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Ticket to Ride
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"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 at Abbey Road Studios and released two months later.
The song was written primarily by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney), with Paul McCartney's contributions in dispute. Lennon said that McCartney's contribution was limited to "the way Ringo played the drums". McCartney said that was an incomplete response, and that "we sat down and wrote it together...
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Encyclopedia
"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 at Abbey Road Studios and released two months later.
The song was written primarily by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney), with Paul McCartney's contributions in dispute. Lennon said that McCartney's contribution was limited to "the way Ringo played the drums". McCartney said that was an incomplete response, and that "we sat down and wrote it together... give him 60 percent of it... we sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session." Lennon said the double-time ending section (with the lyric "My baby don't care") was one of his "favorite bits" in the song. This song was also the first song by the band in which McCartney was featured on lead guitar.
Meaning of "ticket to ride"
The inspiration of the song is unclear, and several plausible explanations exist:
- "a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight" (McCartney to Barry Miles)
- "a girl riding out of the life of the narrator"
- a phrase coined by John about the cards indicating a clean bill of health, handed out to Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s (Don Short to Steve Turner) (the Beatles played in Hamburg early in their musical career, and "ride/riding" being slang for having sex)
Other explanations attribute the song to the experience of Lennon's mother leaving the family when he was a child, and the possibility that Lennon was exposed, perhaps by Little Richard in Hamburg, to the colored spiritual "If I Got My Ticket, Can I Ride?".
A popular myth (perpetrated by Casey Kasem) was that the song was written and recorded as "Ticket to Rye," but the official name of the song was changed for the sake of American and international listeners who would not understand the reference to the town in East Sussex, England.
Release
"Ticket to Ride" was released on 9 April 1965 in the UK and 19 April in the U.S.
with "Yes It Is" as its B-side, topping the Hot 100 for a week in the US and the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in the UK. The original single's label declared that the song was from the United Artists release Eight Arms to Hold You. This was the original title of The Beatles' second movie; the title changed to Help! after the single was initially released.
Critical acclaim
Both Richie Unterberger of Allmusic and author Ian MacDonald describe "Ticket to Ride" as an important milestone in the evolution of the musical style of the Beatles. Unterberger said, "the rhythm parts on 'Ticket to Ride' were harder and heavier than they had been on any previous Beatles outing, particularly in Ringo Starr's stormy stutters and rolls." MacDonald described it as "psychologically deeper than anything The Beatles had recorded before ... extraordinary for its time — massive with chiming electric guitars, weighty rhythm, and rumbling floor tom-toms. Macdonald also notes that the track uses the Indian basis of drone which might have influenced the Kinks' See My Friends.
Credits
- John Lennon – double tracked lead vocal and rhythm guitar
- Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass and lead guitar
- George Harrison – harmony vocal, 12 string electric lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums and tambourine.
- Above credits according to Ian MacDonald
George Harrison is playing his 12-string Rickenbacker guitar.
Cover versions
After the breakup of the Beatles, Lennon proudly claimed that it was the first heavy metal song of all time; given the droning bassline, repeating drums, and loaded guitar lines. Given this notion, it seems almost ironic that the famously wholesome Carpenters covered the song as a slow ballad in late 1969 for their debut album Offering, and the song charted as a minor #54 single on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts in early 1970. They re-recorded the song for inclusion on their first "Greatest Hits" album in 1974. Hard rock pioneers Vanilla Fudge also recorded a cover version in 1967.
Hüsker Dü also covered this song live. The Fifth Dimension covered the song in 1967 on The Magic Garden album.
In 1998 The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their first album. In 1993 Kids Incorporated covered "Ticket To Ride" and in 2007 Atomic Kitten covered "Ticket To Ride".
The Carpenters' Version
In 1969, it was released by The Carpenters on their album, Offering/Ticket to Ride, and it became a minor hit. The song stalled at number #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and #19 on the adult contemporary. The Carpenters recorded the song as a slower ballad. They released their debut album of the same name.
| Chart 1969 | Peak
position |
|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 54 | | U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 19 | | Record World | - | | Canadian Singles Chart | - | | Oricon (Japanese) Singles Chart | - | | UK Singles Chart | - |
Cultural references
Noel Gallagher of Oasis has called "Ticket to Ride" and "Paperback Writer" his favourite Beatles songs.
An orchestral version of the song is barely audible in the fadeout at the very end of newer CD issues of the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. This is probably a mistake in remastering; coincidentally both The Beatles and Pink Floyd were patrons of Abbey Road Studios.
The song is referenced in "Artificial Energy", by The Byrds, the opening track of The Notorious Byrd Brothers from 1968.
The title of this song is a referenced to in the Red Dwarf episode Tikka to Ride, in accordance with the theme of curry on which the storyline focuses.
In a Doctor Who episode titled "The Executioners,", the Doctor and his companions Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki watch the Beatles perform "Ticket To Ride" on the Doctor's recently acquired time/space visualiser. The clip shown is about 15 seconds long and was of a mime performance they gave on Top of the Pops very recent to the recording of the Doctor Who episode and is the only footage of this performance known to exist. The episode transmitted on 22 May 1965 on BBC1 and was watched by 10 million viewers. This story was released on VHS in 1993.
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