SONGBOOK
BEATLES FOR SALE
The kids of AD 2000 will draw from the music much the same sense of wellbeing and warmth as we do today. For the magic of The Beatles is, I suspect, timeless and ageless . . . it is adored by the world.
– Derek Taylor, album’s liner notes
We’re really pleased with the record and with the new LP. There was a lousy period when we didn’t seem to have any material for the LP and didn’t have a single. Now we’re clear of things and they’re due out, it’s a bit of a relief.
– John Lennon
TRACK LIST
Side 1:
No Reply (Lennon-McCartney)
I’m A Loser (Lennon-McCartney)
Baby’s In Black (Lennon-McCartney)
Rock ’N’ Roll Music (Berry)
I’ll Follow The Sun (Lennon-McCartney)
Mr. Moonlight (Johnson)
Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (Leiber-Stoller/Penniman)
Eight Days A Week (Lennon-McCartney)
Words Of Love (Holly)
Honey Don’t (Perkins)
Every Little Thing (Lennon-McCartney)
I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party (Lennon-McCartney)
What You’re Doing (Lennon-McCartney)
Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby (Perkins)
Released: 4 December 1964 (Parlophone)
Highest chart position: 1
Weeks in chart: 46 (11 at number 1)
FAB FACT
The recording of Beatles For Sale started in August, only a month after the release of A Hard Day’s Night. Because of the band’s hectic touring schedule, the album only had eight Lennon-McCartney originals, with the rest of the album made up of cover versions.
FAB FACT
The influence of his conversation with Bob Dylan, as well as another chat with journalist Kenneth Allsop, spurred John to develop his lyrical self-revelation with songs such as ‘I’m A Loser’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party’ hinting at his unease with fame.
FAB FACT
Both McCartney’s and Lennon’s raucous versions of ‘Kansas City/ Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!’ and ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Music’ were recorded in one take.
‘Eight Days A Week’, earmarked for a single release until John wrote ‘I Feel Fine’, was written in John’s Weybridge house after Paul, who usually drove himself there, arrived with a chauffeur who declared himself so busy he was working ‘eight days a week’. Paul liked the phrase so much, he and John immediately wrote the song around it.
FAB FACT
Robert Freeman was brought in once again to create the album cover with the brief that the photo be taken outside and to bring in the colours of a sunset. The cover was shot in Hyde Park with The Beatles looking worn out after such a busy year. In contrast, the interior shots in the gatefold sleeve show the highlights of the year: the band on stage at the Washington Coliseum (their first US appearance) and in front of a montage of photos in Twickenham film studios where they had been watching rushes of A Hard Day’s Night.