A Hard Day’s Night is the only Beatles album where all of the songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It is also the first Beatles album to contain only original compositions, and no cover songs. A Hard Day’s Night was released on July 10, 1964, as the soundtrack to the Beatles’ film of the same name.
Most of the band’s earlier albums contain at least a few covers, and most of their albums have at least one George Harrison composition, but A Hard Day’s Night had neither. Harrison does get to sing lead vocals on the Lennon/McCartney penned “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You”.
A Hard Day’s Night is one of three Beatles albums that do not feature Ringo Starr on vocals on at least one track (Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be are the others). But Starr is credited with the accidental creation of the movie/album’s title. During an interview with Playboy magazine in 1980, John Lennon said: “I was going home in the car and Dick Lester [director of the movie] suggested the title, ‘Hard Day’s Night’ from something Ringo had said. I had used it in ‘In His Own Write’, but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny… just said it. So Dick Lester said, ‘We are going to use that title.’”
“Something” was the first George Harrison composition to be featured as an A-side of a Beatles single. The B-side was “Come Together” (credited to Lennon/McCartney). Both songs were recorded and released in 1969, and appear as the first two tracks on the Abbey Road album.
Frank Sinatra was particularly fond of “Something;” declaring it “the greatest love song ever written”. It became a regular part of his repertoire and he sang it hundreds of times during his concerts. Sinatra mistakenly called “Something” his all-time favorite Lennon/McCartney song!
“Something” was the only George Harrison penned song to top the American charts while he was a member of The Beatles. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the principal songwritings of the band, praised “Something” as one of the best songs Harrison had written.
“Flying”, from the 1967 release Magical Mystery Tour, was the first song credited as being written by all four members of The Beatles. The writing credit is attributed to “Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr”. It’s a simple 12-bar blues chord progression instrumental track, though it does include some chanting.
It was rare for The Beatles to record instrumentals, and it was also rare for a song to be credited to all four members of the band.
“Flying” was originally titled “Aerial Tour Instrumental”.
Paul McCartney and George Harrison first met on a bus while the two were schoolboys. They rode the bus together going to and from the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and found they shared an interest in music and playing guitars. Harrison recalled, “It was on that bus journey that I met Paul McCartney, because he, being at the same school, had the same uniform and was going the same way as I was so I started hanging out with him.”
When McCartney was in John Lennon’s skiffle band The Quarrymen, he strongly urged Lennon to allow Harrison to join the band as lead guitarist. After all, George could play “Raunchy” (by Bill Justice) and that was quiet impressive. Lennon thought the fifteen-year-old Harrison to be far too young, but eventually he relented.
Ringo Starr and actress Barbara Bach first met on the set of the film Caveman in February 1980. They married just over a year later on April 27, 1981, shortly after the film’s release.
Ringo and Barbara were dating and spending a holiday together in December 1980, when the news broke about the murder of John Lennon. The couple flew to New York to comfort John’s widow, Yoko, and the Lennon’s son Sean.
Over the years, Bach has appeared in some of Starr’s music videos, and has accompanied him on his tours. She also appears with Ringo in Paul McCartney’s 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street.
Just before her 18th birthday, Barbara was in attendance at the famous Beatles’ August 1965 concert at Shea Stadium in New York. Not really a Beatles fan, she was only there as a chaperone to her younger sister Marjorie, as Barbara preferred the music of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan. Coincidentally, another future Beatle wife, Linda Eastman, was also at the Shea Stadium concert.
