 1, released in November 2000.
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