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(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964, on the US album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
April 16, 1964: 7:00 to 10:00 pm: Nine takes were recorded, but only five were complete. Take 9 was considered the best. The Beatles used four-track technology to the fullest during the recording of this song. The basic rhythm track went on Track 1, John's first lead vocal on Track 2, John's second lead vocal and Paul's backing vocal as well as bongos, drums, and acoustic guitar on Track 3, and the jangling guitar ending and George Martin's piano on Track 4.
April 20, 1964: 2:00 to 3:15 pm: Mono and stereo mixes were made. This tape was taken by the movie studio for the soundtrack to the film.
April 23, 1964: 4:30 to 5:45 pm: Another mono remix was made, this time for the LP.
June 9, 1964: Mono tape copying for the soundtrack and mono mixing.
June 22, 1964: Stereo mixing.

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - rhythm guitar (probably the 1964 Rickenbacker 325), lead vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, harmony vocal
George Harrison - lead guitar (probably the Rickenbacker 360/12)
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - piano

Ringo: "I came up with the phrase 'a hard day's night.' It just came out. We went to do a job and we worked all day and all night. I came out, still thinking it was day, and said, 'It's been a hard day...' looked around, saw that it was dark and added, '...'s night'."

Interesting Facts
- John wrote the lyrics to this on the back of a birthday card to his son, Julian. One of the original lines was, "When I get home to you, I find my tiredness is through, and I feel all right." Maureen Cleave, a journalist and friend of John's, thought "tiredness" was a weak word, so John changed the lyrics to "When I get home to you, I find the things that you do will make me feel all right."
- "A Hard Day's Night" was the last song written for the Beatles' first film. Some of the rejected titles they had been thinking of using for the film were On the Move, Let's Go, and Beatlemania.
- An instrumental of this song is included on Capitol Records' Help! soundtrack, on which the song is played by Indian musicians.

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964, on the US album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
February 25, 1964: Three takes were recorded, but only one was complete. On Take 2, John stopped and laughed over his harmonica playing, causing the other Beatles to crack up too. The song at this point was very different from the final version. It opened with a Bob Dylan-like harmonica intro and ended with George's lead guitar. It was re-recorded the following day.
February 26, 1964: Nineteen takes were recorded, but very few got past the middle-eight section of the song. Take 9 was the final version, with John singing without the harmonica. Later the harmonica was overdubbed.
March 3, 1964: Mono mixing.
June 9, 1964: Mono tape copying for the soundtrack to the film.
June 22, 1964: Stereo mixing.

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - acoustic guitar (Gibson J-160?), harmonica, vocal
Paul McCartney - bass
George Harrison - lead guitar (probably the Rickenbacker 360/12)
Ringo Starr - drums

John: "That's me. Just a song. It doesn't mean a damn thing."

Interesting Facts
- "I Should Have Known Better" was the first song sequence to be filmed for A Hard Day's Night. It was not filmed on a train, but in a van in Twickenham Film Studios, with crew members rocking the van to make it look like a train in motion.
- This song is noted for being the first time George played a twelve-string guitar on record.

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964, on the US album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
February 27, 1964: Fifteen takes were recorded.
March 3, 1964: Mono mixing.
June 22, 1964: Stereo mixing and mono tape copying for the soundtrack to the film.

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - lead vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar (Gibson J-160)
Paul McCartney - backing vocal, bass
George Harrison - lead guitar (Rickenbacker 360/12)
Ringo Starr - drums

John: "That's my first attempt at a ballad proper."

Paul: "That was our close-harmony period."

Interesting Facts
- John considered "If I Fell" the precursor to "In My Life." It was because they had the same chord sequences and were sentimental love ballads.
- There was no love interest in A Hard Day's Night, so in order to get the song in the movie, John sang it to Ringo. Paul explained, "We're in the television studio, and Ringo is supposed to be sulking a bit. John starts joking with him and then sings the song as though we're singing to to him. We got fits of the giggles just doing it."

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964, on the US album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
March 1, 1964: Four takes were recorded. Takes 1 and 2 were of the rhythm track, with Take 2 considered the better one. Take 3 was a breakdown, and Take 4 introduced backing vocals, which were recorded with a slight tape echo.
March 3, 1964: Mono mixing.
June 9, 1964: Mono tape copying for the movie soundtrack.
June 22, 1964: Stereo mixing.

Musicians and Instruments
George Harrison - lead guitar, lead vocal
John Lennon - rhythm guitar (Rickenbacker 325), backing vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, backing vocal
Ringo Starr - drums, Arabian bongos

John: "I wrote this for George to sing. I'm always reading how Paul and I used to make him invisible or keep him out, but it isn't true. I encouraged him like mad."

Interesting Facts
- This song is one of the shortest Beatles songs, clocking in at 1:57.
- John once made a comment that he considered the word "just" a useless word for song lyrics, and here he uses it eleven times in the song, as well as in the title itself.

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964, on the US album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
February 25, 1964: Two takes were recorded. The track so far featured drums, electric guitars, and a lead guitar solo in the middle-eight.
February 26, 1964: The Beatles remade the song. Seventeen more takes were recorded. Ringo played bongos and claves instead of drums, but the group ended up frustrated because they still couldn't get the sound they wanted. When an engineer, Norman Smith, announced Take 14, Paul replied, "Ha, Take 50!"
February 27, 1964: Another remake was made (Takes 20 and 21), with Take 21 considered best.
March 3, 1964: Mono mixing.
June 9, 1964: Mono tape copying.
June 22, 1964: Mono and stereo mixing.

