I DON'T WANT TO SPOIL THE PARTY ~ THE BEATLES

"I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" is a song by The Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on the album Beatles for Sale in the United Kingdom in 1964. In the United States, Capitol released the song on the Beatles VI album and also as the B-side of the single "Eight Days a Week" in 1965. The single peaked at number one in the US; it was not released in the UK. "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" charted as a B-side, reaching number thirty-nine on Billboard. The lyrics revisit Lennon's familiar themes of alienation and inner pain. In this song, he is at a party, waiting for his girl to show up. When it becomes clear that she has stood him up, he decides to go, rather than spoil the party for everyone else. Both the lyrics and melody share a melancholy sound and theme with previous songs on Beatles for Sale, such as "No Reply" and "I'm a Loser". Rosanne Cash covered the song for her Hits 1979-1989 compilation. Her version went to number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 1989. It is also Cash's last number one hit to date.

EIGHT DAYS A WEEK ~ THE BEATLES

"Eight Days a Week" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, based on Paul's original idea, recorded by The Beatles and released on their December 1964 album Beatles for Sale. "Eight Days a Week" is the first song which The Beatles took into the studio unfinished to work on the arrangement during the session, which would later become common. The song was mainly recorded in two recording sessions on 6 October devoted exclusively to this song, which lasted nearly seven hours with a fifteen-minute break in between. Lennon and McCartney tried several ideas for the intro and outro of the song. The first take featured a simple acoustic guitar introduction. The second take introduced an "oo"-ing vocal that was experimented with until the sixth take, when it was abandoned in favour of the final guitar intro. The final outro (along with unused intro takes) was recorded separately on 18 October. The final version of the song incorporated another Beatles' first and pop music rarity: the song begins with a fade-in, as opposed to the common fade-out ending. The instrumentation includes acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass and overdubbed handclaps. The fade-in and coda both include more guitar overdubs.

SHE'S A WOMAN ~ THE BEATLES

"She's a Woman" is a song by The Beatles. It was released as the B-side to "I Feel Fine" in 1964, their last single release that year. It reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 from frequent airplay. The song, penned by Paul McCartney (though credited to Lennon–McCartney), was his attempt at imitating the vocal style of Little Richard. This is why the song is in such a high register, even for McCartney's tenor range. Some takes of the song (especially recordings of live concerts) feature an extended outro. John Lennon was quoted as saying, "We were so excited to say 'turn me on' --you know, about marijuana and all that... using it as an expression." The structure of the song is fairly simple, with the melody carried mostly by McCartney's voice. His bass and a backing piano produce a countermelody, with Lennon's guitar playing chords on the backbeat. During the first verse, the piano also plays chords on the upbeats. George Harrison plays a bright guitar solo during the middle eight. The Beatles started including the song in their live shows in 1965.

I FEEL FINE ~ THE BEATLES

"I Feel Fine" is a riff-driven rock song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released in 1964 by The Beatles as the A-side of their eighth British single. The song is notable for the use of feedback on a recording for the first time by any musician. The single reached the top of the British charts on 12 December of that year, displacing The Rolling Stones' "Little Red Rooster," and remained there for five weeks. It also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1964. The B-side was "She's a Woman"."I Feel Fine" was the first of six number one songs in a row on the American charts, a record at the time. The subsequent singles were "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out". The record was equalled by The Bee Gees in 1979 and surpassed by Whitney Houston in 1988.

SLOWDOWN ~ THE BEATLES

"Slow Down" is a 24-bar blues written and performed by Larry Williams. Released as a single in 1958, it was a rhythm and blues hit that influenced the growing Rock & Roll movement of the time. The Beatles covered the song early in their career and eventually recorded a version and released it on their Long Tall Sally EP single in the UK. Not long after, the song was released in the U.S. on its own, as the B-side of 1964's "Matchbox" single (also a 12-bar blues, from the Long Tall Sally EP), reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also included in the 1988 Past Masters and 1994 Live at the BBC compilation albums.Ian MacDonald criticised the performance as "one of the Beatles' least successful rock-and-roll covers", lacking "bottom, drive and basic cohesion" and stated that "[Lennon's] guitar solo is embarrassing and the sound balance a shambles". He also pointed out the edit at 1:14 whereupon the piano momentarily disappears and McCartney's bass becomes inaudible. Starr can likewise be heard to lose time during the song.

