A Hard Day's Night (song)
Encyclopedia
"A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

. Written by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

, and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released on the movie soundtrack of the same name in 1964. It was later released as a single, with "Things We Said Today
Things We Said Today
"Things We Said Today" is a song by The Beatles written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was composed for the film A Hard Day's Night and appears on the soundtrack album...

" as its B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

.

The song featured prominently on the soundtrack
A Hard Day's Night (album)
A Hard Day's Night is the third studio album by The Beatles, released on 10 July 1964 as the soundtrack to their film A Hard Day's Night. The American version of the album was released two weeks earlier, on 26 June 1964 by United Artists Records, with a different track listing...

 to The Beatles' first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

, A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...

, and was on their album of the same name. The song topped the charts in both the United Kingdom and United States when it was released as a single. Featuring a prominent and unique opening chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

, the song's success demonstrated that The Beatles were not a one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...

 in the US.

The American and British singles of "A Hard Day's Night" as well as both the American and British albums of the same title all held the top position in their respective charts for a couple of weeks in August 1964, the first time any artist had done this.

Title

The song's title originated from something said by Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

, The Beatles' drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

. Starr described it this way in an interview with disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 Dave Hull
Dave Hull
Dave Hull, aka "The Hullabalooer", is a Los Angeles radio personality voted one of the top ten LA radio personalities of all time. Born Jan. 20, 1934, he admits to being 77 with his personal addition herewith dated Mar. 3, 2011....

 in 1964: "We went to do a job, and we'd worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, 'It's been a hard day... and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, '...night!' So we came to 'A Hard Day's Night.'"

Starr's statement was the inspiration for the title of the movie, which in turn inspired the composition of the song. According to Lennon in a 1980 interview with Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine: "I was going home in the car and Dick Lester
Richard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...

 [director of the movie] suggested the title, 'Hard Day's Night' from something Ringo had said. I had used it in In His Own Write
In His Own Write
In His Own Write is a book from 1964 by John Lennon. The book consists of short stories and line drawings, often surreal and always nonsensical. It is notable in that it was the first solo Beatle project in any form...

[a book Lennon was writing then], but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropism
Malapropism
A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".-Etymology:...

s. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny... just said it. So Dick Lester said, 'We are going to use that title.'"

In a 1994 interview for The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology is the name of a documentary series, a set of three double albums and a book focusing on the history of The Beatles. Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all participated in the making and approval of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the...

, however, McCartney disagreed with Lennon's recollections, basically stating that it was The Beatles, and not Lester, who had come up with the idea of using Starr's verbal misstep: "The title was Ringo's. We'd almost finished making the film, and this fun bit arrived that we'd not known about before, which was naming the film. So we were sitting around at Twickenham studios having a little brain-storming session... and we said, 'Well, there was something Ringo said the other day.' Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical... they were sort of magic even though he was just getting it wrong. And he said after a concert, 'Phew, it's been a hard day's night.'"

In 1996, yet another version of events cropped up; in an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 report, the producer of the film A Hard Day's Night, Walter Shenson, stated that Lennon described to Shenson some of Starr's funnier gaffes, including "a hard day's night", whereupon Shenson immediately decided that that was going to be the title of the movie (replacing other alternatives, including Beatlemania). Shenson then told Lennon that he needed a theme song for the film.

Production

Regardless of who decided on the title, Lennon immediately made up his mind that he would compose the movie's title track. He dashed off the song in one night, and brought it in for comments the following morning (the original manuscript lyrics may be seen in the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

, scribbled in ballpoint on the back of an old birthday card). As he described in his 1980 Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

interview, "...the next morning I brought in the song... 'cuz there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A-side — who got the hits. If you notice, in the early days the majority of singles, in the movies and everything, were mine... in the early period I'm dominating the group.... The reason Paul sang on 'A Hard Day's Night' (in the bridge) is because I couldn't reach the notes."

In the Associated Press report, Shenson described his recollection of what happened. At 8:30 in the morning, "There were John and Paul with guitars at the ready and all the lyrics scribbled on matchbook covers. They played it and the next night recorded it." Shenson declared, "It had the right beat and the arrangement was brilliant. These guys were geniuses."

On 16 April 1964, The Beatles gathered at Studio 2 of the Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...

 and recorded "A Hard Day's Night." It took them less than three hours to polish the song for its final release, eventually selecting the ninth take as the one to be released.

