We Can Work It Out (single) 1965

1. We Can Work It Out
- 5 months after the release of Help! and it's related singles, came this single and the album Rubber Soul (both released on the same day in early December 1965).
- this song is one of the few post-1963 Beatles songs to be co-written 50/50 between McCartney and Lennon.
- this single was the first single to ever be designated as a 'double A-side'. McCartney wanted We Can Work It Out to be the A-side, whilst Lennon favoured Day Tripper. Radio stations had a field day marketing it as the first double a-side and it became one of the band's fastest selling singles.
- McCartney did the verses, writing about his experiences with his then-wife Jane Asher, and Lennon contributed the bridge section.
- George Harrison suggested the waltz-timing for the bridge, making this the first Beatles song to switch time signatures mid-song.
- the band spent 11 hours non-stop working on this song, the longest they had spent in one sitting on a single track to date.
- McCartney sings the lead vocals, which he double-tracked in two different sessions.
- Lennon plays the harmonium on the recording, as well as acoustic guitar. Ringo provides some tambourine along with his usual drums.
- A video of the Beatles performing this song (with no audience) was specially recorded for promotional purposes, making it the first music video.
- Runs for just over two minutes, and took two takes to record.

2. Day Tripper
- Lennon wrote this song under pressure to deliver another commercial hit single. He wrote the famous guitar riff that opens the song and majority of the lyrics, whilst McCartney contributed some of the bridging chords.
- the song is written to make the listener think it is a standard 12-bars blues-type deal but then prematurely flips back into where it began... this kind of gimmick-ish self-awareness and playing with conventions would start to characterize the band's songs during the mid-60s and was reflective of their sense of humour (and some might say cockiness) in regards to music.
- Lennon implied in later years that the song's lyrics were a swipe at McCartney's hesitance to take LSD.
- Lennon later felt that the recording for this song was a bit rushed.
- McCartney sings the lead vocals despite Lennon being the primary composer. Both Lennon and Harrison provide backing vocals.
- Ringo overdubbed some tambourine.
- Much like We Can Work It Out, a special promo video was shot for this song.
- Runs for about two minutes and fifty seconds, and took 3 takes to finish.

Help (Album) 1965

- The fifth studio album by the band, released in August 1965.
- It was released to coincide with the film Help! It features seven tracks from this movie, plus seven other songs. Only two songs overall were covers.
- Harrison got two of his original compositions included on the album, the first McCartney and Lennon allowed such a thing since the band's second album back in 1963.
- The cover was meant to show the band spelling out 'help' in flag-signage, but it didn't look aesthetically pleasing to the photographer so they instead spell out something like 'NUJV'.
- Two of the songs featured on the album were intended to be featured in the film alongside the other seven songs, but the director rejected them. These were You Like Me Too Much and Tell Me What You See.
- Two other tracks were recorded for the album but ultimately ditched because the band weren't happy with them. These were If You've Got Trouble (ultimately replaced by Act Naturally) and That Means a Lot (which the band decided to give to P. J. Proby to release as a single). Both of these songs ended up on the Anthology compilations a couple of decades later.
- Other songs written for the album but rejected include: Yes It Is (which ended up as a pre-album B-side) and Wait (which later turned up on the Rubber Soul album).
- The U.S. release of the album only featured the seven songs that were in the movie, alongside a bunch of instrumental tracks from the film composed by Ken Thorne and conducted by George Martin.
- This was the last Beatles album to feature any covers until Let It Be (and even that doesn't really count).

1. Help
- Released as a single prior to the album's release. See full song info here.

2. The Night Before
- Written by McCartney.
- It's kind of a mix between a very 60s-sounding pop song and a more traditional blues arrangement.
- McCartney sings the lead vocal, and Lennon plays an electric piano instead of guitar. Harrison and Lennon provide harmony vocals in the verse and chorus.
- This is probably the first recording where Lennon doesn't play guitar.
- The guitar solo is actually played by McCartney, and achieved by overdubbing two guitar leads over each other.
- Took just two takes to complete and runs for two and a half minutes.

3. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
- Written by Lennon, who also provides the lead vocals.
- A very Dylanesque track, it features little more than acoustic guitar and some sparse percussion. Lennon even apes Dylan's gruff way of singing. Lennon would revisit this folksy style of song throughout the rest of the band's career.
- The line 'two foot small' was meant to be 'two foot tall' but Lennon muddled up the words. He decided to leave the mistake-version in for 'the pseuds' (I assume this means 'pseudo-intellectuals', a long time bugbear of Lennon's).
- Folklore has it that this song is about Brian Epstein, the band's gay manager (this doesn't mean he managed their gay tendencies, it means he himself was gay). Lennon acknowledged that the song was a shift towards a more personal style of lyric-writing but actually confirmed what it was about (it may have been just as easily about an extra-marital affair Lennon was having another woman while married to his first wife Cynthia).
- Lennon plays a 12-string acoustic guitar, and Ringo plays tambourine, a shaker and some maracas. A guy named John Scott was brought in to play the flute for the bridge section (which is actually two different kinds of flutes put together in the recording). Both McCartney and Harrison also play acoustic guitar in the track.
- One of the first Beatles songs not to feature any bass at all. Very few other Beatles songs would do the same.
- You can barely hear but Harrison is actually singing a harmony in the chorus.
- Runs for just two minutes and took 9 takes.

4. I Need You
- Written by Harrison, who also sings the lead vocals.
- Thought to be about Pattie Boyd (the first of several songs she inspired!)
- Harrison uses a volume/tone pedal to help colour the song up a bit. Along with his more successful use of it on Yes It Is, it's considered to be one of the first times such a thing was used in a recording.
- Lennon plays an acoustic guitar instead of an electric in the recording, and both he and McCartney provide backing vocals.
- A rather melancholy song, and quite a dud.
- Runs for 2 and a half minutes, and took five takes to record.

5. Another Girl
- Written by McCartney, he wrote the lyrics whilst on holidays in Tunisia.
- The lyrics reflect McCartney's increasing distance from his girlfriend at the time, Jane Asher.
- Around this time the band put lesser songs along these lines to a 'test'... meaning that all 4 members of the band had to seriously like it for it to be included on an album.
- Harrison did about 10 rejected takes of lead guitar with his new tone pedal before McCartney decided to do the lead himself. This marked the beginning of a trend where McCartney would sometimes take lead guitar duties, which must've annoyed Harrison a bit.
- Aside from the lead guitar overdub, most of the song was completed in just one take. The song itself runs for two minutes.
- Lennon plays acoustic guitar, and both he and Harrison provide backing vocals.

6. You're Going to Lose That Girl
- Written by Lennon.
- Features an unusual and effective key change between two parts of the song.
- The lyrics reflect the third-person technique used previously in She Loves You.
- McCartney plays piano on the recording, and Ringo dubs in some bongo action. Lennon's guitar track is acoustic, and both McCartney and Harrison provide backing vocals.
- The recording was actually a bit rushed as the band was due to start filming the Help film, which accounts for the way the backing vocals sometimes warble from an offkey note into the right one, and why McCartney's piano-playing hits an occasional bum note.
- Harrison later re-recorded his guitar solo but it was never used.
- The record company planned to release this as a B-side to the special single release of the song Girl to help promote the 1977 Beatles compilation Love Songs. It was canned at the last minute.
- Runs for two minutes and twenty seconds, and took three takes to complete.