MATCHBOX ~ THE BEATLES

"Matchbox" is a rock and roll and rockabilly song written by Carl Perkins and first recorded by him at Sun Records in December 1956 and released on February 11, 1957 as a 45 single on Sun Records. It has become one of Perkins' best-known recordings. Perkins' "Matchbox" has been followed by many cover versions, notably by The Beatles. The Beatles were fans of Perkins and began performing the song circa 1961. Their then-drummer, Pete Best, performed the lead vocals, but no studio recording featuring Best singing the song is known to exist although a live recording with Best on vocals does exist. In 1962, John Lennon sang the song during a performance at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; a recording of this exists and was included on Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962. The next year, the Beatles performed "Matchbox" with Ringo Starr on lead vocals for their BBC radio show, and this version would be included on the Live at the BBC album. Starr also got to sing lead vocals on it when it was recorded in 1964.

IF I FELL ~ THE BEATLES

"If I Fell" is a song by The Beatles which first appeared in 1964 on the album A Hard Day's Night in the United Kingdom and on the North American album Something New. It was written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is notable for its unusual structure, which includes an unrepeated introductory section sung by Lennon, followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section. The demo version (just John on acoustic guitar) from early 1964, does include the introduction, as well as an alternate ending. The remainder of the song features a two-part harmony, sung by Lennon and McCartney together into a single microphone at their suggestion, with Lennon singing the lower harmony while McCartney sings the higher one. It also features intricate chord changes. "If I Fell" was a part of the Beatles repertoire during the Beatles' US and Canadian tour in 1964. The group typically performed the song faster than the studio version, and Lennon and McCartney often sang it with barely suppressed laughter. On more than one occasion it was introduced as "If I Fell Over"

AND I LOVE HER ~ THE BEATLES

"And I Love Her" is a song recorded by The Beatles, written mainly by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney). The fifth track on their third album, A Hard Day's Night, it was released 20 July 1964 with "If I Fell" as a single by Capitol Records in the United States, reaching #12 in Billboard. The Beatles performed "And I Love Her" just once outside of Abbey Road Studios. On 14 July 1964 they played it for an edition of the BBC's Top Gear radio show, which was broadcasted two days later. A majority of this song switches back and forth between the key of E and its relative minor C#m. It also changes keys altogether just before the solo, to F. It ends on the parallel major of the key of F's relative minor, D. This technique is known as tierce de Picardie .The song was written mainly by McCartney, though John Lennon claimed in an interview with Playboy that his major contribution was the middle eight section ("A love like ours/Could never die/As long as I/Have you near me"). It is revealed by Paul McCartney in George Harrison: Living in the Material World that Harrison came up with the main riff. As with many Beatles songs, this has been covered by many artists of varying style from R&B, crooner, pop and even grunge.

I'M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU ~ THE BEATLES

"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded by The Beatles for the film soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night.It was written specifically for George Harrison to sing at a time when he lacked the confidence to compose his own material. Years later, McCartney described it as a "formula song", and Lennon said, "I would never have sung it myself."Structurally, it features hectic Bo Diddley rhythm and busy banjo style guitar playing in juxtaposition with Harrison's vocal. Its composers give it an unpredictable choice of chord (augmenting the B7th on "I'm happy just to dance with you") right at the crux of its title, jarring the chorus. The song is also unique in that it begins not with a verse or chorus but with the last four bars of the bridge. Anne Murray included a cover of "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on her 1980 album Somebody's Waiting. Murray had had some success in previous years covering other Beatles songs such as "You Won't See Me" and "Day Tripper." Unlike the Beatles' original, Murray's version of "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is an adult-contemporary ballad.

I'LL CRY INSTEAD ~ THE BEATLES

"I'll Cry Instead" is a John Lennon composition credited to Lennon/McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles for the soundtrack to their film A Hard Day's Night. Lennon wrote the song for the "break-out" sequence in the film. Although the song was not part of the original movie, the label of the American 45 lists the song as being "From the United Artists Picture, 'A Hard Day's Night'". "I'll Cry Instead" was described by Cynthia Lennon as a cry for help, saying "It reflects the frustration he [John Lennon] felt at that time. He was the idol of millions, but the freedom and fun of the early days had gone." John Lennon later said the line "A chip on my shoulder that's bigger than my feet" was an accurate indication of his feelings at the time."I'll Cry Instead" is rooted in country & western, a genre that the Beatles, and especially Ringo Starr, enjoyed playing.

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER ~ THE BEATLES

"I Should Have Known Better" is a song composed by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), and originally released by The Beatles on the United Kingdom version of A Hard Day's Night, their soundtrack for the film of the same name.The song is performed in the train compartment scene of A Hard Day's Night. It was in fact filmed in a van, with crew members rocking the vehicle to fake the action of a train in motion.An orchestrated version of the song conducted by George Martin appears on the North American version of the album. The first recording session for the song was on 25 February 1964 at Abbey Road Studios when three takes were attempted, but only one was complete. Take 2 was aborted when Lennon broke into hysterics over his harmonica playing. In the US, "I Should Have Known Better" was released on 13 July 1964 as the B-side to "A Hard Day's Night" and reached No. 53 in the Billboard Top 100.

