Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 2 June 1964
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 10 July 1964 (UK), 20 July 1964 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass, piano
George Harrison: lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums
Available on:
A Hard Day's Night
The first song on side two of A Hard Day's Night, Any Time At All was written by John Lennon and recorded during the final session for the album.
"An effort at writing It Won't Be Long - same ilk. C to A minor, C to A minor with me shouting.
Playboy, 1980
Although the song was first released in the UK on A Hard Day's Night, in the US it appeared on the Something New LP. Both albums were released in July 1964.
On 8 April 1988 John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for Any Time At All were sold for £6,000 at an auction held at Sotheby's in London.
In the studio
Any Time At All was in an unfinished state when John Lennon brought it to the studio on the afternoon of 2 June 1964. The Beatles initially recorded seven takes of the rhythm track, plus vocals by Lennon.
The group moved on to record Things We Said Today and When I Get Home before returning to Any Time At All from 7-10pm.
That evening they recorded four further takes. Onto the last of these, take 11, they overdubbed piano, guitar and vocals. It was first mixed for mono on 4 June, but this was discarded and new mono and stereo mixes were made on 22 June.
Any Time At All's last-minute composition meant that The Beatles never got around to writing lyrics for the middle eight. McCartney suggested a set of piano chords, to which they intended to add lyrics but failed to write any. The deadline for the album's final mixes meant it went on release in its unintended state.
Related articles:
- Recording: Any Time At All, Things We Said Today, When I Get Home
- I'll Cry Instead
- When I Get Home
- Tell Me Why
- I Should Have Known Better
The piano is probably played by George Martin, but it could've been Paul.
I've definitely heard that Paul wrote the piano part a few times before, and he had already written several songs on piano by that point, so it's quite probable it was Paul, especially since it was an overdub
Every time they shout "any time at all" three times, I clearly recognize Lennon's voice in the first one, but McCartney's in the second one, maybe because it was too high for Lennon.
Agreed!
can anybody hear a cello passage in this song?
Only when I play it backwards.