I Should Have Known Better is a track from the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack and album, written by John Lennon.

The Beatles Bible

Memorably performed during a train carriage scene in the A Hard Day’s Night film, ‘I Should Have Known Better’ was written by John Lennon, and was the second song on the soundtrack album.

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Wikipedia

"I Should Have Known Better" is a song by English rock band the Beatles composed by John Lennon[2][3] (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and originally issued on A Hard Day's Night, their soundtrack for the film of the same name released on 10 July 1964….

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It’s taken me a few days to get around to writing this article, and partly this was because I fancied taking a couple of days off, but I must admit it was partly because my heart sank a bit when I contemplated writing about this particular song. I couldn’t think of anything to say. My memory is that when I first heard I Should Have Known Better, I didn’t like it. Something about the siren-like quality of the hook. But then later, I found it stuck in my head and grew on me. This is from the period when, Lennon was most productive and had mastered the art of writing a catchy pop song. The lyrics, it seems to me, are fairly empty and formulaic, but the song has a unpretentious and positive feel, maybe not a million miles from Please Please Me or I Want To Hold Your Hand: “give me more, hey-hey-hey, give me more”.

The song is sung by John Lennon, double-tracked in most places but, as musicologist Alan Pollack notes, the bridge is:

“perhaps the high point of the song because of the single tracking; it still has the power to stop you in your tracks… I’m tempted to argue that John was more usually double tracked, not because he didn’t sound secure enough without it, but, quite the opposite, because in single track mode, he almost sounds too intense.”

I think Lennon’s performance is the key. It’s a pretty lightweight song with some nice musical touches (I like the chords leading into the bridge, and George’s hybrid picking solo, for example), but he sings it with sincerity and power.

Speaking in 1964, Lennon regarded the song as one of a few favourites on the album:

There are four I really go for: ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’ — a song with harmonica we feature during the opening tram sequences — and ‘Tell Me Why’, a shuffle number that comes at the end of the film. (John Lennon, quoted in Anthology)

But in his 1980 interview with David Sheff he said:

That’s me. Just a song; it doesn’t mean a damn thing.

In some ways I feel that songs like I Should Have Known Better are key to the Beatles’ overall success. Although it’s far from my favourite, and there’s not much to highlight as unique or meaningful, as a Beatles pop song it is way more persuasive and convincing than it might have been in the hands of another group or artist. Perhaps I am biased though.