#47: Tell Me Why

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: John

"Tell Me Why" is another one of those songs that just does not stop. It starts and it just snowballs into something so fun and incredible.

The song is also a "call-and-response" type song that begs for interaction between the listener and the musician. Still, "Tell Me Why" is an interesting "call-and-response", especially since the lead vocalist doesn't despond to the calls sent out by the back-up chorus. For example, take the first verse:

John: Well, I gave you ev'rything I had,

Group: But you left me sitting on my own.

John: Did you have to treat me oh so bad?
Group: All I do is hang my head and moan.

So, as you can see, the group isn't helping the situation! "Devil In Her Heart" is a standard "call-and-response" girl-group song and the complete opposite:

Group: She's got the devil in her heart

George: No, no, this I can't believe
Group: She's gonna tear your heart apart
George: No, no nay will she deceive

That's the way these "call-and-response" type songs usually go, but "Tell Me Why" flips that on its head. The group and John are the same person in this sob story of a man whose girl is bad to him for no reason. Now, you could say that "Tell Me Why" is more akin to the party "call-and-response" songs like "Twist And Shout", but those are more like "call-and-repeat". I really think "Tell Me Why" is another step forward for the Beatles as they try to move beyond their influences and, in-turn, evolve the genres that turned them into who they are.

As I mentioned before, despite being one of the strongest songs from the film, "Tell Me Why" was the only movie song not released on a single side in the US. However, it was released on Something New, which has all the non-film songs on it.

Next up: Side Two! Here's "Can't Buy Me Love", in case you're wondering....

#46: And I Love Her

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: Paul

Of the seven songs in A Hard Day's Night, Paul gets just two songs...and they are among his best. "Can't Buy Me Love" was also released prior to the LP, so "And I Love Her" was the only new film song buyers got from Paul. On the non-film side, Paul only has one song, meaning on the whole album, he has just three tracks!

"And I Love Her" is Paul's first masterpiece and obviously it gave him the confidence to air "Yesterday" out in the following year. It's also one of his most beautiful love songs, featuring a fantastic vocal. On the Anthology is the second of two takes where they tried a full electric approach and they quickly realized that it didn't fit the song.

The really nifty thing about the song is the title. It's the second half of a thought and only appears after the first verse. A lot of the early Beatle songs used the title as a launching point (the title track of this album being the best example, of course), but here it almost seems like Paul wrote the song first and then said "let's name it after half of one of the lines." Thus, we have "And I Love Her."

As I mentioned before, it was released on 45 in the US, with "If I Fell" on the flip-side. It reached #12 on Billboard.

The song is also on 1962-1966 (the 'Red' Album) and that was definitely my first exposure to it as a kid. I loved the song. I kind of thought it was a companion to "All My Loving". It's like a slower and more mature version of the song. "And I Love Her" is easily my favorite early Beatles song, tied with another track on this album...

#45: I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: George

After George wrote "Don't Bother Me", he hit a serious dry spell. In

fact, he wouldn't get another writing credit until his two songs on HELP!. I really think George was at a point where he thought 'Why should I even try?' and his self-confidence was at an all-time low.

"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is the only George song on the album and only one of two Lennon/McCartney compositions given to George (the other is, of course, "Do You Want To Know A Secret?"). It was (rather reluctantly - I really think John & Paul were under the assumption that George would be able to write another song) written specifically for George and you can tell. The song is entirely formulaic and honestly kind of feels like a re-write of "I Saw Her Standing There" with all the energy sucked out. Now, you can't knock George's vocal performance, because he gives the best performance he could with the song he was given. Plus, Ringo does a pretty good job at the drums.

I've always been disappointed to see that this song was in the movie when the masterful "I'll Cry Instead" was cut. That's a much better song, but I guess they felt that George needed a spotlight.

Like all the other movie songs (except "Tell Me Why"), "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" was released on a single during the summer of 1964 by Capitol. It landed on the B-Side of "I'll Cry Instead", which both Capitol and United Artists still assumed would be in the movie.

#44: If I Fell

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: John (& Paul)

I have quickly realized that writing about the first great Beatle album, A Hard Day's Night, is really tricky. Every song - one right after the other - is a masterpiece. It makes writing about them boring...not that there's anything wrong with that.

"If I Fell" is the sensitive side of John poking his head in again. This is simply one of the best songs that show, again (and again, saying this makes me sound like a broken record), just how versatile the Beatles are. They could switch from the ballads to the rockers without taking a breather.