Release and reception

"A Hard Day's Night" was first released to the United States, coming out on 26 June 1964 on the album A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (album)
A Hard Day's Night is the third studio album by The Beatles, released on 10 July 1964 as the soundtrack to their film A Hard Day's Night. The American version of the album was released two weeks earlier, on 26 June 1964 by United Artists Records, with a different track listing...

, the soundtrack to the film, and released by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

. It was the first song to be released before single release (see below).

"A Hard Day's Night" was the first Beatles single released in the UK not to use a pronoun in its title, following "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "From Me to You." "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Can't Buy Me Love".

The United Kingdom first heard "A Hard Day's Night" when it was released there on 10 July 1964, both on the album A Hard Day's Night, and as a single, backed with "Things We Said Today" on the B-side. Both the album and single were released by Parlophone Records. The single began charting on 18 July 1964, a week later ousting the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' "It's All Over Now" from the top spot on the British charts on 25 July 1964, coincidentally the day when both the American and British albums too hit the peak of their respective charts. The single stayed on top for three weeks, and lasted another nine weeks in the charts afterwards.

America first saw the single of "A Hard Day's Night" on 13 July 1964, featuring "I Should Have Known Better
I Should Have Known Better
"I Should Have Known Better" is a song composed by John Lennon , and originally released by The Beatles on the United Kingdom version of A Hard Day's Night, their soundtrack for the film of the same name....

" on the B-side, and released by Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

. Capitol had been in a quandary about cashing in on the success of the movie A Hard Day's Night, as United Artists held the publishing rights for the soundtrack (thus owning the rights to release the album of the same title). However, there was nothing preventing Capitol from releasing the songs in other forms, leading to six out of the seven songs from the movie's soundtrack coming out on singles.

The American single began its 13-week chart run on five days after release, and on 1 August started a two-week long run at the top, setting a new record—nobody before had ever held the number one position on both the album and singles charts in the United Kingdom and the United States at the same time. The Beatles were the first to do so, and continued to be the only ones who had done this until 1970 when Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...

 achieved the same feat with their album Bridge over Troubled Water
Bridge over Troubled Water
Bridge Over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by Simon & Garfunkel. Released on January 26, 1970 on both Quadraphonic and Stereo formats, it reached No. 1 on Billboard Music Charts pop albums list...

and its title track. "A Hard Day's Night" went on to sell one million copies in America within just over five weeks.

In 1965, "A Hard Day's Night" won The Beatles the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group
Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group
The Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group was awarded from 1961 to 1968. In its first year, the award specified that a "vocal group" contains two to six artists. This award was presented alongside the award for Best Performance by a Chorus...

.

Opening chord

"A Hard Day's Night" is immediately identifiable before the vocals even begin, thanks to George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

's unmistakable Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...

 360/12 12-string guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

's "mighty opening chord". According to George Martin, "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord
Guitar chord
In music, a guitar chord is a chord, or collection of tones usually sounded together at once, played on a guitar. It can be composed of notes played on adjacent or separate strings or all the strings together...

 was the perfect launch," having what Ian MacDonald
Ian MacDonald
Ian MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...

 calls, "a significance in Beatles lore matched only by the concluding E major
Major chord
In music theory, a major chord is a chord having a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a major triad...

 of "A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life
"A Day in the Life" is a song by The Beatles, the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song comprises distinct segments written independently by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with orchestral additions...

", the two opening and closing the group's middle period of peak creativity". "That sound you just associate with those early 1960s Beatles records".
Analysis
Musical analysis
Musical analysis is the attempt to answer the question how does this music work?. The method employed to answer this question, and indeed exactly what is meant by the question, differs from analyst to analyst, and according to the purpose of the analysis. According to Ian Bent , analysis is "an...

 of the chord has been the subject of considerable debate, with it being described as G7add9sus4, G7sus4
Suspended chord
A suspended chord is a chord in which the third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth or a major second , although the fourth is far more common...

, or G11sus4 and others below.

The exact chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 is an Fadd9 confirmed by Harrison during an online chat on 15 February 2001:
Q: Mr Harrison, what is the opening chord you used for "A Hard Day's Night"?
A: It is F with a G on top, but you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note
Bass note
In music theory, the bass note of a chord or sonority is the lowest note played or notated. If there are multiple voices it is the note played or notated in the lowest voice. While the bass note is often the root or fundamental of the chord, it does not have to be, and sometimes one of the other...

 to get the proper story.