7. Ticket to Ride
- Released as a single prior to the album's release. See full song info here.

8. Act Naturally
- The first track on Side B of the album.
- This is a country song that was originally written by Johnny Russell in 1961, and recorded by Buck Owens as a hit in 1963.
- It was tradition to give Ringo a song on each album to sing... he originally sang the Beatles' original If You've Got Trouble but the rest of the band decided to drop this song altogether as it was a real piece of crap (even Ringo didn't like it!). As Ringo was a big fan of country music Act Naturally was chosen as a quick replacement.
- Only McCarney provides backing vocals.
- The band mucked about with the arrangement (hence the multiple takes) before deciding to keep it like Buck Owens' rockabilly version.
- This song was also released as the B-side for the U.S. single Yesterday. HOWEVER when this single was re-released in 1971, Act Naturally was actually included as the A-side as the American record company had always considered it better than Yesterday!
- At one point the band was allegedly going to record a song written by their recording engineer, Norman Smith. He was apparently offered 15 000 pounds for the band to buy the song outright but when McCartney and Lennon realised they had yet to record a song for Ringo to sing on Help! the plan was scrapped altogether. Poor Norman!
- In 1989 Ringo and Buck Owens teamed up to do a duet version of this song as a single.
- I really, really, really hate this song. And yet it's still better than If You've Got Trouble.
- Took 13 takes, and comes in at two and a half minutes.

9. It's Only Love
- Written mainly by Lennon, with some input from McCartney.
- Lennon didn't think very highly of it afterwards, he liked the melody but thought the lyrics were too run-of-the-mill.
- The song's working title was That's a Nice Cap.
- Lennon sings the lead vocal and plays a 12-string acoustic guitar, with Harrison playing not one but two guitar tracks. There are no backing vocals.
- The guitar solo is played through the speaker of a Hammond organ, which is what accounts for the unusually bright sound.
- Ringo had trouble with the drums for this song, which is why it took a few takes. He overdubbed some tambourine afterwards, perhaps hoping to make it sound stronger.
- Runs just under two minutes, and took six takes.

10. You Like Me Too Much
- Written by Harrison, another song about Pattie Boyd. It's likely that Lennon helped him with structuring it.
- Harrison sings the lead vocals.
- Features Lennon playing electric piano, and both McCartney and George Martin play two seperate parts on a normal piano at the same time. Ringo gets to add in some tambourine as well as his drum track.
- Lennon also plays acoustic guitar but as usual for songs not written by himself or McCartney he was reluctant to provide any backing vocals, so McCartney sings harmony alongside a second vocal track from Harrison.
- The piano and bass were dubbed into the song seperately to the rest of the instruments, the piano bit in question is the boogie-woogie intro and outro.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 8 takes.

11. Tell Me What You See
- Written mainly by McCartney, though it has the fairly dubious distinction of being one of the few Beatles song he has very little memory of.
- The electric piano on this track is played by McCartney. He also provided some extra instrumentation in the form of the guiro, an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument. Ringo also overdubbed some tambourine and claves.
- The guitar played in this recording is a typical electric guitar but played in a more acoustic-style of strumming to suit the song's folkish style.
- Runs for two and a half minutes, and took four takes.

12. I've Just Seen a Face
- Written by McCartney, another folk-ish styled track for the album (and almost Simon and Garfunkelesque).
- Was tentatively titled Aunty Jin's Theme after McCartney's aunt.
- Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all play acoustic guitar on this track. Like You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, it's one of the few Beatles songs to not feature any bass.
- McCartney sings both the lead vocal and the backing harmony vocal, probably because the backing vocals were too high for Lennon to hit.
- Ringo uses the brushes on his snare for this track and also overdubbed some maracas.
- McCartney still continues to play this song in his live set.
- Runs for two minutes, and took six takes.

13. Yesterday
- Written by McCartney.
- McCartney famously claims to have composed this in a dream and then eagerly recorded it after waking up so that he wouldn't forget it. This was most likely in 1964.
- The song was written in pieces a long time before finally turning up in a recording... McCartney was afraid he had unknowingly plagiarised an already existing song (due to the manner he had written it) and so he showed it to everyone he could in order to check it wasn't something that already existed before he felt comfortable enough to think it was his own song.
- After this it still took some time for the song to appear, most likely because George Martin and McCartney disagreed about the arrangement of the track or perhaps because...
- ...the rest of the band didn't really like the song. They felt it was too different to everything else they had been recording and they vetoed it being released as a single in the U.K.
- The record company considered releasing it as a solo Paul McCartney single after this but McCartney decided it wasn't worth causing trouble in the band over.
- The song was ultimately released as a single, but only in the U.S.
- A string quartet (two violins, a viola and a cello) features in the recording along with McCartney and his acoustic guitar, but none of the other Beatles contribute anything to the track.
- McCartney was initially afraid that George Martin's idea for the arrangement (just acoustic guitar and strings) might be a bit too easy listening. Martin also had to talk him into using the one-word title Yesterday, as McCartney at that point felt one-word titles were a bit cheesy.
- A full band version was attempted but it didn't really go ahead. Some concerts in Japan apparently featured the entire band playing it together.
- The working title for this song, for a long time, was Scrambled Eggs... this was because of the nonsensical working lyrics McCartney originally used before finishing the song.
- It was offered to Chris Farlowe to record and release as a single but he turned it down because it was too soft.
- Although it wasn't released as as single, it did see release as the title track of a UK-released EP in 1966 along with Act Naturally, You Like Me Too Much and It's Only Love. A tenth anniversary single was also rfeleased in 1976 with I Should've Known Better as the B-side.
- The song is the most covered song ever, with over 3000 known cover versions released since 1965!
- Runs for just two minutes and took two takes to complete.

