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| Lennon (Playboy, September 1980 quoted in Badman 2000: 163): I meant it. It's just me singing "Help!"and I meant it. I don't like the recording that much. We did it too fast, trying to be commercial. When "Help!" came out, I was crying out for help. Most people think it's just a fast rock 'n' roll song. I didn't realise it at the time, I just wrote it at the time because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I really was crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period. You see the movie: He — I — is very fat, very insecure, and he's completely lost himself. And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was. I was fat and I was crying out for help. |
| Harrison (Badman 2000: 161): It's quite involved. A bit more involved than the others we've done because it has a counter melody going as well as the main melody. I think it's a grower, because it's the sort of song people will have to hear a few times before they realise what it's all about. It's a bit like "It Won't Be Long." That's the only one it is anything like. |
| Section | Time | Meas. | Description | Text | |
| i | intro | 0:00 | 8 | introduce hook; based on bridge material | a |
| A | verse | 0: | 8 | vocal solo (John) with anticipating counter melody | b |
| A | verse | : | 8 | as above | c |
| B | chorus | : | 16 | steady melodic cell held against descending bass line | d |
| A | verse | : | 8 | as in verse above | e |
| A | verse | : | 8 | as in verse above | f |
| B | chorus | : | 16 | as in bridge above | d |
| A | verse | : | 8 | solo vocal; drop steady drum beat and bass pattern | b |
| A | verse | : | 8 | build rhythmic accompaniment and return counter melody | c |
| B | chorus | : | 16 | as in bridges above | d |
| c | coda | : | 3 | built from bridge material | d |