According to Walter Everett
Walter Everett (musicologist)
Walter Everett is a musicologist specializing in popular music.Books include The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology , which has been called, "the most important work to appear on the Beatles thus far", and The Foundations of Rock: From 'Blue Suede Shoes' to 'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes...

, the opening chord has an introductory dominant
Dominant (music)
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...

 function because McCartney plays D in the bass; Harrison and Martin play F A C G in twelve string guitar and piano, over the bass D, giving the chord a mixture-coloured neighbour, F; two diatonic neighbours, A and C; plus an anticipation of the tonic, G — the major subtonic
Subtonic
In music, the subtonic or flattened seventh is the lowered or minor seventh degree of the scale, a whole step below the tonic, as opposed to the leading tone...

 as played on guitar being a borrowed chord commonly used by The Beatles, first in "P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You (The Beatles song)
"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney and recorded by The Beatles. It was released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me...

" (see mode mixture), and later in "Every Little Thing
Every Little Thing (song)
"Every Little Thing" is a song written by Paul McCartney and performed by The Beatles on their 1964 British album Beatles for Sale. In North America, Capitol released it as the last track on Beatles VI.-Composition:...

", "Tomorrow Never Knows
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...

" and "Got to Get You into My Life
Got to Get You into My Life
"Got to Get You into My Life" is a song by The Beatles, first released in 1966 on the album Revolver. Written by Paul McCartney , it made prominent use of a brass section...

" (in the latter two against a tonic pedal
Pedal point
In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i.e., dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations, and passing...

).

In contrast, Alan W. Pollack interprets the chord as a surrogate dominant (surrogate V, the dominant preparing or leading to the tonic chord), in G major the dominant being D, with the G being an anticipation that resolves in the G major chord that opens the verse. He also suggests it is a mixture of d minor, F major, and G major (missing the B). Tony Bacon calls it a Dm7sus4 (D F G A C), which is the minor seventh chord
Minor seventh chord
In music, a minor seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a minor third above the root.Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a minor seventh above the root...

 (plus the fourth, G). (For more information regarding chord functions see diatonic function
Diatonic function
In tonal music theory, a diatonic function is the specific, recognized role of each of the 7 notes and their chords in relation to the diatonic key...

.)


Everett points out that the chord relates to The Beatles' interest in pandiatonic
Pandiatonic
In music, pandiatonicism refers to the technique of using the diatonic scale without the limitations of functional tonality. Pandiatonic music typically uses the notes of the diatonic scale freely in dissonant combinations without conventional resolutions and/or without standard chord...

 harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

.

Dominic Pedler has also provided an interpretation of the famous chord, with The Beatles and George Martin playing the following:
  • George Harrison: Fadd9 in 1st position on Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric guitar
  • John Lennon: Fadd9 in 1st position on a Gibson J-160E 6-string acoustic guitar
  • Paul McCartney: high D played on the D-string, 12th fret on Hofner 500/1 electric bass
  • George Martin: D2-G2-D3 played on a Steinway Grand Piano
  • Ringo Starr: Subtle snare drum and ride cymbal


This gives the notes:
G-B-D-F-A-C (the B is a harmonic). One of the interesting things about this chord (as described by Pedler) is how McCartney's high bass note reverberates inside the soundbox of Lennon's acoustic guitar and begins to be picked up on Lennon's microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...

 or pick-up during the sounding of the chord. This gives the chord its special "wavy" and unstable quality. Pedler describes the effect as a "virtual pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...

".

Jason Brown, Professor for the Faculty of Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

 at Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, whose research interests include graph theory
Graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...

, combinatorics
Combinatorics
Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...

, and combinatorial algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...

s, announced in October 2004 that after six months of research he succeeded in analysing the opening chord by de-composing the sound into original frequencies using a mathematical technique known as the Fourier transform
Fourier transform
In mathematics, Fourier analysis is a subject area which grew from the study of Fourier series. The subject began with the study of the way general functions may be represented by sums of simpler trigonometric functions...

