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