The song is about a guy who wants to fall in love with a girl, but worries that she may hurt him in the end. He asks for her permission, since he's got to be sure that she's true to him. Of course, the other problem is that he's already got another girl, so there's a double-standard in this relationship, I guess. In the movie, the song plays the absolutely hilarious part as Ringo's pick-me-up song after a stage hand fiddles with his drums. ("Aren't you being rather arbitrary?" "That's right retreat behind a smoke screen of bourgeois clichés. I don't go round messing about with your ear-phones, do I?")

Capitol used the song as the B-Side to its "And I Love Her" 45, which reached #12 on Billboard. Meanwhile in Britain, EMI pressed a limited number of copies of an "If I Fell" b/w "Tell Me Why" 45 that was popular on the continent, although it did not chart.

#43: I Should Have Known Better

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: John

"I Should Have Known Better" is, in a way, a swan song. It is the last Beatles song to feature a harmonica intro.

Other than that, there probably isn't much to say about the song. The song is about a guy who really should have known better than to leave this fantastic girl. He never realized that "he would love everything that you do." (And I do, hey-hey-hey...and I doooo!)

In A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles sing the song (lip-syncing of course) while they play cards in this cage that they locked Paul's (very clean) grandfather into. The girls on the train find them and they watch the boys through the grate.

Of the seven songs that were used in the film, "I Should Have Known Better" is probably my favorite track, just because it's a lot of fun and has a great John vocal, especially during that bridge. When the harmonies come in to sing "And when I ask you to be mi-a-hineeee/You're gonna say you love me too", you just know that that's a special moment.

In the US, Capitol issued the song as the B-Side to "A Hard Day's Night", since Capitol could only release songs from the film on 45. (Although "Tell Me Why", the only song not released on a single, made it onto Something New.) So, it didn't make an LP appearance in the US until 1970's Hey Jude (The Beatles Again), which was the first attempt to gather all the songs not released on Capitol LPs.

#42: A Hard Day's Night

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: July 10, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: John (verses) & Paul (bridge)

One of my dreams is to see A Hard Day's Night in a movie theater. I'd love to go back in time to 1964 to do it, too. You figure, you'd be in a theater with about 100 to 200 screaming girls who have yet to figure out that The Beatles are not actually going to be there and then that....BANG!

That chord, plucked by George Harrison on his Rickenbacker 12-string, would just come over the speakers and immediately bring your attention to the screen. The first thing you see, of course, is three boys running through London from a mad pack of screaming teenagers....all in glorious black and white.

The title is the first one to come from a Ringo-ism. The story is that after a long day of shooting, Ringo said "It's been a hard day..." and then realized that it was night, adding, "....'s night!" Everyone agreed that that had to be the title...and that John and Paul needed to write a song.

...And, oh, what a song! To me, this is the epitome of the John/Paul writing team. The song is like a barrel that just keeps rolling and never stops, even when John leaves the vocal spotlight for Paul to sing the bridge. "A Hard Day's Night" is easily one of those songs that really proves that the Beatles were something special. I'm not getting cutesy, nor am I intentionally being repetitive - it's a simple fact. "A Hard Day's Night" is the first great Beatles song that no one could ever do and A Hard Day's Night is the first great Beatles LP.

#36: Can't Buy Me Love

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: March 20, 1964
Appears on: A Hard Day's Night
Lead vocal: Paul

The big thing about "Can't Buy Me Love" is the unique fact that it starts with its chorus. Today, this doesn't seem like that much of an innovation, but in 1964, it was a little surprising. I think today we take this aspect of "Can't Buy Me Love" for granted, but the fact that it has no instrumental opening whatsoever is truly amazing. Right from the start, Paul gets us in with "Can't buy me love/Love/Can't buy me love/Ooohhhh....I buy you diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel all right...".

I can't imagine how that March day must have felt when "Can't Buy Me Love" came out. It was the first new Beatle product in nearly four months [Pause there for a second: Can you imagine an artist today having to pump out a single every two to four months today? Not only is it unthinkable, it's impossible!] and the first (Capitol) US release since "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

The Beatles were forced to keep such a tight schedule that "Can't Buy Me Love" was forced to become the first Beatles song recorded outside the confines of Abbey Road Studios. In fact, it was recorded at a Paris studio during a short break in their French tour. (During which, the recorded "Sie Liebt Dich" and "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand", which will be covered much later.) An early and drastically different take is on Anthology 1 and, although they had to finish the track at Abbey Road, the majority of the version we know and love was recorded in the Paris studio.

By the way, in case you're wondering, "Can't Buy Me Love" b/w "You Can't Do That" was released before A Hard Day's Night, so that is why I'm covering them first. Also the "Long Tall Sally" EP was issued prior to A Hard Day's Night, so those four songs will be covered before I get to the Beatles' third LP.