THINGS WE SAID TODAY ~ THE BEATLES

"Things We Said Today" is a song by The Beatles written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was composed for the film A Hard Day's Night and appears on the soundtrack album. It was also released as the B-side of the "A Hard Day's Night" single in the UK. McCartney wrote the song in May 1964 while cruising the Caribbean aboard a yacht called Happy Days with his then-girlfriend Jane Asher. The song is one of three main compositions (along with "And I Love Her" and "Can't Buy Me Love") that Paul McCartney wrote for the Beatles' film. The Beatles recorded "Things We Said Today" in three takes on 2 June 1964. Take one was a false start, take two was the rhythm track, and take three was used for overdubs of the main vocal, tambourine, and piano. The Beatles included "Things We Said Today" as part of their live set during their 1964 tour of the United States and Canada, although it was dropped afterwards. George Harrison sang harmony vocals alongside Paul McCartney during the performances.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT ~ THE BEATLES

"A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released on the movie soundtrack of the same name in 1964. It was later released as a single, with "Things We Said Today" as its B-side.The song featured prominently on the soundtrack to The Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, and was on their album of the same name. The song topped the charts in both the United Kingdom and United States when it was released as a single. Featuring a prominent and unique opening chord, the song's success demonstrated that The Beatles were not a one-hit wonder in the US. The American and British singles of "A Hard Day's Night" as well as both the American and British albums of the same title all held the top position in their respective charts for a couple of weeks in August 1964, the first time any artist had done this. "A Hard Day's Night" is immediately identifiable before the vocals even begin, thanks to George Harrison's unmistakable Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar's "mighty opening chord". During the recording of "A Hard Days Night", Lennon and McCartney double track their vocals throughout including the chorus. Lennon sings the lead vocal on the verses and Paul sings lead on the middle eight. During the chorus McCartney handles the high harmony and Lennon the low harmony. Take 7 reveals that the lyrics were still not set with Lennon singing "you make me feel all right" and McCartney and Harrison still unsteady with their respective lines, ending with Lennon chiding them with the line "I heard a funny chord".

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET ~ THE BEATLES

"Do You Want to Know a Secret" is a song by The Beatles from the 1963 album Please Please Me, sung by George Harrison. In the United States, it was the first top ten song to feature Harrison as a lead singer, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart in 1964 as a single released by Vee-Jay, VJ 587. The song reached the #1 position on Billboard in 1981 and #2 in the United Kingdom in a cover version by Stars on 45 as part of a medley."Do You Want to Know a Secret" was primarily written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song was inspired by "I'm Wishing", a tune from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, would sing to him as a child. In 1980, Lennon said that he gave "Do You Want to Know a Secret" to Harrison to sing because "it only had three notes and he wasn't the best singer in the world", but added "he has improved a lot since then."The Beatles' version was never released as a single in the UK, where a cover version by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (released b/w "I'll Be on My Way", Parlophone R5023, 26 April 1963) reached number two in the Record Retailer chart, and hit number one in the NME chart

YOU CAN'T DO THAT ~ THE BEATLES

"You Can't Do That" is a song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released by The Beatles as the B-side of their sixth British single "Can't Buy Me Love". One of Lennon's semi-autobiographical songs You Can't Do That "contradicted the genial tone with its tense threats, sexual paranoia and nagging, dragging groove" ... so wrote Robert Sandall. The song's jealousy theme was re-visited in other Lennon compositions, such as "Run for Your Life" and "Jealous Guy".It was the first song completed in the week before the Beatles began filming A Hard Day's Night, though "I Should Have Known Better" and "And I Love Her" were also started on the same day. The Beatles were filmed miming to "You Can't Do That" as part of the final concert sequence in the A Hard Day's Night film. The filming took place on 31 March 1964 at the Scala Theatre, London, but was not used. It was, however, broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show on 24 May. The performance is included in the documentary The Making of "A Hard Day's Night". "You Can't Do That" was covered by Harry Nilsson for his debut album Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967). The Supremes covered the song on their 1964 album A Bit of Liverpool.

CAN'T BUY ME LOVE ~ THE BEATLES

"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released by The Beatles on the A-side of their sixth British single, "Can't Buy Me Love"/"You Can't Do That". When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney stated that "I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that 'Can't Buy Me Love' is about a prostitute, I draw the line." He went on to say: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want." While in Paris, The Beatles stayed at the five star George V hotel and had an upright piano moved into one of their suites so that song writing could continue. It was here that McCartney wrote "Can't Buy Me Love." The song was written under the pressure of the success achieved by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which had just reached number one in America. The song also included some vocal harmonies in the background, which at the time became characteristic of the Beatles. After listening to the first take of the song, the band concluded that the song did not need them. Therefore, Can't Buy Me Love became the first single the Beatles released without their characteristic background harmonies.

