Beatles: A Song-a-Day
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146: Cry Baby Cry
Cry Baby Cry is a track from the White Album. Written by Lennon it was inspired by the wording of an advert, but draws on imagery from a nursery rhyme (sing-a-song of sixpence) and, if I am not mistaken, Alice In Wonderland. Lewis Carroll’s Alice novels were a longstanding enthusiasm for Lennon and had already…
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147: Please Please Me
Please Please Me was the Beatles second single and their first UK number one (the flipside was discussed in yesterday’s post 148: Ask Me Why). It is also the title track of their first album. The recording and release of Please Please Me marked a transitional moment for the Beatles and has become a famous…
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148: Ask Me Why
Having been written and performed live before the Beatles were signed, Ask Me Why was an early Lennon-McCartney collaboration, with the main idea coming from John Lennon. It appeared as the B-side to Please Please Me, and on the album of the same name. Lyrically it is a conventional but well-crafted love song. Musically it…
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149: Do You Want To Know A Secret
Do you want to know a secret is a song written by John Lennon but, unusually for a Lennon-McCartney track, sung by George Harrison. It was released on the Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me, and was written before they had been signed. The story of the songs genesis is well explained in quotes from…
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150: Piggies
Piggies is a song written by George Harrison and appearing on the White Album. For this song it is well worth reading the wikipedia article as the track turned out to have an undeserved and grisly historical significance well beyond anything the Beatles intended; it has received correspondingly more critical analysis and commentary, and it…
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151: I Me Mine
I Me Mine is a track on the Let It Be album that was originally rehearsed as part of the Let It Be/Get Back sessions, and later completed after Abbey Road as the last Beatles recording (in the absence of John Lennon, who had already effectively left the band). The song was written by George…
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152: Eight Days A Week
Eight Days A Week was a track on the Beatles For Sale album written as a collaboration between McCartney and Lennon. In the US and some other territories it was released as a single, and it made #1 in the US Billboard Hot 100. Eight Days A Week is an example of a song that…
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153: It Won’t Be Long
It Won’t Be Long was the first track on With The Beatles. It was written mainly by Lennon who also takes the lead vocal. I hadn’t heard the song for a while and it was a real pleasure to listen again this morning when preparing this article. It has many of the hallmarks I am…
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154: From Me To You
From Me To You was the A-side of the Beatles third single and written collaboratively by Lennon and McCartney while on tour with Helen Shapiro in 1963. Paul McCartney regarded From Me To You as an important song in the development of the Lennon-McCartney writing partnership, pointing to the middle eight as a particularly important…
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155: No Reply
No Reply was written mainly by John Lennon and appears on the Beatles For Sale album. For some reason this song really sticks in my memory, and I think it must have been one I listened to a lot in my early days as a Beatles fan. Teenage Memories I’d heard the Beatles quite a…
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156: I’ve Just Seen A Face
I’ve Just Seen A Face is an up-tempo love song written by Paul McCartney, a track on the Help! album. The folky, country feel of the track is part of a wider trend that started with Beatles for Sale, continuing through Help! and into the Rubber Soul album. On Help! itself, for example, Lennon’s You’ve…
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157: All My Loving
All My Loving is a 1963 almost-single which appeared on the Beatles’ second album With The Beatles. I say almost-single, because it has a single-like quality and craftsmanship about it, and because – as explained on the beatles.com official website: Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United…