14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
- A cover; originally by Larry Williams, who released it as a single in 1958.
- Was originally recorded with the intention of putting it on a compilation album for release in the U.S. McCartney was so happy with how it turned out that they ended up putting it on the Help! album instead.
- The lead vocals are sung by Lennon. McCartney supplies an electric piano track in addition to his bass.
- Brian Epstein originally suggested it as a possible cover. Ringo later brought the idea up again, leading to this recording.
- The Beatles extended the song a bit longer than the original version by adding an extra verse, most likely something they may have done while playing it in their Hamburg days.
- Lennon later played it live on his own after the band broke up.
- Runs for nearly 3 minutes, and took 7 takes.

Help (Single) 1965

1. Help
- Title track and pre-single for the band's forthcoming album of the same name, and also the name of their forthcoming second film.
- Released in July 1965.
- Written mostly by Lennon, with McCartney helping with a few odds and ends.
- The lyrics reflect Lennon's difficulty with coping with the success of the band and his own general insecurities.
- One of Lennon's favourite Beatles tracks that he wrote, mainly because he felt it came more from the heart than a lot of others he had written. He also liked it because it wasn't written for any purpose other than as an outlet for his feelings.
- In later years Lennon said he regretted not recording it at a slower tempo. He tried to record it at a slower tempo at the time but George Martin and the rest of the band felt it needed to be faster since it was slated as the next single.
- The single version and the album version have slightly different lyrics, and the American version starts with an instrumental intro.
- Lennon plays a 12-string acoustic guitar on the recording and does the lead vocals. McCartney and Harrison provide backing vocals, and Ringo plays a tambourine track as well as his usual drum stuff.
- Took 12 takes and runs for two and a half minutes.

2. I'm Down
- B-side to Help!
- Written by McCartney.
- One of the more energetic Beatles song, very much influenced by 50s R+B artists like Little Richard.
- An alternate take exists where the song is played at a slower tempo and without the backing vocals.
- The lyrics are very much a tongue-in-cheek swipe at Lennon's lyrics for Help! from McCartney. It's somewhat fitting that they should appear on the same single together.
- The band often closed their live set with this song throughout 1965, and McCartney purposely wrote this song for such a purpose (they had previously often closed their set with Long Tall Sally, which has a similar structure/feel).
- McCartney sings the lead vocals, with Lennon and Harrison providing the backing vocals. Lennon also plays the organ on the recording (the first time he would do so), and Ringo plays some bongos.
- Took 7 takes and runs for two and a half minutes.

Bad Boy (US-only track) 1965

#. Bad Boy
- Features on the US-only album Beatles VI, released in June 1965.
- Was eventually released onto the UK market as part of a compilation album a year and a half later (December 1966).
- Originally written, performed and released by Larry Williams as a single in 1959.
- The band recorded the song on Williams' birthday, the 10th of May.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals.
- Recorded in the same session as Dizzy Miss Lizzy during the making of the Help! album. Both were intended as US-only tracks, but Dizzy Miss Lizzy ended up getting included on Help! due to a shortage of material.
- This is one of the only official Beatles studio recordings that isn't found on one of their official UK albums, singles or EPs.