THERE'S A PLACE ~ THE BEATLES

"There's a Place" is a song composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and was first released as a track on The Beatles' British debut LP, Please Please Me. Lennon and McCartney share lead vocals with George Harrison providing backing vocals.

The title was inspired by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Somewhere" from West Side Story, which contained the line: "somewhere there's a place for us". McCartney owned the album of the soundtrack at the time of writing "There's a Place" and acknowledges its influence. The "place" in question was "the mind", making its subject matter slightly more cerebral than Britain's kissing and cuddling songs and America's surf music from that period. Lennon is quoted as saying: "'There's a Place' was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing." It says the usual Lennon things: 'In my mind there's no sorrow...' It's all in your mind."Composed at McCartney's Forthlin Road home, it was part of the group's stage repertoire in 1963. With its major seventh harmonica intro (later reprised) and searing two-part vocal harmonies in fifths (Lennon low, McCartney high), it stands out as an early Beatles milestone track. The song was recorded on 11 February 1963 in ten takes during the first of three sessions for Please Please Me.The song was officially credited to "McCartney/Lennon", as were all other Lennon/McCartney compositions on the original UK release of Please Please Me.

TWIST AND SHOUT ~ THE BEATLES

"Twist and Shout" is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell. It was originally titled "Shake It Up, Baby" and recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was covered by The Beatles with John Lennon on the lead vocals and originally released on their first album Please Please Me.

The Beatles released the song on their first UK album, Please Please Me, the recording of which on February 11, 1963 was their first album session and is notable for 11 songs recorded in a mere 10 hours. "Twist and Shout", with John Lennon on lead vocals, was the last song recorded; producer George Martin knew Lennon's voice would suffer from the performance, so he left it until last, with only 15 minutes of scheduled recording time remaining.Lennon was suffering from a cold, and was drinking milk and sucking on cough drops to soothe his throat. His coughing is audible on the album, as is the cold's effect on his voice. Even so, he produced a memorable vocal performance: a raucous, dynamic rocker. He later said his voice was not the same for a long time afterward, and that "every time [he] swallowed, it felt like sandpaper". It is regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance. The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and at The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania". They performed it on one of their Ed Sullivan Show appearances in February 1964.The Beatles continued to play the song live until the end of their August 1965 tour of North America. Additionally, they recorded "Twist and Shout" on nine occasions for BBC television and radio broadcasts, the earliest of which was for the Talent Spot radio show on November 27, 1962.

CRY FOR A SHADOW ~ THE BEATLES

"Cry for a Shadow" is an early Beatles instrumental. It was recorded on 22 June 1961 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany while they were performing as Tony Sheridan's backup band for a few tracks, under the moniker The Beat Brothers. It was written by George Harrison with John Lennon, as a parody of the Shadows style. (The Shadows, who backed Cliff Richard, were the biggest British instrumental rock & roll group at the time of the recording.) It imitates the lead guitar with typical Hank Marvin licks, the melodic bass fills, and even has an imitation during the second middle eight of the famous Jet Harris yell. It is the only Beatles track to be credited to Lennon and Harrison alone.

It was intended to be released as the B-side of "Why", another Sheridan song with the Beatles, but the record company chose to release another song instead. In early 1964, as the Beatles were gaining popularity, the record company Polydor decided to release it, with "Why" changed to the b-side. According to Bill Harry, editor of the Mersey Beat newspaper, Cry for a Shadow's original title was "Beatle Bop".It was also released in 1995 as part of the Anthology 1 compilation.San Francisco new wave group Translator released a cover version of this song as a B-side in 1983

ALL MY LOVING ~ THE BEATLES

"All My Loving" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), from the 1963 album With The Beatles. Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, it drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP. The song was released as a single in Canada, where it became a number one hit. The Canadian single was imported into the US in enough quantities to peak at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964. "All My Loving" was the Beatles's opening number on their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964; the recording was included on Anthology 1. The group also performed "All My Loving" three times for BBC radio, once in 1963 and twice in 1964. The final version, which was recorded on 28 February 1964, was included on Live at the BBC. The song was used twice in films by the group - it plays in the background at the end of the nightclub scene in A Hard Day's Night (though without the drum opening and the coda), while an instrumental version appears in the movie Magical Mystery Tour. "All My Loving" has been praised by multiple critics. Ian MacDonald said, "The innocence of early Sixties British pop is perfectly distilled in the eloquent simplicity of this number" and described the song as helping McCartney be seen as more of an equal to Lennon. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic said it "was arguably the best LP-only track The Beatles did before 1964" and that if it was released as a single in America it would have been a huge hit.