Words and music by John Lennon.

This song is on the Capitol U.S. (but not on the Parlaphone U.K.) release of Rubber Soul, 1965, and it's on the Parlaphone U.K. (but not the Capitol U.S.) release of the Help! soundtrack album, 1965.

     In C, as recorded -- which sounds just a bit lower than standard pitch.

 intro chords:  C   Am   C   Am    [internal treble lick: c... b a g e ]
 

    C     Em        Bb     F     G      G+   [implied bassline: c b bb a g ]
 1. I get high when I see you go by...  my oh my
    C        Em       Bb    F          G       G+ 
    When you sigh, my my inside just flies... butterflies 
    F           G                 C         Am 
    Why am I so shy... when I'm beside you? 
 
               Bb                  G 
    It's only love... and that is all
                  C                Am 
    Why should I feel... the way I do? 
               Bb                  G 
    It's only love... and that is all...
                 F              G         [F  on 'hard' this one time]
    But it's so hard... lovin' you...
 

 
    C      Em        Bb      F         G        G+ 
 2. Is it right that you and I should fight... every night?
     C        Em      Bb         F          G        G+ 
    Just the sight of you makes nighttime bright... very bright
     F             G                  C         Am 
    Haven't I the right... to make it up, girl?
 
               Bb                  G 
    It's only love... and that is all,
    C                Am 
    Why should I feel... the way I do?
               Bb                  G 
    It's only love... and that is all, 
             F                G 
    But it's so hard, lovin' you... 
             F                G              C  Am  C Am  C Am  C 
    Yes it's so hard, lovin' you...  lovin' you...

Editor's notes: 

Lyrics: Verified against the recording. 98% confidence. Some transcriptions have "When you sigh, my mind inside just flies...", in verse 1, but John clearly sings "When you sigh, my my inside just flies... ", which is what my big Beatles songbook shows. No wonder he thought that the lyrics were "terrible".

Vocals: No harmonies whatsoever, incredibly. John doubles his vocal on the refrains.

Chords: John strums an acoustic six string (probably his Gibson J-160), while George drops in sharply damped barre chords and brief fills from a radically-reverberated electric (12-string Ric?) and also provides the descending c... b a g e signature lick.

G+(augmented): 321003  

 C: 8 10 10 9 8 8   Em: 7 7 9 9 8 7  Bb: 6 8 8 7 6 6 

F: 8 8 10 10 10 x  G: 10 10 12 12 12 x   (or F: x 8 7 5 6 5 G: x 10 9 7 8 7 )

JOHN, 1972: "That's the one song I really hate of mine. Terrible lyric."

JOHN, 1980: "'It's Only Love' is mine. I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics are abysmal. I always hated that song."

PAUL, circa-1994: "Sometimes we didn't fight it if the lyric came out rather bland on some of those filler songs like 'It's Only Love.' If a lyric was really bad we'd edit it. But we weren't that fussy about it, because it's only a rock 'n roll song. I mean, this is not literature."

- http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dba05help.html

- Transcribed by WA, April 2002. Last edited 13 July 2003. Formatting last tweaked 13 July 2003.

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