. According to Brown, the Rickenbacker guitar wasn't the only instrument used. "It wasn't just George Harrison playing it and it wasn't just The Beatles playing on it... There was a piano in the mix." Specifically, he claims that Harrison was playing the following notes on his 12 string guitar: a2, a3, d3, d4, g3, g4, c4, and another c4; McCartney played a d3 on his bass; producer George Martin was playing d3, f3, d5, g5, and e6 on the piano, while Lennon played a loud c5 on his six-string guitar.

In November 2009, Wired published an article where Celemony
Celemony
Celemony Software GmbH is a German musical software company that specializes in digital audio pitch correction software. It produces Melodyne, an industry standard audio pitch modification tool similar to Auto-Tune.- History :...

's Melodyne Editor with Direct Note Access technology was used to analyse the opening chord.

A repeated arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...

 outlining the notes of the opening chord ends the song in a circular fashion, fading out with the sound of helicopter blades. This provides, "a sonic confirmation that the thirty-six hours we have just seen [in the movie] will go on and on and on". The song contains 12 other chords.

Music and lyrics

The song is composed in the key of G major
G major
G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...

and in a 4/4 time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

. The verse features the VII or major subtonic chord that was a part of the opening chord as an ornament or embellishment below the tonic. Transposed down a perfect fifth, the modal frame
Modal frame
In music a melodic mode or modal frame is one of, "a number of types permeating and unifying African, European, and American song" and melody. "Mode" and "frame" are used in this context interchangeably. Melodic modes allow melodies which are not chord-based or determined by the harmony but...

 of the song though pentatonic features a ladder of thirds
Ladder of thirds
A ladder of thirds is similar to the circle of fifths, though a ladder of thirds differs in being composed of thirds, major or minor, and may or may not circle back to its starting note and thus may or may not be an interval cycle.Triadic chords may be considered as part of a ladder of thirds.It...

 axially centred on G with a ceiling note of B and floor note of E (the low C being a passing tone)

According to Middleton, the song, "at first glance major-key-with-modal-touches", reveals through its "Line of Latent Mode" "a deep kinship with typical blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 melodic structures: it is centred on three of the notes of the minor-pentatonic mode (E-G-B), with the contradictory major seventh (B) set against that. Morever, the shape assumed by these notes - the modal frame - as well as the abstract scale they represent, is revealed, too; and this - an initial, repeated circling round the dominant (G), with an excursion to its minor third (B), 'answered' by a fall to the 'symmetrical' minor third of the tonic (E) - is a common pattern in blues."

Lennon opens the twelve measure-long verse and carries it along, suddenly joined at the end by McCartney, who then sings the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...

.

The instrumental break
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....

, is often credited to George Harrison on a 12-string guitar. This is not entirely accurate. The break was played by George Harrison on 12-string guitar with George Martin doubling the solo on a piano.

According to the book Recording The Beatles, Martin plays a piano not harpsichord at half speed, speeded back up (see note at bottom).

The song closes with Harrison playing an arpeggio of the opening chord (Fadd9) during the fade-out, the first time The Beatles had used such a technique — most, if not all, of their earlier work had closed with a final chord (and cadence
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...

), such as "She Loves You
She Loves You
"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record in the United States by being one of the...

" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Want to Hold Your Hand
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment....

". According to Stephenson, the final chord is a split-third chord
Added tone chord
An added tone chord is a non-tertian chord composed of a tertian triad and an extra "added" note. The added note is not a seventh , but typically a non-tertian note, which cannot be defined by a sequence of thirds from the root, such as the added sixth or fourth...

 (enharmonically equivalent to the Hendrix chord
Hendrix chord
In music, the dominant 79 chord is sometimes known colloquially as the Hendrix chord or Purple Haze chord, nicknamed for guitarist Jimi Hendrix...

).

The lyrics speak about the singer's undying devotion to his lover, and how he toils so she can purchase the items she fancies. The singer sings about his tiredness when he comes home from work, but how the things that his lover does perk him up.

On the day the song was written, Lennon is purported to have shown reporter Maureen Cleave
Maureen Cleave
Maureen Cleave is an English journalist who worked for the London Evening News and London Evening Standard in the 1960s, conducting interviews with famous musicians of the era, including Bob Dylan and John Lennon....

 of London's Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

the lyrics, and she said that word "tiredness" sounded weak in the line "I find my tiredness is through/And I feel alright." Lennon subsequently replaced the lines in question with "I find the things that you do/They make me feel all right".

