“If I Fell” was the last song recorded on The Beatles February 27, 1964 session set up to record songs for their first feature film A Hard Day’s Night. This clip, taken directly from the film shows the Beatles when they are supposedly rehearsing the song in preparation for an upcoming London television show. In the opening we see that Ringo Starr is initially bitter about the theater tech mishandling his drums.

Paul McCartney, harmonizing on the vocals with John Lennon, had trouble reaching the high note on the word “vain” the second time around, so George Martin mixed out the words “new love was in vain” for the mono mix (heard here). This was done by replacing the faulty section with a copy of when it was sung the first time around. In the U.S., “If I Fell” was released as a Capitol single coupled with “And I Love Her” on July 20, 1964, around three weeks before the movie made it’s American theater debut.

Click the image above to play the video.

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 remastered CD of original 1964 UK LP, includes stereo mix of “If I Fell”.

2) A Hard Day’s Night – 2002 DVD remaster of original 1964 feature film. Contains a bonus DVD with lots of special features. Includes this clip of “If I Fell”.

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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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.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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After the highly successful Wings Over America tour in 1976, Paul McCartney planned a follow up tour of the United States for 1977, but this was not to be. Linda McCartney soon discovered that she was pregnant with their third child (James). Although they abandoned tour plans, Linda’s condition did not prevent getting in a little bit of recording. Paul chose a more relaxed atmosphere though, and set up a studio on a yacht called Fair Carol in the Virgin Islands, with the idea of putting an album together called Water Wings. As Linda’s pregnancy progressed, Paul did eventually end up putting the sessions on hold after finishing up both sides of the next single – “Mull Of Kintyre” (written with Wings bandmate Denny Laine) and “Girl’s School”. “Mull Of Kintyre” became a huge hit in the U.K. and historically the first single to sell over two million copies in that country. It barely charted in the U.S. with “Girl’s School” charting higher than the A-side (#33 on Billboard). James was born in September, but also around that time Wings drummer Joe English became homesick for America and ended up leaving the band. Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch also left to join a reunion version of the Small Faces. So by the time the “Mull Of Kintyre” single was released in November, Wings was down to Paul, Linda and Denny. However, this line up worked fine on Band On The Run, so no need to think it would not work again, especially with many of the sessions already completed earlier in the year. The album was finished up by January 1978 and released in March. Even though much of the album was recorded in the Virgin Islands, the Water Wings title was rejected in favor of the ironic title London Town, after the song on the disc that I am featuring here.

The first single from the LP, “With A Little Luck” was a commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, however the two follow up singles “I’ve Had Enough” and “London Town” barely made a “splash”. Although, the rise of punk kept many songs like “London Town” from getting much recognition during this time, I’ve always placed it as one of my favorite Wings tracks of the period. The promo video features a surprise appearance of one of Paul’s old friends from the Beatles movie-days – Victor Spinetti, who starred in A Hard Day’s Night, Help! and even Magical Mystery Tour. Thanks for stopping by this week…

Click the image above to play the video.

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

1) London Town – 1993 remaster of original 1978 LP plus bonus material. Of course, it includes the “London Town” title track.

2) The McCartney Years – 2007 3-DVD set by Paul McCartney, the first two DVD’s contain music videos, including “London Town” and “Mull Of Kintyre” mentioned above. The third disc contains concert footage.

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. TheBeatlesRarity.com continues it’s focus on John Lennon this month with a live performance for the British television program Blackpool Night Out (aka Big Night Out). Unlike The Beatles’ other three performances on the show, only audio without video survives of this July 19, 1964 broadcast. The Beatles open the performance with A Hard Day’s Night, to promote their new single and movie of the same name. John energetically handles the lead vocal with Paul McCartney following up on the choruses. After this tune, they continued with Things We Said Today, You Can’t Do That, If I Fell (again as with another recent post here with a fit of giggles, causing them to have to start over), and finally Long Tall Sally. I’m not sure why, but the guitars were tuned down half a step for the entire performance. The Beatles gave a good show and the sound was balanced well, unlike a few previous live television performances in the U.K. Maybe that is why Blackpool Night Out would be the only live British television performance the band would do in 1965. Surprisingly, none of the material from this broadcast was used on The Beatles Anthology releases or any other official Beatles releases.

The Beatles on Blackpool Night Out, July 19, 1964

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

To read more about the new John Lennon releases and/or order your own copies from Amazon, click any of the links below:

1) Signature Box

2) Gimme Some Truth

3) Double Fantasy Stripped Down

4) Power To The People: The Hits (CD & DVD)

5) Power To The People: The Hits (CD only)

And new from Apple…The Red and The Blue albums remastered!

1) The Beatles 1962-1966 (Red) Remastered

2) The Beatles 1967-1970 (Blue) Remastered

3) And Amazon links for everything else: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week.

This month’s BROW, VOW and cartoon features focus on John Lennon in honor of his 70th, this Saturday, October 9th.

Although I’ll Cry Instead is a great country-influenced rocker with a perfect John Lennon vocal, it was decided to eliminate it from the A Hard Day’s Night film and use Can’t Buy Me Love twice, instead. It’s a good thing that I’ll Cry Instead was still issued on the soundtrack.

