It is believed that The Beatles may have intended to record a 14th song for A Hard Day's Night on 3 June 1964. However, Ringo Starr was taken ill with tonsillitis and pharyngitis during a photo session that morning, and stand-in drummer Jimmie Nicol was brought into Abbey Road for a rehearsal ahead of The Beatles' imminent world tour.
The rehearsal took place between 2.30 and 5.30pm, replacing a pre-booked recording session. After Nicol had left the studio, The Beatles recorded demos of You Know What To Do, No Reply, and It's For You. The latter song was given to Cilla Black.
It is not known whether the group intended for any of these songs to feature on A Hard Day's Night. However, The Beatles' failure to record a final song for the album meant that it was released, unusually, with 13 tracks.
Whether I'll Be Back was always intended to be the album's last song is not known, but it intriguing to imagine how the album might have sounded if accompanied by a full version of one of the three demo songs.
The 'A Hard Day's Night' opening chord
The clanging chord which opened the title track of The Beatles' first film, third album and seventh UK single remains one of the most iconic moments of their career. Along with the final piano chord that ends A Day In The Life in 1967, it bookended what was perhaps the group's most creative phase as songwriters and recording artists.
We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
George Harrison: Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar
John Lennon: Gibson J-160 6-string acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney: Hofner violin bass
Ringo Starr: snare drum, cymbal
George Martin: Steinway grand piano
The chord was identified as an Fadd9 by George Harrison during an online chat on 15 February 2001:
Q: Mr Harrison, what is the opening chord you used for A Hard Day's Night?
A: It is F with a G on top (on the 12-string), but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story.
Paul McCartney added a D note, played on the 12th fret of the D string on his Hofner violin bass. For more information, read our feature on the 'A Hard Day's Night' opening chord.
Related articles:
- US LP release: A Hard Day's Night
- Mixing: A Hard Day's Night, Things We Said Today
- Mixing: A Hard Day's Night
- Mixing: I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, Tell Me Why, And I Love Her, I'm Happy Just To Dance With You, I Call Your Name
- UK single and LP release: A Hard Day's Night
This was the first of the remasters that I purchased as I had yet to hear most of the songs in stereo.
The remaster did not disappoint. This is clearly the best of their pre-Rubber Soul albums. And not just because it's all originals and no covers, but in spite of that fact. The Beatles weren't exactly going through the motions when they did covers but most of the material on this album was as good or better than any cover version they had recorded to date...
Quite a thrill finally hearing that opening chord in stereo for the first time!
haha john keeps on hogging the writing, being credited for all songs except two
Interesting that their only (pre-Pepper) album without a Ringo spotlight is also their only LP with 13 songs instead of 14. Maybe they eventually decided against including Ringo's "Matchbox" cover for the sake of preserving the all-original Lennon-McCartney purity?
They probably dropped matchbox to keep it all original
However the day Ringo got tonsillitis they were going to record a fourteeth track
Wow, I didn't know that! Too bad they hadn't recorded "Matchbox" a year earlier: If so, then they could've used it on WTB in place of "I Wanna Be Your Man"; and reserved THAT one for AHDN. Result = 14 MacLen originals, including one each for George & Ringo. Or, hmmm, maybe they could've taken "I Call Your Name" from the 4-song "Long Tall Sally" EP and added the two German songs in its place, thereby turning a 4-song EP and 13-song album into a 5-song EP and 14-song album - albeit one without a Ringo vocal...
UNLESS...John relinquished "I'll Cry Instead" for Ringo to sing, which I'm sure he would've done quite nicely! It's got that C&W/rockabilly feel, and of course that was Ringo's specialty.
Yeah, I'd say you're right.
John really wanted this to be totally original.
This album proved that they didn't need the covers that filled in the first two efforts. Also, it shows the competitive nature of Lennon & McCartney with each other to top the other's effort, with "A Hard Day's Night" being put out to no doubt match what Paul had did just before it with "Cant Buy Me Love".
However, the album as a whole is John at his best across an entire Beatle album. "If I Fell" is one of his strongest efforts & "You Can't Do That" could have easily been another #1 if released as a single. Add in "Ill Be Back" and you have John's voice & songwriting flow at it's very best in his pure rock singer phase of the early Beatle work.
This is John's album. Sgt pepper is Paul's
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that one, Liam. On AHDN, Lennon sang lead vocals on 9 of the 13 tracks. On Pepper, Lennon sings lead or has a major vocal contribution to 7 of the 13 songs, Paul 8. The two best songs on the album (arguably, of course) are Lennon's: "Lucy..." and "A Day in the life." Hence, Lennon is all over Pepper, even on Paul's songs: superb vocals on "Sgt. Pepper," co-writer of "With a Little Help," middle-eight of Getting Better, co-writer and beautiful vocals on "She's leaving home." Given that, it might be somewhat accurate to call AHDN
John's but Pepper is definitely not `Paul's.' AHDH is a great album.