The solo and outro features Harrison on his Rickenbacker 12 and Martin simultaneously playing the same notes at half speed then speeding them backup to include on track 4 based on a detailed description of this recording in the book Recording The Beatles by Brian Kehew
Brian Kehew
Brian Kehew is a Los Angeles-based musician and music producer. He is a member the The Moog Cookbook and co-author of the Recording The Beatles book, an in-depth look at the Beatles' studio approach...

 and Kevin Ryan.

During the recording of "A Hard Days Night", Lennon and McCartney double track their vocals throughout including the chorus. Lennon sings the lead vocal on the verses and Paul sings lead on the middle eight. During the chorus McCartney handles the high harmony and Lennon the low harmony. Take 7 reveals that the lyrics were still not set with Lennon singing "you make me feel all right" and McCartney and Harrison still unsteady with their respective lines, ending with Lennon chiding them with the line "I heard a funny chord".

Personnel

  • John Lennon
    John Lennon
    John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

     – double-tracked
    Doubletracking
    Double tracking is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or "bigger" sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. It is a form of overdubbing; the distinction comes from the...

     lead vocal (verses), electric
    Electric guitar
    An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

     and acoustic
    Acoustic guitar
    An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

     rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

    s
  • Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney
    Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

     – double-tracked vocal (middle-eight), harmony vocal, bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • George Harrison
    George Harrison
    George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

     – lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

  • Ringo Starr
    Ringo Starr
    Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

     – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    , bongos
    Bongo drum
    Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...

  • George Martin
    George Martin
    Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...

     – piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

Personnel per Ian MacDonald
Ian MacDonald
Ian MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...


Cultural references

  • "A Hard Day's Night" is played during the first stage of the 1984 video game Mikie
    Mikie
    Mikie, known in Japan as , is a arcade game by Konami where the player must guide a student called "Mikie" around the school, classroom, and locker room to collect hearts which make up a letter from his girlfriend Mandy while being chased by various members of the school staff...

    .
  • "A Hard Day's Night" was used as wakeup music on Space Shuttle
    Space Shuttle
    The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

     Missions STS-30
    STS-30
    STS-30 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis deployed the Venus-bound Magellan probe into orbit. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 4 May 1989, and landed four days later...

    , STS-61
    STS-61
    STS-61 was the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The mission launched on 2 December 1993 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision, marred by spherical aberration, with the...

    , and STS-69
    STS-69
    STS-69 was a Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, and the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility . The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 7 September 1995.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: payload*Perigee:...

    .
  • Ali Campbell
    Ali Campbell
    Ali Campbell, , is a British singer, solo artist and songwriter and was the lead singer and founding member of UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records world wide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008 Campbell left UB40 and embarked on a successful solo career.-Personal...

     covered the song on his 2010 album Great British Songs.
  • This song is briefly heard in the film Top Secret!
    Top Secret!
    Top Secret! is a 1984 comedy film directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. It stars Val Kilmer , Lucy Gutteridge, Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough and Jeremy Kemp. The film is a parody of the GDR era and Elvis films...

     starring Val Kilmer
    Val Kilmer
    Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...

    . A horse starts to sing it as he pulls a wagon into the distance.

Cover versions

Year Group or artist's name Album title Additional information
1964 The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits
The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits
The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits is a tribute album of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing the hits of The Beatles. It was originally released in 1964 by Liberty Records on vinyl record, and consists of Chipmunk renditions of early Beatles hits. The reorganized Liberty Records reissued the album in...

1964 A Bit of Liverpool
A Bit of Liverpool
A Bit of Liverpool is an album by singing group The Supremes, released in the fall of 1964 on the Motown label.-Track listing:#"How Do You Do It?" #"A World Without Love"...

1964 Golden Boy
1964 In the Name of Love
1964 In Person 1960-1967
1964 single
1964 The Nutty Squirrels Sing A Hard Day's Night and Other Smashes
The Nutty Squirrels Sing A Hard Day's Night and Other Smashes
The Nutty Squirrels Sing A Hard Day's Night and Other Smashes is a children's music album by jazz musicians Don Elliott and Alexander "Sascha" Burland, recording as The Nutty Squirrels....

1964 single
1965 Ella in Hamburg
Ella in Hamburg
Ella in Hamburg is a 1965 live album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, recorded in Hamburg, Germany.Ella is accompanied by a trio led by the pianist Tommy Flanagan....