I had a request to spin the long version of The Beatles’ I’ll Cry Instead for BROW but decided since it was issued on the Something New CD (part of the the readily available Capitol Albums Vol. 1 box set), that it wasn’t really rare enough to be BROW material. But then I came up with a more-than-suitable alternative. Read on for the details…

The mono mix of I’ll Cry Instead contains an extra verse where John Lennon repeats the first verse as the fourth verse. This verse was edited out of the stereo mix making it about 20 seconds shorter. On the U.K releases of the A Hard Day’s Night album, however, both the mono and stereo versions have the edit. In the U.S., the mono mixes contain the extra verse. The mono mixes in the U.S. appear on the Capitol single, the mono edition of the Capitol album Something New, and the stereo and mono editions of the United Artists LP A Hard Day’s Night Soundtrack. Why, you might ask, was the mono mix of I’ll Cry Instead on the stereo edition of the A Hard Day’s Night Soundtrack? Well, the truth is, all eight Beatles songs on the stereo A Hard Day’s Night Soundtrack were in mono. The only stereo recordings were the other four movie score tracks put together by producer George Martin. What a rip, huh? It was an extra dollar for the stereo album ($3.98 instead of $2.98) and all the Beatles songs are secretly still in mono. The reason for this was that United Artists received a tape containing the mono mixes on around June 10, 1964 and decided to not wait on the stereo mixes (which weren’t made until June 22, four days prior to the record’s release). This way they could release the album as soon as possible.

So the bottom line is to hear the long version of I’ll Cry Instead, you have to find the U.S. mono mix by having the single or maybe the Capitol Albums Vol. 1 CD box set. But wait! There is a rare stereo version that was issued officially and plays with a montage of still photos that preceded the film on an early 1980′s commercially issued VHS of A Hard Day’s Night. This stereo mix of the long version is actually a forgery created by editing another copy of the first verse back in at the appropriate spot near the end of the song. Since this VHS would be awfully hard to find now, I have decided to feature this obscure stereo long (forged) version of I’ll Cry Instead for this week’s BROW. With a tuned in ear you’ll be able to spot the edit, but this is exactly how it was on the aforementioned VHS tape.

1964 U.S. cover to the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack

Additional note: I said the Beatles songs on the stereo edition of the U.S. soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night are in mono, and that is true. I did not mention though, that it was tweaked to simulate stereo. This was done by simply separating the mono mix into two channels and then boosting the low bass frequencies in the left channel, and the high treble frequencies in the right channel. It is still mono.

Thanks go out to Daniel Celano for the original BROW request for the long I’ll Cry Instead.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

To read more about the new John Lennon releases and/or order your own copies from Amazon, click any of the links below:

1) Signature Box

2) Gimme Some Truth

3) Double Fantasy Stripped Down

4) Power To The People: The Hits (CD & DVD)

5) Power To The People: The Hits (CD only)

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – A Hard Day’s Night (takes 2 & 3) Early in 1964 John Lennon published his first book titled...
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Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. John Lennon got a head start on writing new material for the yet untitled first Beatles movie, in early January 1964, when he wrote and recorded the initial home demos for If I Fell in his London flat. Legend has it that the recordings were taped over an audio message sent to John by a fan who had seen The Beatles November 17, 1963 show in Coventry. Her message had been recorded on New Year’s Eve, 1963. If I Fell would go on to be one of the 7 new songs completed specifically for A Hard Day’s Night (film and album) as well as the B-side of a July 1964 single paired with And I Love Her as the A-side. The other new songs for the film would be written during the upcoming tour of France and America.

This historical recording is divided into five separate demo/fragments:

1) The tape starts with a take already in progress, but this is cut off for a complete attempt (0:00-0:13).
2) John plays through the complete song with the structure and lyrics nearly finalized. The melody line he sings would eventually be given to Paul McCartney, with John taking a lower harmony. Here John is obviously straining to reach the notes. Note that the ending riff would be removed from use on this song and used instead on I Should Have Known Better (another song for the film yet to be written) (0:14-2:40).
3) John sings the final verse an octave lower which is much more suited for his vocal range (2:41-3:08).
4) John tries singing falsetto again, but only the first verse (3:09-3:45).
5) John tries just a couple lines of the first verse, singing falsetto again and snaps off the tape (3:46-4:00).

John Lennon, 1964

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Early in 1964 John Lennon published his first book titled In His Own Write. The title itself is a play on words and there are many, many other funny usages of words and phrases throughout the book, as well as some hilarious illustrations, all made by John. This is an excerpt from one of the funny little stories in the book, called Sad Michael:

There was no reason for Michael to be sad that morning, (the little wretch); everyone liked him, (the scab). He’d had a hard day’s night that day, for Michael was a Cocky Watchtower.

Although John used the phrase a hard day’s night here, it was a re-occurrence of this phrase, made by Ringo, that inspired the title of The Beatles first movie. In a 1964 interview by Dave Hull, Ringo explained that he came out from working and said it’s been a hard day…then looked around noticing it was already late and said…night. So A Hard Day’s Night was originally a malapropism spoken by Ringo.

John immediately wrote the title song and came into Abbey Road studio on April 16, 1964 with the lyrics printed on the back of his son Julian’s birthday card (he had turned one year old earlier that month) and they laid down nine takes, with the last being used to create the master. Paul was given the bridge to sing because John had a hard time reaching the notes. The full account of take 1 was included on The Beatles Anthology 1 CD set. Featured here is take 2 (a false start) and the complete run through of take 3. Opening up with that unique and now immediately recognizable opening chord, this song’s worldwide success showed a lot of American skeptics that The Beatles were not going to be a one-hit wonder in the United States.

A Hard Day's Night promo ad for film, 1964

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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