Notes and Quotes: " A Hard Day's Night"

Ringo: "We went to do a job and we worked all day and we happened to work all night and I came out still thinking it was day, and I said to the others, 'It's been a hard day," looked around, found it was dark and said, 'Night.' So that's how we came to A Hard Day's Night." (Badman 2000: 93)

John: "The only reason [Paul] sang on 'A Hard Day's Night' was because I couldn't reach the notes, which is what we used to do sometimes. One of us couldn't reach a note but he wanted a different sound, so he'd get the other to do the harmony." (Badman 2000: 94)

Geoff Emerick: Then we were ready to attack Harrison's solo. George must have been having a bad day—or maybe Lester's increasingly annoying presence was getting to him—because he was having real difficulty nailing it. After some discussion about having Paul play the part instead (McCartney was a fine guitarist himself, and seemed always ready to jump in and show up his younger bandmate), George Martin finally decided to instead employ the same "wound-up piano" technique he had done the year previous on the song "Misery." I was told to roll the tape at half speed while Geoge went down into the studio and doubled the guitar solo on an out-of-tune upright piano. Both parts had to be played simultaneously because there was only one free track, and it was fascinating watching the two Georges—Harrison and Martin—working side by side in the studio, foreheads furrowed in concentration as they played the rhythmically complex solo in tight unison on their respective instruments. (2006: 84)

Schedule

8 February, 2012