1965
SINGLE
RELEASED
Great Britain: December 3, 1965 / No. 1 on December 16, 1965
United States: December 6, 1965 / No. 5 on December 25, 1965
Lennon-McCartney / 2:48
1965
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: vocal, bass
George: lead guitar, backing vocal
Ringo: drums, tambourine
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 16, 1965 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 3
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 25–26 and 29, 1965 (Studio Two) / November 10, 1966 (Room 65)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Norman Smith, Pete Bown
Assistant Engineers: Ken Scott, Ron Pender, Graham Kirkby
John wrote “Day Tripper” as a single. In 1969, he admits, “‘Day Tripper’ was [written] under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous. It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it.”1 The song, composed in 1965 right after their North American tour, is no less a hit for its guitar riff, which makes any self-respecting guitar player happy. John: “That’s mine. Including the lick, the guitar break, and the whole bit. It’s just a rock ’n’ roll song.”2 The inspiration for the guitar riff might have come from Bobby Parker’s “Watch Your Step,” just as it did for “I Feel Fine.” Paul recalls cowriting the song with John at John’s house in Kenwood. The lyrics were an enigma for many fans at the time. First of all, what does day tripper mean? Literally, “people who go on a day trip.” More than a day trip, however, the word refers to “trips” that provide artificial paradises—not a trip through the English countryside. In 1970, John said, “It wasn’t a serious message song. It was a drug song.”3 But it wasn’t only a drug song, because there are also sexual references, as Paul confessed to Barry Miles: “She’s a big teaser, was ‘she’s a prick teaser.’ The mums and dads didn’t get it but the kids did.”4 The song is filled with hidden meanings …
Four days later, when Paul brought out “We Can Work It Out,” it was preferred over “Day Tripper” for the A-side. John objected vociferously, and in an innovative and diplomatic compromise the Beatles’ next single had a double A-side. Once again, the Beatles were ahead of their time.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
German radio was reluctant to broadcast Tripper because the word is slang for “gonorrhea” in the language of Goethe.
Most of October 16 was spent working on “Day Tripper.” In an unusual move, Cynthia along with John’s two half-sisters, Julia and Jacqui (born Dykins), were allowed to attend the recording session. After rehearsing, the Beatles finished the rhythm track in three takes with John on rhythm guitar, Paul on bass, George on lead guitar using his volume pedal in the middle eight, and Ringo on drums. After a break, John and Paul shared lead and backing vocals. The final overdub was complicated. John and Paul double-tracked their vocals and George provided a third harmonic line in the choruses of the instrumental bridge while double-tracking his lead guitar and also performing a guitar solo in the same bridge. Ringo played the tambourine. “Day Tripper” was completed, ready to climb to the top of the charts. The first mono mix was made on October 25 and then improved on October 29. The stereo mix was made on October 26. However, it was judged unacceptable, and Peter Bown redid it on November 10, 1966, adding more reverb to the vocals. The aim was to incorporate it into the first Beatles’ compilation, A Collection of Beatles Oldies, released in Europe on December 9, 1966.
Lennon-McCartney / 2:13
1965
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, bass (?), acoustic guitar (?), harmonium (?)
John: backing vocal, acoustic guitar (?), harmonium, tambourine (?)
George: acoustic guitar (?), tambourine (?)
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 20 and 29, 1965 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 2
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 28–29, 1965 (Studio Two) / November 10, 1965 (Room 65) / November 10, 1966 (Room 65)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Norman Smith, Pete Bown
Assistant Engineers: Ken Scott, Jerry Boys, Graham Kirkby
Paul composed “We Can Work It Out” on his guitar at Rembrandt, the house he bought for his father in June 1964. The lyrics are very personal, probably a reference to his problematic relationship with his girlfriend, Jane Asher. As Paul explained to Barry Miles, “It is often a good way to talk to someone or to work your own thoughts out.”1 After writing the basic text of the song, he took it to John to finish it off. John said, “Paul wrote the first half, I did the middle eight,” and he added that he could not restrain himself in the face of Paul’s eternal optimism—We can work it out—Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friend.2 When Paul wrote the song, he was thinking of a title faster in tempo and more country and western in style. George contributed to the instrumental arrangements by suggesting a middle like a German waltz.
“We Can Work It Out” is a Beatles masterpiece. Innovation, intelligence, sophistication—all these ingredients came together to place the song in the forefront of everything they did at the time. John had to fight to prevent “Day Tripper” from ending up as the B-side of the single (see “Day Tripper”). As a result, both songs appeared as an A-side. Although “We Can Work It Out” was number 1 on the charts in the United States, “Day Tripper” peaked only in fifth place.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
Paul bought Rembrandt, his father’s house on Baskerville Road, Heswall, Liverpool, in 1964 for £8,750 [$13,000 U.S.]. The house still belongs to Paul, and since the death of his father in 1976, Paul stops by from time to time.
On October 20, only four days after recording “Day Tripper,” the Beatles were back at the studio to work on “We Can Work It Out.” The rhythm track was recorded in two takes. The instrumental distribution is unclear, and there is no clear documentation for it. Nevertheless, we can assume that Paul played his acoustic guitar while John and George were on bass and tambourine. The quality of the bass playing supports this hypothesis. Ringo played drums. During the session, the Beatles “found an old harmonium hidden away in the studio, and said, “Oh, this’d be a nice color on it.”3 Recorded on the second track, Paul, rather than John, probably played the harmonium. On the third track, Paul had the lead vocal, which was doubled-tracked, as was John’s backing vocal in the middle eight. Finally, on the last track, we clearly hear John in a second harmonium part. The first mono mix was made on October 28 for a television show, The Music of Lennon and McCartney. However, when the Beatles heard the mix the next day, they decided to overdub more vocals by superposition. After two additional hours of recording vocals, the mono mix was finalized. As with “Day Tripper,” Pete Bown redid the stereo mix on November 10, 1966, for the British compilation album, A Collection of Beatles Oldies.
It was the first time the Beatles used the harmonium. This instrument, found in a corner at Abbey Road, appears in various Beatles’ songs, such as “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” Today, this harmonium is in Paul’s home studio.