Musicians and Instruments
Paul McCartney - bass, lead vocal
John Lennon - acoustic rhythm guitar (Gibson J-160)
George Harrison - acoustic lead guitar (Ramirez)
Ringo Starr - bongos, claves

Paul: "The first song I ever impressed myself with."

John: "I consider it [Paul's] first 'Yesterday.' The middle eight, I helped with that."

Interesting Facts
- "And I Love Her was almost all-acoustic. The only electric instrument used was Paul's Hofner bass.
- Some thought Paul wrote this for Jane Asher, which he denied: "It's just a love song. It wasn't for anyone."
- At 2:10 into the song, someone goes "Dah dah dah" on the guitar line. It sounds like Paul unconsciously humming along, but it could be George.

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964, on the US A Hard Day's Night album

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
February 27, 1964: Eight takes were recorded.

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - rhythm guitar, lead vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, harmony vocal
George Harrison - lead guitar, harmony vocal
Ringo Starr - drums

John: "They needed another upbeat song, and I just knocked it off. It was like a black, New York girl-group song."

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: March 16, 1964, on a single in the US

Recording Information
Locations: Pathe Marconi Studios, Paris; EMI Studios, London
January 29, 1964: At EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios, the Beatles recorded four takes of this song. Takes 1 and 2 had a bluesy-sounding lead vocal by Paul (intended to only be a guide vocal). These takes had a little more guitar backing behind the verse and background vocals by John and George ("ooh, just can't buy" and "ooh, satisfied"). Take 3 was more like the final single version. Take 4 was considered the best.
February 25, 1964: Back at London's EMI Studios, the Beatles overdubbed a new Paul lead vocal and George's final lead guitar overdub.
February 26, 1964: Mono mixing.
March 10, 1964: Stereo mixing.
June 9, 1964: Mono tape copying and mixing for the movie soundtrack.
June 22, 1964: Stereo mixing.

Musicians and Instruments
Paul McCartney - bass, vocal
John Lennon - acoustic rhythm guitar (Gibson J-160?)
George Harrison - lead guitar (Rickenbacker 360/12?)
Ringo Starr - drums

Paul: "'Can't Buy Me Love' is my attempt to write a bluesy mode. The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want."

George Martin: "The way they first sang 'Can't Buy Me Love' was by starting on the verse, but I said, 'We've got to have an introduction, something that catches the ear immediately, a hook. So let's start off with the chorus.' It was all really a matter of tidying things up. But that record was the point of departure for something rather more sophisticated."

Interesting Facts
- This song may have been Paul's response to "Money (That's What I Want)."
- "Can't Buy Me Love" entered the charts at #1. On the April 4, 1964, Billboard Hot 100 chart, Beatles songs held the top five positions:

1. "Can't Buy Me Love"
2. "Twist and Shout"
3. "She Loves You"
4. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
5. "Please Please Me"

They also had seven more songs on the list at different positions - "I Saw Her Standing There," "From Me to You," "Do You Want to Know a Secret," "All My Loving," "You Can't Do That," "Roll Over Beethoven," and "Thank You Girl."

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: June 26, 1964

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
Dates: June 1, 1964

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - rhythm guitar, lead vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, lead vocal
George Harrison - lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums, tambourine

Interesting Facts
- John wrote this to be used in the part of the movie where the Beatles ran around in the field, but Dick Lester decided to use "Can't Buy Me Love" for that instead because he thought it suited it better.

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: July 10, 1964, on the UK album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
Dates: June 2, 1964; June 3, 1964

Musicians and Instruments
Paul McCartney - bass, lead vocal
John Lennon - rhythm guitar, piano, harmony vocal
George Harrison - lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums, tambourine

Paul: "It was a slightly nostalgic thing already, a future nostalgia; we'll remember the things we said today some time in the future, so the song projects itself into the future and then is nostalgic about the moment we're living now, which is quite a good trick. It has interesting chords. It goes C, F, which is all normal, then the normal thing might be to go to F minor, but to go to B flat was quite good. It was a sophisticated little tune."

Interesting Facts
- Paul wrote this during a holiday in the Caribbean, on a boat called Happy Days that he'd hired.

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: July 10, 1964, on the UK album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
June 2, 1964: The song was completed in eleven takes.

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - rhythm guitar, lead vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, harmony vocal
George Harrison - lead guitar, harmony vocal
Ringo Starr - drums

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: March 16, 1964, on a single in the US

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
Dates: February 25, 1964; May 22, 1964

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - lead guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 325), lead vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, backing vocal
George Harrison - guitar (Rickenbacker 360-12), backing vocal
Ringo Starr - drums, bongos, cowbell

John: "I find it a drag to play rhythm guitar 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.' It'd drive me potty to play chunk-chunk rhythm all the time... I never play anything as lead that George couldn't do better, but I like playing lead sometimes."

(Lennon/McCartney)

First released: July 10, 1964, on the UK album A Hard Day's Night

Recording Information
Location: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
June 1, 1964: 7:00 to 10:00 pm: Sixteen takes were recorded. Takes 1-9 were of the rhythm track, while the last seven were vocals and acoustic guitar overdubs.
June 10, 1964: A mono mix was made that ended up never being used.
June 22, 1964: Mono mixing, remixing, and stereo mixing.

Musicians and Instruments
John Lennon - acoustic guitar (Gibson J-160E?), lead vocal
Paul McCartney - bass, acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
George Harrison - acoustic guitar (Ramirez?)
Ringo Starr - drums

John: "An early favorite that I wrote."

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