A Hard Day's Night (album)
Occupation
- George Harrison: Lead guitar, vocals
- John Lennon: rhythm guitar, vocals
- Paul McCartney: bass, vocals
- Ringo Starr: Drums
A Hard Day's Night is the title of the third music album of the Beatles. It appeared as film music of the Beatles eponymous film ( German Cinema Title: Yeah Yeah Yeah). In the UK the album on 10 July 1964, published.
Already on 26 June 1964 soundtrack of the same name had been placed on the market in the U.S. by United Artists, which differed in putting together the pieces of the British version.
Formation
The album was the desire of the United Artists preceded to produce a feature film with the Beatles. Movies with musicians were common at that time and were usually produced on a low budget, in order to benefit from the popularity of the respective artists. In the case of the Beatles was the interest from United Artists less at the box office of the movie than on the marketing of the film music, because Capitol Records had not in North America, the rights of possible film music of the Beatles.
After an agreement between the management of the Beatles and United Artists had come about, it was for John Lennon and Paul McCartney to compose new songs for the movie. For the British album had the songs that should be used in the film to be finished as possible before the start of filming on March 2, 1964. The remaining pieces that would complete the album were recorded after the end of filming.
The final mixtures were made on 22 June 1964. The album was released in Germany to coincide with the UK premiere of the movie on July 6, 1964. Four days after the premiere of the feature film appeared the British album and also the single A Hard Day 's Night. Producer George Martin also published on the same day the LP Off the Beatle track, the orchestral versions of Beatles - contained pieces, including but Can not Buy Me Love. Some of the orchestral pieces are also included on the published in the U.S. on June 26, 1964 film music.
The British album
Preliminary remarks
The special feature of A Hard Day 's Night is that only original compositions of songwriter teams Lennon / McCartney can be found on this album for the first time. Here, John Lennon was in contrast to the two previous albums by the Beatles clearly the dominant partner. Ten of the thirteen tracks on the album - including the title track - mainly came from him. Another special feature is that Ringo Starr handed in no singing contribution. A - the sound of the album strongly formative - element was George Harrison's twelve-string electric guitar, a Rickenbacker 360/12, which came into use in most of the pieces and also on the concise opening chord of the theme song was played.
The songs
Can not Buy Me Love, the first song that found its way into the movie, had already been published on 20 March 1964 as a single. The title was taken largely on January 29, 1964 in the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris. It was the first and only time that the Beatles outside the UK took pictures. Can not Buy Me Love was composed in Paris shortly before the recording of Paul McCartney at the Hôtel George -V. The final touch was the piece, however, on 25 February 1964 at Abbey Road Studios, where the rest of the music recordings for the album took place. Harrison used his new twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar for the solo. The Lennon composition You Can not Do That was also incorporated on 25 February 1964 which was first released as a B- side of Can not Buy Me Love, and received a place on the second side of the album.
On February 26, 1964 John Lennon's composition I Should Have Known Better was taken. Lennon sat as a special element, as in some early pieces of the Beatles, a harmonica one. The song is seen during a scene that shows the Beatles in a baggage car of a train.
The following day, at first there was a further attempt the McCartney composition And I Love Her take on the program. The recordings that were previously created on 25 and 26 February 1964,, given any satisfactory result. The Beatles had initially tried a more rocking arrangement for the song, then opted for a softer instrumentation with acoustic guitars and bongos instead of the drums. With this variant, they were successful on 27 February and then were able to take two more songs in attack, both of which largely came from John Lennon. The fast, together sung by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, Tell Me Why and the ballad If I Fell, which was sung by Lennon and McCartney.
On March 1, 1964, the recording of I'm Happy Just to Dance with You, that John Lennon had written for George Harrison was born.
Until shortly before the end of the filming of the movie had no name. The Strange original title of the film is said to come from Ringo Starr, who was known for his twisted comments. He is said to have groaned exhausted during the filming: " That's a hard day ... " when he looked out the window, he saw that it was already dark and added one at that " ... night". Whether the sentence was really pronounced during the shooting is unclear, since John Lennon ( In His Own Write) used it in his first book in his own writing. In any case, the statement seemed to describe the mood of the movie perfectly and on 13 April 1964, the title of the film to the press was officially announced. It was now necessary for Lennon and McCartney to write a suitable title song. On April 16, 1964, the Beatles were in the studio and started recording for the song A Hard Day 's Night. The vocals were shared by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Particularly striking was the beginning chord that was played by George Harrison on his twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar.
The shooting for the film lasted until April 24, 1964. After a short break, the Beatles began to look for the missing songs for the album. On June 1, 1964 I'll Cry Instead Lennon was taken. The next day was followed by two more shots of Lennon compositions Any Time at All and When I Get Home and originating from McCartney Things We Said Today.
Title list
American Edition
Occupation
- Song: all
- Guitar: George Harrison
- Guitar: John Lennon
- Bass: Paul McCartney
- Drums: Ringo Starr
- Instrumental pieces: George Martin & his Orchestra
In the U.S., appeared on 26 June 1964 album of the same name, it only contains music from the film, as well as instrumental pieces of the George Martin Orchestra. The album was from 25 July to 30 October 1964 # 1 on the album charts in the U.S..
The length of the British edition of 30:28 minutes with thirteen titles. 29:29 minutes of the American with twelve tracks
On the U.S. edition are some of Lennon / McCartney composing to hear instrumental pieces that interprets George Martin and his orchestra.
Singles and EPs
Coinciding with the album was released on July 10, 1964, the seventh single by the Beatles with the title track for the feature film of the Beatles. A Hard Day 's Night ( B-Side Things We Said Today) immediately took over the top spot of the UK singles chart. Short distance from the EMI released two EPs, which drew on the album's title. On November 4, appeared in 1964 Extracts from the Film A Hard Day 's Night, which contained the names corresponding to four songs of the film from one side of the album. Later Extracts from the Album A Hard Day 's Night was released with four songs from page 2 The intense marketing of the same material was far less successful than previous EPs the Beatles. Both EPs were not in the top 30 in the singles charts.
Charts placement
The album debuted on July 15, 1964 at # 1 on the UK charts and held this position for 21 weeks before it was replaced by the follow-up album Beatles for Sale. For the album were in the UK before pre-orders of 250,000 units.
The cover
The design and the photos of the cover as submitted by Robert Freeman. The cover shows four rows of images in which five images of each Beatles are seen. The first row shows John Lennon, George Harrison, the second, the third, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the fourth.