German Songs - DM's Beatles forums

However, there was one other recording anomaly that set "She Loves You" apart from other Beatles songs � Electrola Gesellschaft, the German division of EMI (the parent of the Beatles' British record label, Parlophone Records), decided that the only way to sell Beatles records in Germany would be to rerecord them in German. The Beatles found the idea stupid, but were forced by George Martin to comply, recording "Sie Liebt Dich" on 29 January 1964, along with a few other German versions of their songs, at the Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris. Other than the earlier sessions backing Tony Sheridan it was the only time in their career that the Beatles recorded outside London.

Martin later described how he had persuaded the Beatles to record in German: "The boys were enjoying their new life. They were very busy and they were tasting their first fruits of success. I had asked them to appear at the EMI studios one afternoon and I got there with this German fellow, who came to coach them with this language and when the time came, I think it was four o'clock, there was no sign of them, at all! I was a bit puzzled by this, and thought, 'I wonder what has happened to them?' So I rang their hotel and I spoke to Neil Aspinall, who said, 'Oh, they are having tea. They're not going to come.'"

Puzzled, Martin asked, "'But, why?' And he said, 'Well they don't want to. They've decided they don't want to make a record in German, after all.' I was absolutely livid! So, I hopped in a cab, together with the German, and I tore to the George V hotel and I burst in on the scene and they were all having tea there � [a]nd as I burst into the room, and yelled at them, they all fled to corners of the room � looking over a cushion, or a chair, pretending to hide, and laughing. I said, 'Look, you really owe this fellow a great apology. He's come all this way, over from Germany, so, say you're sorry.' And they, in their cheeky Liverpool way, said, 'Oh, sorry, so sorry!' After that, they came and did the German record in the studio. They still didn't like doing it very much, but they did it. That was the very first time I had a row with them, and probably the only time."
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sie_Liebt_Dich

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_to_Hold_Your_Hand
McCartney and Lennon did not have any particular inspiration for the song, unlike some of their later hits such as "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be". Instead, they had received specific instructions from manager Brian Epstein to write a song with the American market in mind. The song was also recorded in German as "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" ("Come, give me your hand"), one of only two times the Beatles recorded a song entirely in a language other than English (the other being "She Loves You").