Can't Buy Me Love (single) 1964

1. Can't Buy Me Love
- Released a full 4 months after the last Beatles release, this single would later turn up on the A Hard Day's Night album.
- Written and sung by McCartney. He wrote it while the band was on tour in Paris.
- Actually recorded in Paris, one of the few Beatles songs to not be recorded in the UK.
- George Harrison later re-recorded his guitar solo when the band returned to the UK. Remnants of the original recording of the solo can still be heard on the actual song, underneath.
- Helen Shapiro watched the band record song and observed Ringo overdubbing his cymbals. Apparently he did this a lot.
- The band was under a lot of pressure to deliver another hit after finally cracking the U.S. market with I Want to Hold Your Hand. Perhaps they were preoccupied with this when they came up with the slightly anti-capitalist slant in the lyrics.
- Capitol Records planned to release Roll Over Beethoven as the next big U.S. single until they were given this song instead.
- George Martin suggested altering the structure so that the song started and ended on a hook, and re-arranged the song accordingly. McCartney was happy with the result and so the changed version was the version recorded.
- One of the few Beatles songs to use a 12-bar blues structure (here it is used for the verses).
- One of the first Beatles song to feature only one member of the band doing the vocals. Lennon and Harrison recorded backing vocals but these were eventually dropped in favour of double-tracking McCartney's singing.
- It was included in the film A Hard Day's Night only because the director rejected the song I'll Cry Instead.
- Runs for just over two minutes and took four takes to record.

2. You Can't Do That
- B-side to Can't Buy Me Love. This song was also later featured on the A Hard Day's Night album, though it was dropped from the film version because the lyrics were too bitter.
- Written by Lennon. His lyrics take on a more personal tone from this point onwards, in this case alluding to his jealous side.
- Was slated to be the 6th official Beatles single until McCartney wrote Can't Buy Me Love.
- Lennon sings the main vocals, with McCartney and Harrison providing back up.
- Lennon plays the guitar solo, the first time he does this in a Beatles song.
- Ringo overdubbed some bongos and cowbell. It's the first time he plays cowbells on a recording.
- Just prior to the recording of this song George Harrison was presented with a 12-string Rickenbacker electric guitar (only the second one made). This is the first Beatles recording to noticeably feature it... a lot of the other songs on A Hard Day's Night would feature Harrison using it as well. More on that later.
- George Martin recorded a piano track to be used in the song for when it reappeared on the A Hard Day's Night album, but for some reason this never went ahead.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took nine takes to complete.

U.S. single cover

1992 CD reissue

I Want to Hold Your Hand (single) 1963

1. I Want to Hold Your Hand
- The last Beatles release of 1963, this stand-alone single was released four days after With the Beatles.
- Written by Lennon and McCartney after their manager, Brian Epstein, told them to aim a single at the American market. The song is an even collaboration between the two, and was written on the piano.
- The song's structure is remniscent of the pre-vinyl era (1885 to 1930) populist music of New York city, a style sometimes known as Tin Pan Alley.
- Lennon and McCartney sing in harmony for the majority of the song - the vocal melody is not clearly defined enough to the extent that it can be sung successfully by just one singer.
- The first Beatles single to get the #1 spot on the American Billboard Top 100 chart. Capitol Records weren't confident the single would sell though and Brian Epstein convinced them to spend a then-whopping $40 000 on pre-promotion. The single sold out so quickly that Capitol Records were forced to enlist the help of rival labels to press more copies.
- The first Beatles song to have an advance order from fans that exceeded 1 million copies.
- The first Beatles song to be recorded on a four-track rather than a two-track.
- Recorded with German lyrics for the German market as Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand.
- Shot to #1 in the UK when it was released, knocking the previous Beatles single She Loves You down to #2. This is the first instance of an artist knocking themselves out of the #1 spot in British music history.
- Bob Dylan was very impressed when he first heard this song. He thought the line "I can't hide" was actually "I get high", and was surprised upon meeting the Beatles that none of them had smoked pot (yet).
- All four band members provide handclaps for the recording.
- Runs for just under two and a half minutes, and only took 4 takes to record.
- The 20th anniversary re-release of this single by Capitol Records airbrushed out a cigarette held by McCartney in the sleeve photo.
- The U.S. version of the single features I Saw Her Standing There as the B-side.

2. This Boy
- The B-side to the UK release of I Want to Hold Your Hand.
- Written completely by Lennon. He wrote this as another Motown/Smokey Robinson-styled tune. More specifically, it's a 'do-whop' song.
- The middle-eight section/bridge was originally meant to be a guitar solo, but this was dropped during recording.
- Lennon sings the main vocals, with harmonising from McCartney and Harrison.
- The lyrics are rumoured to be about Lennon's mother, Julia, who was often beaten by her partner John Dykins.
- An instrumental version of this song was arranged for use in the film A Hard Day's Night, and was re-titled Ringo's Theme (This Boy). This version was released as a single on it's own in 1964, but it failed to make any impact.
- I love this song, Lennon's vocals rule in it.

U.S. single cover

Japan single cover.