Ticket to Ride (Single) 1965

1. Ticket to Ride
- Released in April 1965, and later featured in the Help! film (originally titled Eight Arms to Hold You) and on the album of the same name.
- Written by Lennon, this remained one of the Beatles tracks that he was most proud of (especially the double-time ending).
- McCartney claims to have written about 40% of it but Lennon disputed this and responded that McCartney was only responsible for the way Ringo plays the drums in it.
- Popular myth/folklore has it that the song was originally titled Ticket to Rye (as in the train station Rye) and that the title was changed so as not to confuse American fans. I doubt that's true, but it's pretty funny either way.
- This song was 'heavier' sounding than any other Beatles songs before it, especially in terms of the drums and the drone-style bass.
- This may be due to the fact that it was the first time the band layed down all the rhythm tracks before building on top of it with melody and vocals. A lot of Beatles fans see this song as the first in their 'middle period'.
- Lennon plays a 12-string acoustic guitar on the recording, and McCartney contributes both guitar and bass tracks. Harrison doesn't play guitar at all on the recording, instead just singing some harmony vocals.
- Ringo provides handclaps and tambourine alongside his drum track. Multi-talented!
- Some footage of the band performing this song only survives thanks to the fact that it was included in it's entirety as part of a Doctor Who episode broadcast in 1965. In the episode the Beatles were originally due to appear as old man-versions of themselves, suggesting that they were going to be around for a long, long time. Brian Epstein vetoed the idea as 'silly' and this archival footage was used instead.
- Later, in the 70s, Lennon claimed that this was the first heavy metal song of all time and that he, by association, invented heavy metal. One of his more arrogant and ridiculous claims.
- Runs for three minutes, and took 2 takes. This was the longest running Beatles song to date.

2. Yes It Is
- B-side to the Ticket to Ride single.
- Written by Lennon, and possibly about his deceased mother.
- Took many takes to complete, and is the song the band spent the longest amount of time to record throughout all of 1965.
- Of the songs Lennon wrote for the Beatles, this was one of his least favourite.
- Harrison makes interesting use of a volume pedal to get some weird-ish almost violin-like sounds out of his guitar.
- Yes It Is features a higher level of harmonising from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison than usual. Harrison's vocal contributions in particular would become more frequent from this point on.
- Ringo adds a tambourine track alongside his drums.
- Runs for two minutes anf forty seconds, and took 14 takes.

Beatles for Sale (Album) 1964

- The fourth studio album recorded by the band, released in December 1964.
- Many regard this album as the point where the band started putting a bit more effort into their lyrics. Lennon becomes more introspective and McCartney moves towards storytelling.
- The band started working on this album only six days after they finished the A Hard Day's Night album.
- The constant touring and promotional work was starting to wear the band down a bit by this point, hence the inclusion of a couple of covers on this album after having previously made the switch to all-originals for A Hard Day's Night.
- Three of the covers were recorded within 5 takes on a single day.
- McCartney described the songwriting process at the time: management would give them a week before recording to start writing some new material. McCartney would go round to Lennon's house and they'd sit down to write a song each day, usually taking roughly 3 hours.

1. No Reply
- Written by Lennon. Most of his songs on this album would have a similarly downbeat-feel, though this particularly song was actually written during the making of A Hard Day's Night (and was presumably left off that album due to it's less than joyful tone).
- Lennon considered offering it to Tommy Quickly after it was rejected for A Hard Day's Night, but eventually decided to keep it for himself.
- Lennon intended to sing all the parts but his voice was failing at the time, so McCartney took on the higher-melody bit in the bridge section.
- The song doesn't really have a chorus yet was still considered strong enough to open the album.
- Both guitar tracks are acoustic. Lennon recorded some handclaps and McCartney provided the
cowbell.
- Originally written with a waltz-like beat, though this abandoned prior to recording in favour of the bossa nova-styled rhythm.
- Runs for just over two minutes, and took 8 takes to record.

