brendan2's Full Review: A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles
In 1964, The Beatles' first movie, A Hard Day's Night, was released. One of the reasons the studio wanted this film made was so that a soundtrack album could be released. John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote all the songs that would appear in the film without even seeing the script, so the songs have nothing to do with the movie. Of the album's thirteen tracks, John wrote ten and Paul wrote three, one of which was a previously released single ("Can't Buy Me Love").
A Hard Day's Night marked a turning point in The Beatles' recording career, as it marked the first time one of their albums had consisted entirely of songs written by The Beatles, more specifically Lennon and McCartney. On their previous two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles, most of the songs were written by The Beatles, along with covers of songs by other artists. But with this album, it was all The Beatles.
Like most of The Beatles' albums, the American and British versions of the albums differed significantly. The American version included the seven songs from the film, along with "I'll Cry Instead" and some instrumental music by producer George Martin. This was released on June 26, 1964. The British version was released on July 10, 1964, and it contained the seven songs from the film, "Any Time At All," "I'll Cry Instead," "Things We Said Today," "When I Get Home," "You Can't Do That," and "I'll Be Back." This is the version that is available on CD today.
The album begins with the title track, A Hard Day's Night, with its immediately recognizable guitar opening. This fast-paced song was written by John and was used in the beginning sequence of the film. It describes how John was probably feeling at the height of Beatlemania: "It's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a dog/ It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log."
I Should Have Known Better is an uptempo love song by John, who sings and plays harmonica on this track. As usual, George plays lead guitar, Paul is on bass, and Ringo pounds away on the drums. This is just a very nice, upbeat song about being in love. In the film, it was used in a sequence where John, Paul, George, and Ringo played cards (remember, the songs have nothing to do with the movie).
If I Fell is another Lennon song, and it's one of my favorites on this CD. It starts out with just John playing acoustic guitar, then really picks up when the other Beatles join in. The lyrics seem to be about being torn between two lovers: "If I give my heart to you, I must be sure from the very start, that you would love me more than her."
I'm Happy Just To Dance With You was also written by John, but he gave this one to George Harrison to sing. This song is about being in love with a girl and being happy just dancing with her. "Before this dance is through, I think I'll love you too/ I'm so happy when you dance with me." It's a simple song but one of my favorites because of George's vocal delivery and guitar playing.
And I Love Her is a love song written by Paul. This song is pretty slow and soft, with Paul, John and George on acoustic guitars and Ringo on bongos. I like George's acoustic guitar solo in this song. I have heard that "And I Love Her" was one of John's favorites, and it's easy to see why when you hear it. "I give her all my love, that's all I do, and if you saw my love, you'd love her too."
Tell Me Why is another song by John. The lyrics are about how a girl has been lying to him, and he wants to know why. I expected it to be a slower song when I read the lyrics, but it's actually one of the most upbeat on the album. "Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me/ Well I gave you everything I had, but you left me sitting on my own."
Can't Buy Me Love was written by Paul to be The Beatles' next single. As you can probably tell from the title, this song is about how money isn't that important because it can't buy love. "Say you don't need no diamond rings, and I'll be satisfied/ Tell me that you want the kind of things, that money just can't buy." George gets a chance to display his excellent guitar skills on this one, and I really like the way Ringo pounds away at the drums.
Any Time At All was written by John, but it did not appear in the movie. John sings lead and plays acoustic guitar, George plays lead guitar, Ringo is on drums, and Paul plays bass and also gets to show off his skills on the piano. This is another relationship song, with John promising to be there for his girl. "Any time at all, any time at all, any time at all, all you gotta do is call, and I'll be there." This song isn't bad, but there's just nothing special about it to me. In fact, it really sounds like a rehash of their earlier song, "It Won't Be Long" from With The Beatles.
I'll Cry Instead was written by John and was originally going to be used in the scene where The Beatles play in the field. It was replaced with "Can't Buy Me Love" because it was thought that "I'll Cry Instead" wouldn't fit the mood. In this song, John has been dumped and wants to get his revenge by breaking the hearts of all the girls in the world. But until he can do that, he'll cry instead. "I'm gonna hide myself away but I'll come back again someday/ And when I do you'd better hide all the girls/ I'm gonna break their hearts all around the world." Alright, so the lyrics may be a little weird, but it has a nice beat and is a catchy, fun song.
Things We Said Today is the third song Paul wrote for this album and one of my favorites. This song sounds soft and mellow, with John shaking a tambourine in addition to strumming an acoustic guitar. Paul sings lead and also plays bass, and George is on lead guitar. The lyrics are about love and remembering things Paul and his girlfriend said one special day. "Someday when we're dreaming, deep in love, not a lot to say/ Then we will remember, things we said today." This is one of the prettiest songs on the CD.
When I Get Home is another song written by John. In this song, John can't wait to get back home to be with his true love. This is just a happy, upbeat song about love. "Come on, if you please, I got no time for trivialities/ I've got a girl who's waiting home for me, tonight."
You Can't Do That was written by John and is one of my favorites. In this one, John is tired of catching his girlfriend talking to another guy and threatens to leave her if he sees her with him again. The music for "You Can't Do That" is different from the other songs on this album because John plays lead guitar rather than rhythm guitar. And in addition to drumming, Ringo plays the bongos and even rings a cowbell. This song was originally going to be included in the film but was later cut. That's a shame because I think it's one of the best on the album. "I got something to say that might cause you pain/ If I catch you talking to that boy again/ I'm gonna let you down, and leave you flat."
I'll Be Back is the final song on this album, and it was also written by Lennon. This is a softer song, featuring John, Paul and George on acoustic guitars and Ringo on drums. John sings lead on this one, with Paul providing backup. The lyrics are about a guy who keeps getting his heart broken by the same girl but keeps going back to her anyway. "You know, if you break my heart I'll go, but I'll be back again/ 'Cause I, told you once before goodbye, but I came back again." This is a good song and a nice way to close the album.
Considering that the songs for A Hard Day's Night were written and recorded in such a short period of time, it is amazing that this CD is still so great forty years after its release. As I said earlier, this album is important because it was the first time all the songs had been written by The Beatles themselves. John sings lead on nine tracks, Paul on three, George on one, and poor Ringo on zero. Most of the songs on this album are upbeat pop numbers, but there are some beautiful slower songs too. This is a good CD to purchase to start your Beatles collection.
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