The Beatles, album "Help!"
stereo: 07.29.1965
Help!
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02:19 Help! (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 13.04.1965
JOHN 1965: 'We think it's one of the best we've written.'JOHN 1980: 'The whole Beatle thing was just beyond comprehension.
When 'Help' came out, I was actually crying out for help.
Most people think it's just a fast rock 'n roll song.
I didn't realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie.
But later, I knew I really was crying out for help.
So it was my fat Elvis period.
You see the movie: He – I – is very fat, very insecure, and he's completely lost himself.
And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was.
Now I may be very positive… yes, yes… but I also go through deep depressions where I would like to jump out the window, you know.
It becomes easier to deal with as I get older; I don't know whether you learn control or, when you grow up, you calm down a little.
Anyway, I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help.'PAUL 1984: 'John wrote that… well, John and I wrote it at his house in Weybridge for the film.
I think the title was out of desperation.' -
02:18 You're Going to Lose that Girl (John Lennon – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 19.02.1965
JOHN 1980: 'That's me.' -
02:09 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (John Lennon – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 18.02.1965
JOHN 1965: 'One I do which I like is, 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away.' But it's not commercial.'JOHN 1971: 'It's one of those that you sort of sing a bit sadly to yourself, 'Here I stand/Head in hand.' I started thinking about my own emotions.
I don't know when exactly it started, like 'I'm A Loser' or 'Hide Your Love Away,' or those kind of things.
Instead of projecting myself into a situation I would just try to express what I felt about myself which I had done in me books.
I think it was Dylan helped me realize that – I had a sort of professional songwriter's attitude to writing Pop songs, but to express myself I would write 'Spaniard In The Works' or 'In His Own Write' – the personal stories which were expressive of my personal emotions.
I'd have a separate 'songwriting' John Lennon who wrote songs for the sort of meat market, and I didn't consider them, the lyrics or anything, to have any depth at all.
Then I started being me about the songs… not writing them objectively, but subjectively.'JOHN 1980: 'That's me in my Dylan period again.
I am like a chameleon… influenced by whatever is going on.
If Elvis can do it, I can do it.
If the Everly Brothers can do it, me and Paul can.
Same with Dylan.'PAUL 1984: 'That was John doing a Dylan… heavily influenced by Bob.
If you listen, he's singing it like Bob.' -
03:09 Ticket to Ride (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 15.02.1965
GEORGE 1965: 'We are always worried with each record.
With 'Ticket To Ride' we were even more worried.
There's bound to be a time when we come in at 19 (on the charts).
But this 'number one' business doesn't seem to stop – great while it lasts – but now we'll have to start all over again and people will start predicting funny things for the next one.'JOHN 1970: 'It's a heavy record, and the drums are heavy too.
That's why I like it.'JOHN 1980: 'That was one of the earliest heavy-metal records made.
Paul's contribution was the way Ringo played the drums.'PAUL circa-1994: 'I think the interesting thing is the crazy ending – instead of ending like the previous verse, we changed the tempo.
We picked up one of the lines, 'My baby don't care,' but completely altered the melody.
We almost invented the idea of a new bit of a song on the fade-out with this song… It was quite radical at the time.' -
02:28 I Need You (George Harrison) - 16.02.1965
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02:34 The Night Before (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 17.02.1965
JOHN 1965: ''The Night Before' that Paul does is good.'PAUL circa-1994: 'I would say that's mainly mine.
I don't think John had alot to do with that.' -
02:05 Another Girl (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 16.02.1965
JOHN 1980: ''Another Girl' is Paul.'PAUL circa-1994: 'It's a bit much to call them fillers because I think they were a bit more than that, and each one of them made it past the Beatles test.
We all had to like it.' -
03:18 She's a Woman (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 26.11.1964
JOHN 1980: 'That's Paul with some contribution from me on lines, probably.
We put in the words 'turns me on.'
We were so excited to say 'turn me on' – you know, about marijuana and all that… using it as an expression.'PAUL circa-1994: 'This was my attempt at a bluesy thing… instead of doing a Little Richard song, whom I admire greatly, I would use the (vocal) style I would have used for that but put it in one of my own songs.' -
02:34 A Hard Day's Night (John Lennon – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 16.04.1964
RINGO 1964: 'We went to do a job, and we'd worked all day and we happened to work all night.
I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, 'It's been a hard day…' and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, '…night!' So we came to 'A Hard Day's Night.''JOHN 1980: 'I was going home in the car and Dick Lester suggested the title, 'Hard Day's Night' from something Ringo had said.
I had used it in 'In His Own Write,' but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo.
You know, one of those malapropisms.
A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny… just said it.
So Dick Lester said, 'We are going to use that title.' And the next morning I brought in the song… 'cuz there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A-side – who got the hits.
If you notice, in the early days the majority of singles, in the movies and everything, were mine… in the early period I'm dominating the group.
The only reason he sang on 'A Hard Day's Night' was because I couldn't reach the notes.
(sings) 'When I'm home/ everything seems to be right/ when I'm home…' – which is what we'd do sometimes.
One of us couldn't reach a note but he wanted a different sound, so he'd get the other to do the harmony.'PAUL circa-1994: 'The title was Ringo's.
We'd almost finished making the film, and this fun bit arrived that we'd not known about before, which was naming the film.
So we were sitting around at Twickenham studios having a little brain-storming session… and we said, 'Well, there was something Ringo said the other day.' Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical… they were sort of magic even though he was just getting it wrong.
And he said after a concert, 'Phew, it's been a hard day's night.'' -
01:56 I'm Happy Just to Dance With You (John Lennon – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 01.03.1964
JOHN 1980: ''I'm Happy Just To Dance With You,' that was written for George to give him a piece of the action.
I couldn'ta sung it.'PAUL circa-1994: 'We wrote 'I'm Happy Just To Dance With You' for George in the film.
It was a bit of a formula song.
We knew that in (the key of) E if you went to an A-flat-minor, you could always make a song with those chords… that change pretty much always excited you.' -
02:34 You Can't Do That (John Lennon – John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 22.05.1964
JOHN 1964: 'I'd find it a drag to play rhythm all the time, so I always work myself out something interesting to play.
The best example I can think of is like I did on 'You Can't Do That.' There really isn't a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist on that, because I feel the rhythm guitarist role sounds too thin for records.
Anyway it drove me potty to play chunk-chunk rhythm all the time.
I never play anything as lead guitarist that George couldn't do better.
But I like playing lead sometimes, so I do it.'JOHN 1980: 'That's me doing Wilson Pickett.
You know, a cowbell going four-in-the bar, and the chord going 'chatoong!'' -
01:50 From Me to You (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) - 20.10.1963
PAUL 1964: ''From Me To You.' It could be done as an old Ragtime tune… especially the middle-eight.
And so, we're not writing the tunes in any particular idiom.
In five years time, we may arrange the tunes differently.
(jokingly) But we'll probably write the same old rubbish!!'JOHN 1980: 'We were writing it in a car, I think… and I think the first line was mine.
I mean, I know it was mine.
(humms melody) And then after that we just took it from there.
We were just writing the next single.
It was far bluesier than that when we wrote it.
The notes, today… you could rearrange it pretty funky.'PAUL circa-1994: 'The thing I liked about 'From Me To You' was it had a very complete middle.
It went to a surprising place.
The opening chord of the middle section of that song heralded a new batch for me.
That was a pivotal song.
Our songwriting lifted a little with that song.
It was very much co-written.'