2. I'm a Loser
- Lennon wrote this song mid-flight whilst the band was on tour with Jackie DeShannon in the U.S.
- Having recently met Bob Dylan, Lennon shows the D-man's influence here in his tone and lyrics (most specifically the use of the word 'clown'). The song also shows the growing influence that country music was having on the band (mainly courtesy of Ringo, who was a huge country music fan).
- The lyrics reflect Lennon's insecurities regarding the fan reaction the Beatles were experiencing at the time.
- Was going to be released as a stand-alone single in the UK until Lennon came up with I Feel Fine, which was used instead.
- Lennon plays some harmonica on the recording, as well as providing an acoustic guitar track and the lead vocals. McCartney does some harmony vocals. Ringo added in a tambourine track to go alongside his drums.
- Runs for two and a half minutes, took 8 takes to complete.

3. Baby's in Black
- Another track written by Lennon, though McCartney co-wrote some of the melody.
- The song was written while the band was on tour in Australia and New Zealand, with McCartney most likely responsible for the guitar solo (which was a little beyond Harrison's playing ability at the time).
- The song has 6/8 time (very few Beatles songs have timing along these lines) and is played slower than the usual speed - giving the impression of a waltz.
- It's considered fairly likely that this song is about Astrid Kirchherr, the girlfriend of Stuart Sutcliffe (the band's first bassplayer, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962 whilst the band was playing Hamburg).
- Lennon and McCartney sing the bulk of the vocals together, and sang them into the same microphone at the same time for the recording (McCartney's idea). This has since made it hard for anyone else to sing on their own as it's difficult to tell who is doing which harmony.
- Harrison had difficulty mastering the solo during recording, resulting in multiple takes.
- Ringo does some more tambourine work in addition to his drums.
- The band often performed this whilst on tour from 1964 up until they stopped playing live in 1966.
- A live-version of this was released as the B-side to the Anthology-related single Real Love in 1996.
- Runs for just over two minutes and took 14 takes to finish.

4. Rock and Roll Music
- One of six covers used to 'fill out' the album. The band opted to cover mostly rock and R&B standards that they had been playing live for the last few years.
- Originally written and peformed by Chuck Berry.
- Lennon does the lead vocals, pushing the range beyond Berry's more even delivery. The Beatles version is also played in a different key to Berry's.
- The band changed the lyric "If you wanna rock with me" to "If you wanna dance with me".
- Released as a single in some countries (but not the UK or U.S.). Got to #1 in Australia and Norway.
- McCartney, Lennon and George Martin all play the same piano part for the recording.
- After this song was recorded the band decided to start including it in their live set again.
- Runs for two minutes and took only 1 take to complete.

5. I'll Follow the Sun
- Written by McCartney.
- A downbeat ballad, McCartney apparently wrote this when he was 16. Owing to the band's more rock-orientated reputation he didn't feel comfortable reworking it for the band until their 4th album (when they were desperate for material).
- There is a recorded version of this song from the band's earliest days (1960), featuring Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. The original version is a bit more skiffle-ish and has a different bridge.
- Lennon and McCartney both provide acoustic guitar tracks, McCartney does the lead vocals while Lennon harmonises with him.
- Ringo slaps his knees for some added percussion.
- McCartney still performs this song live, and has done so as recently as 2007.
- Run time: 1 minute and 45 seconds. Took 8 takes.

6. Mr. Moonlight
- A blue standard written in the early 60s. The earliest recorded version turned up in 1962 as a B-side to a minor single by Piano Red.
- The band started performing this during their Hamburg days.
- Lennon does the main vocals.
- The Beatles version is probably the most well-known version.
- Many Beatles fans allegedly consider this to be the worst song the band ever recorded. I'd like to refer such people to some of the Beatles tracks Ringo sung between 1965 and 1968...
- Features an organ solo. I think McCartney might have played this.
- Harrison was originally to have played a slide-guitar solo but this was abandoned during recording in favour of the aforementioned organ solo.
- Harrison provides some percussion on an African drum, and Ringo's percussive sounds were played on a guitar case.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 8 takes.

