Welcome to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week. This week’s BROW takes us to February 26, 1964, when The Beatles were in session working on “I Should Have Known Better,” a track for their upcoming A Hard Day’s Night film and LP. After take 8, John Lennon figured out that the reason he was running out of breath so quickly while trying to sing the song’s first line was because of the harmonica bit he was playing in the intro. Beginning with take 9, the harmonica part was left out, with the idea of overdubbing it in later that day. After 22 takes, they had the backing and John’s vocal tracks down. The final overdubs, consisting of George Harrison’s 12-string guitar solo and John’s harmonica parts, were next. But for the harmonica intro part, John still ran out of breath. This time it was in the middle of the fourth harmonica phrase. This is how it sounded.

This problem was no biggie for the engineers to correct, which they did by removing the fourth phrase and replacing it with a copy of the third phrase. The corrected version sounds like this.
Note: After hitting the ‘play’ button below, you may need to ‘turn off’ the player above by hitting the ‘play’ button above again to turn it off. This will stop both sound files from playing simultaneously on some systems.

Stereo was not given as much attention as mono in 1964, so this correction was somehow overlooked on the stereo mix of the song. So, for many years, that stereo mix retained the flaw. Even by 1970, the U.S. compilation LP Hey Jude (a.k.a. The Beatles Again) used the same mix with the harmonica interruption. It was not until March 22, 1982, that a “repaired” version was issued. It was introduced with the U.S. compilation of Beatles film tracks, called Reel Music. For this unique stereo mix, a similar edit was done as the one for the original mono mix, where the fourth harmonica phrase is replaced. But for the stereo mix, it is replaced with a copy of the second phrase, instead of the third. Reel Music was never issued after the vinyl 1982 LP and is now long out of print, making this unique mix of the song quite hard to find these days. But you can hear it in stereo right here.
Note: After hitting the ‘play’ button below, you may need to ‘turn off’ either of the players above by hitting their ‘play’ buttons above again. This will stop more than one sound file from playing simultaneously on some systems.

Still from 'A Hard Day's Night' movie where The Beatles perform 'I Should Have Known Better'

Extra info: “I Should Have Known Better” is heard twice in the A Hard Day’s Night film. First in the scene on the train (pictured above) and second in the concluding television concert performance. Both scenes use the corrected mono mix in the latest DVD version of the film (Amazon link below); however earlier issuances (the first DVD and all VHS copies) have the mono mix on the first performance but the flawed stereo mix on the second.

Many thanks to Dennis Mitchell of Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast With The Beatles, who inspired my idea for this post a couple months ago.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) A Hard Day’s Night (Remastered) – 2009 remaster of original 1964 UK stereo LP with bonus video featurette on the album, featuring original stereo mix of “I Should Have Known Better”.

2) A Hard Day’s Night – 2002 remaster of original 1964 film with an extra disc of bonus materials about the film – this was The Beatles first! Includes the original mono mix of “I Should Have Known Better” twice.

3) Additional Amazon links for your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

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