A Hard Day's Night (album)

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A Hard Day's Night was The Beatles' third album, released in 1964 as the soundtrack to their first film of the same name.

The album, whilst showcasing the development of the band's songwriting talents, sticks to the basic rock and roll instrumentation and song format. Some of the more notable songs on the album include the title track (with its distinct, instantly recognizable opening chord), and the catchy "Can't Buy Me Love". It also features "And I Love Her", the first of what would become many popular McCartney ballads.

The title of the album (and film) was alleged to have been the accidental creation of drummer Ringo Starr. Though the phrase is used in Lennon's, at that time, recent book "In His Own Write" and was reputedly used at least once by him during the Hamburg era.

Side one of the LP contains the songs from the movie soundtrack. Side two contains songs recorded for the movie, but not included in the movie, although a 1980s rerelease of the movie includes a prologue before the opening credits with "I'll Cry Instead" on the soundtrack. This was the first Beatles album to consist entirely of all original compositions, which would not return until the release of Rubber Soul in 1965. This is also the only original Beatles album consisting entirely of Lennon-McCartney compositions and the first Beatles album to be recorded on four-track tape allowing for good stereo mixes. Despite this, the CD of this album is currently available only in mono, though many of the tracks appeared in stereo on CD for the first time with the release of the boxset The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 in 2004.

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1 Track listing
- 1.1 Side one
- 1.2 Side two
2 The American release
3 See also
4 External links

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Track listing

All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

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Side one

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Side two

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The American release

The United States version of the album was released on June 26, 1964 by United Artists Records and contained the seven songs from the film: "A Hard Day's Night," "Tell Me Why," "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You," "I Should Have Known Better," "If I Fell," "And I Love Her," "Can't Buy Me Love," plus "I'll Cry Instead." The American version also included four instrumental versions of Lennon and McCartney songs by George Martin: "I Should Have Known Better" (instrumental), "And I Love Her" (instrumental), "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" (instrumental), and "A Hard Day's Night" (instrumental).

After EMI acquired United Artists Records, this album was reissued on August 17, 1981 on the Capitol label with catalogue number SW 11921.

While the stereo version of the album included the instrumental tracks in stereo, the Beatles' own recordings appeared in mono in both the mono and stereo releases. Stereo versions of most of the songs appeared on the Capitol Records album Something New, also in 1964. "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better" finally appeared in stereo versions on the Apple Records / Capitol Records compilation Hey Jude (album) in 1970. "A Hard Day's Night" did not appear in a stereo version in the US until 20 Greatest Hits in October 1982.

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External links

The Beatles
John Lennon \| Paul McCartney \| George Harrison \| Ringo Starr Pete Best \| Stuart Sutcliffe
Management
Brian Epstein \| Allen Klein \| Apple Records
Production
George Martin \| Geoff Emerick \| Norman Smith \| Abbey Road Studios
Official Studio Albums
Please Please Me (1963) \| With the Beatles (1963) \| A Hard Day's Night (1964) \| Beatles for Sale (1964) \| Help! (1965) \| Rubber Soul (1965) Revolver (1966) \| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) \| Magical Mystery Tour (1967) \| The Beatles (1968) \| Yellow Submarine (1969) \| Abbey Road (1969) \| Let It Be (1970)
Films
A Hard Day's Night (1964) \| Help! (1965) \| Magical Mystery Tour (1967) \| Yellow Submarine (1968) \| Let it Be (1970)
Related Articles
History \| Discography \| Bootlegs \| Long-term influence \| Beatlemania \| Beatlesque \| Fifth Beatle \| Paul Is Dead \| British Invasion \| Yoko Ono \| 1960s \| Apple Corps