7. Kansas City / Hey Hey Hey Hey
- This is the last track on Side 1.
- Kansas City is a blues track originally recorded by Little Willie Littlefield in 1952. Hey Hey Hey Hey is a 1958 Little Richard track that was originally released as the B-Side to Good Golly Miss Molly.
- Little Richard often performed these two songs together as a live medley, which is why they feature as a medley here (and were played by the band live as such).
- McCartney does the lead vocals for both songs, with Lennon and Harrison providing backup.
- McCartney really went for it with the vocals as he was aware that the recording levels had been set rather low.
- Harrison plays an african drum on the recording in addition to his lead guitar duties. George Martin provides the piano track.
- Runs for only two and a half minutes, and took 1 take to lay down.
- A second take was attempted but the band ended up going with the first version.

8. Eight Days a Week
- Opening track to side 2 of the album.
- Written by McCartney and Lennon as a possible title track for a 2nd Beatles movie (the idea being that the movie could be called Eight Arms to Hold You... no doubt a reference to the band's four members. The movie ended up being called Help! instead).
- Like A Hard Day's Night, the title 'Eight Days a Week' is another Ringo-ism.
- Along with No Reply, Baby's in Black and I'm a Loser, it was a possible candidate for a UK-release single. I Feel Fine presumably took the place of all these possible singles.
- It was however released as a single in the U.S. anyway (with I Don't Want to Spoil the Party as the B-side), where it reached #1.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, though McCartney wrote the bulk of the song.
- Harrison plays multiple guitar tracks.
- The band never performed this song live, and didn't think very highly of it.
- Outtakes of the recording reveal the level of experimentation the band was heading towards... there are 6 alternative versions that showcase very different arrangements. Eventually, for the released version, an intro was dubbed onto the final take from an alternate version.
- The first known recorded song (ever!) to feature a fade-in. To this day, very few pop songs feature such a thing.
- Runs for two minutes and 45 seconds, and took 15 takes to complete.

9. Words of Love
- Originally written and performed by Buddy Holly in 1958.
- The band performed this live throughout 1961 and 1962. Lennon and Harrison would harmonise the vocals when they played it live.
- The Beatles performed many Buddy Holly songs live in their early days but this is the only cover of his that they ever recorded in the studio.
- Lennon and McCartney do the vocals for the recorded version. The song is very close to Holly's version.
- Ringo plays two instruments on this track - drums, and percussion achieved by paying on a packing case (to try and emulate a similar sound on another Buddy Holly track, Every Day).
- This is the last song recorded for the Beatles for Sale album, and was purely chosen to make up the numbers.
- The original mono mix of this track runs for 9 seconds longer than the stereo mix.
- Runs for just over two minutes and took 3 takes to finish.

10. Honey Don't
- Another cover, this was originally a rockabilly track written and performed by Charles Perkins. He initially released as the B-side for his 1956 single, Blue Suede Shoes.
- The band used to perform this in their live set for their Hamburg days, with Lennon providing the lead vocals.
- Ringo actually asked Perkins himself if the band could record this song for the album. Perkins was chuffed and immediately gave them permission.
- Ringo sings the vocals for the recorded version. It features an early Ringo trademark - before each of the two solos he calls out to George (Harrison). It's kind of funny, and it's allegedly something he took great pleasure in doing. The first time he says, "Rock on George, one time for me!" and the second time it's "Rock on George for Ringo one time!" despite the fact that it happens twice in the song.
- All four Beatles covered this song again at some point in their solo careers.
- Runs for almost three minutes and took 5 takes.

11. Every Little Thing
- McCartney wrote this in the hope of having it released as a stand-alone single after A Hard Day's Night. It wasn't to be, and was held over for inclusion on Beatles for Sale instead.
- The lead vocals are sung by Lennon. It's one of the rare occasions where Lennon sings a song primarily written by McCartney. McCartney does some harmony vocals.
- The lyrics are about McCartney's then-girlfriend, Jane Asher.
- It took several takes to record this as the band (McCartney in particular) kept goofing off.
- Features a timpani drum (that big epic sounding drum in the chorus), played by Ringo.
- It's possible that the guitar solo is played by Lennon (the style is more Lennonesque than Harrisonish), though it's almost definitely played on Harrison's actual guitar.
- George Martin plays the piano on the recording.
- Runs for two minutes, took 9 takes to finish.

12. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
- Written by Lennon, this is another step towards country music territory for the band.
- Was left off the U.S. version of the Beatles for Sale album as it was thought to be too depressing.
- Featured as the B-side on the Eight Days a Week single.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with some harmonising from McCartney.
- More Lennon lyrics about insecurity and frustration.
- Ringo adds in a tambourine track to go with his drums.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took a whopping 19 takes to complete.

13. What You're Doing
- Written by McCartney.
- One of the few Beatles songs to start with a drum intro, this was influenced by the song Be My Baby by the Ronettes.
- There's no real chorus, it's all verses and bridges.
- George Martin plays the piano.
- Features some odd rhyming patterns (McCartney rhymes two-syllable words with pairs of one-syllable words and lets them run over into the next part of the phrase).
- The lyrics almost certainly concern Jane Asher.
- Some earlier takes featured a slightly different version of the song, with McCartney and Lenon both singing lead and the lead guitar a full octave higher.
- The song's innovative style (achieved mostly in the studio) is an early precursor to the band's Rubber Soul - Revolver period.
- Runs for two and a half minutes, and took 19 takes to finish. The reason it took so long to finish is due to McCartney's insistence at getting the song's level of perfection exactly to where it was in his head.

14. Everybody's Trying to be My Baby
- Last track of the album.
- Originally a Carl Perkins adaptation of an older song by Rex Griffin. Songwriting credit for this track is still in dispute to this day.
- Harrison does the vocals. Poor old George, put at the end of the album!
- The band often played this in their live set at the time.
- The false ending on the recording is something they used to do with the song live in their Hamburg days.
- Harrison later performed the song with Perkins himself in 1986.
- George Martin plays the piano track.
- Runs for nearly two and a half minutes, took only 1 take.

I Feel Fine (single) 1964

1. I Feel Fine
- Released in November 1964, and written while the band was working on their next album, Beatles for Sale.
- Written by Lennon, he based it on a riff he had written by for the background of another song, Eight Days a Week, which would feature on their forthcoming album.
- This song marks the point where the Beatles would start using guitar riffs prominantly in their songs.
- Lennon didn't think much of this song to begin with, but after jamming on it with Ringo he felt it could be an A-side.
- The song bears a slight resemblance to a Bobby Parker cover the band used to perform back in 1961, this may be where Lennon originally got his 'inspiration' from.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with Harrison and McCartney providing harmonising. McCartney provided the barking sounds near the end.
- Lennon plays the riff and the guitar solo, with Harrison relegated to rhythm work.
- This song also marks a point where the band started experimenting with recording techniques and using different sound effects to push the boundaries of what could be put into a song. Here the band uses feedback as part of the song's intro... Lennon would remain proud in the following years that the Beatles were the first band to put feedback into a studio recording. It sounds absolutely magic.
- The feedback was originally an accident... Paul let the note ring out on his bass. Lennon had a semi-acoustic nearby and it's pickup picked up the bass note, so he leaned into his amp to cause it to feedback and distort. The result sounded cool so Paul got George Martin to splice it onto the front of the song.
- The guitar riff is actually played on an acoustic, with an effect added to make it sound more electric.
- Took 9 takes, runs for two minutes and twenty seconds.

2. She's a Woman
- B-side to the stand-alone single I Feel Fine.
- Written by McCartney as an attempt at doing something Little Richard-ish, he was obviously still jazzing on from his success with Long Tall Sally. The song was intended from the get-go as a B-side for I Feel Fine, and also because the band wanted a rockier song to play live in their set.
- The vocals are sung in an unusually high register for the band (as McCartney was trying to get to that Little Richard sound). McCartney also double-tracked his vocals.
- The lyric 'turn me on' referred to marijuana.
- Some alternate takes and live versions of this song feature an extended outro.
- McCartney plays the piano on the recording.
- Ringo plays a chocalho (a shaken Brazillian percussion instrument) on the recording.
- 6 takes, runs for 3 minutes.

US single cover