Instrumental
1965 With title "Učini jednom bar"
1965 single A comedy version in which he recited the lyrics in the style of Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

 in Olivier's film version
Richard III (1955 film)
Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...

 of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's play Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...

. Sellers' version was a UK Top 20 hit in 1965.
1966 Chet Atkins Picks on The Beatles
Chet Atkins Picks on The Beatles
Chet Atkins Picks on The Beatles is the title of a recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins. Atkins interprets a selection of songs by The Beatles on this album.-History:...

1966 Bali Hai'h Instrumental
1966 The Wildest Organ in Town!
The Wildest Organ in Town!
Wildest Organ In Town! is the second album released by Billy Preston in 1966. The album was arranged by Sly Stone.-Track listing:#"Midnight Hour" – 2:11#"Uptight" – 2:22...

1967 Whisky a Go-Go
1968 Single (Volt148) Appears on the 1993 various artists compilation album Rubber Souled.
1969 Soulful
1979 At His Very Best
1982 Recorded Live: Previously Released Performances
1982 The Dawn Of Shockabilly (EP)
1991 Honest Workers
1995 Manuel Barrueco plays Lennon & McCartney
1996 Electric Chair
Electric Chair (album)
Electric Chair is a compilation album by Australian rock group Hoodoo Gurus. It was originally released as a 2CD set with Armchair Gurus, the album features seventeen Hoodoo Gurus' rock/party tracks whilst Armchair Gurus contains seventeen ballads and slower songs...

1998 In My Life
1998 Flaming Youth Titled "Hard Dayz Night"
1998 The Punkles
2000 Marvin at the Movies Instrumental
2001 Aqui, Ali, em Qualquer Lugar
("Here, There and Everywhere")
2001 Reach for the Sky
2004 Serenade Renegade
2005 My Lives
My Lives
My Lives is a box set compilation of demos, outtakes, B-sides, soundtrack cuts, live recordings and album cuts by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel. It was released on November 22, 2005...

Recorded live
2005 A Hard Day's Night
2007 single B-side to "TV & Me
TV & Me
"TV & Me" is the third single to be released by Swedish band Mando Diao from their third album, Ode To Ochrasy. The single was released all around Europe, except for Germany, where Good Morning, Herr Horst was released instead. The digital version is the same as the physical version...

"
2009 single Live Performances "TBA Album"

Tributes

  • The Rutles
    The Rutles
    The Rutles are a band that are known for their visual and aural pastiches and parodies of The Beatles. Originally created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a fictional band to be featured as part of various 1970s television programming, the group recorded, toured, and released two UK chart hits in...

    ' song "I Must Be In Love" is a pastiche
    Pastiche
    A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...

     of this song.
  • Beatallica
    Beatallica
    Beatallica is a mash-up band that plays music made from combinations of songs of The Beatles and Metallica. A Beatallica song is typically a blend of a Beatles song and a Metallica song with a related title Beatallica is a mash-up band that plays music made from combinations of songs of The Beatles...

     recorded a thrash version of this song called "A Garage Dayz Nite" whose lyrics reference the songs "Trapped Under Ice" by Metallica
    Metallica
    Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

     and "Love at First Sting
    Love at First Sting
    Love at First Sting is the ninth studio album by the German heavy metal band Scorpions, released in 1984 . Love at First Sting became the most successful album of the band in the USA where it peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1984 and went triple platinum...

    " by Scorpions
    Scorpions (band)
    Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...

    .
  • The Cirque Du Soleil
    Cirque du Soleil
    Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...

     production Love
    LOVE (Cirque du Soleil)
    Love is a 2006 theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which combines the re-produced and re-imagined music of The Beatles with an interpretive, circus-based artistic and athletic stage performance. The show plays at a specially built theatre at The Mirage in Las Vegas.A joint venture between...

    uses the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night" to introduce "Get Back
    Get Back
    "Get Back" is a song by The Beatles, composed by Paul McCartney and frequently attributed to Lennon–McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969, and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be ,...

    ". The chord is played forward, and while the drum solo from "The End
    The End (The Beatles song)
    "The End" is a song by The Beatles composed by Paul McCartney for the album Abbey Road. It was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles, and is the final song of the medley that dominates side two of the LP version of the album.-Composition and recording:McCartney said, "I wanted...

    " is playing, the chord is reversed to the beginning.

External links

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