4 Beatles Songs With Unforgettable Musical Intros

The Beatles grabbed the world’s attention in a hurry in the 60s. They rose from anonymity in Liverpool to world domination in hardly more than a year’s time. You could certainly say they knew how to make a first impression.

They carried that skill over to their individual songs. Here are four tracks from throughout The Beatles’ career that immediately made us sit up and take notice thanks to unforgettable musical intros.

“A Hard Day’s Night”

Not only was the intro to “A Hard Day’s Night” tasked with introducing a song, but it also revved up both an album and a major motion picture. It’s no wonder that the band wanted it to be iconic. They certainly came through on that front. Most people who listen and then try to reproduce that initial chordal blast make the mistake of thinking that it’s just a guitar making that noise. There are actually a few different instruments at work there, some of them playing slightly different chordal patterns. In any case, that sound explosion acted like a starter’s pistol. It set the tone for a song that was all about how life sometimes won’t allow you to slow down.

“I Feel Fine”

The Beatles innately understood that they needed to change things up, if ever so slightly, with every single release. Sometimes, that meant incorporating a new instrument into the mix. Or it could mean finding a different method of bringing the sound in (a la the fade-up of “Eight Days A Week”). In the case of “I Feel Fine”, the novelty came from a happy accident that the band decided to then incorporate into the mix. Although the recollections somewhat differ among band members about how it exactly happened, the blast of feedback that started off “I Feel Fine” provided an instantly grabby opening to the song. From there, the ebullience of the singing and playing carried the day.

“Day Tripper”

The Rolling Stones were generally the ones known for their riff-rocking. But right around the same time that the Stones were taking the world by storm with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, The Beatles were showing they could get riffy with it as well with “Day Tripper”. The subject matter is laced with not-so-subtle innuendo about the era’s sexual mores and drug culture. Why not begin it with a potent guitar riff that suggested some of that behavior without needing to say a word? John Lennon came up with the incredible opening part, which would also return in a thrilling instrumental break in the center of the song.

“Strawberry Fields Forever”

In 1967, The Beatles left behind their days of touring in favor of studio experimentation. Not that they hadn’t already started down the path of more ornate recordings on albums like Revolver and Rubber Soul. But they took it to another level with “Strawberry Fields Forever”, which was one half of the first single that they released in 1967. (“Penny Lane”, pretty ambitious in its own right, was the other.) The first sounds that you hear on “Strawberry Fields Forever” are the lilting strains of a Mellotron, played by Paul McCartney and set to mimic flutes. There’s just something otherworldly about those notes. What better way to lead into John Lennon’s lyrics, which are both surreal and melancholy?

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