In July 1964, the Beatles made their feature film debut with A Hard Day’s Night, sparking a trend that bands such as the Rolling Stones and The Who would go on to follow. To accompany the movie, the Fab Four also released a soundtrack album of the same name. A Hard Day’s Night marked the Beatles’ third album overall and first ever to contain entirely original material, penned by the now-historic partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
On August 1, the album’s second single and title track reached number one on the U.S. chart.
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The Beatles Set a Record For Most No. 1 Hits in a Year
The success of “A Hard Day’s Night” gave the Beatles their fifth U.S. chart-topper in seven months.
Two more would follow, rounding out the list to seven number-one hits in one year—an all-time record.
That list started with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and expanded to include “She Loves You”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “Love Me Do”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “I Feel Fine” and “Eight Days a Week”.
Additionally, “A Hard Day’s Night” was the sixth of seven songs written by Lennon-McCartney to reach number one in 1964. This milestone set an all-time record on the U.S. charts for writing the most songs to hit number one in the same calendar year.
Also notably, the U.S. and UK singles of “A Hard Day’s Night”—as well as both the American and British albums of the same title—held the top position in their respective charts simultaneously for a couple of weeks in August 1964, the first time any artist had accomplished this feat.
How George Harrison Inspired The Title
As the story goes, “A Hard Day’s Night” takes its name from a vocal gaffe by the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
“We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night,” Starr explained in a 1964 interview with radio personality Dave Hull. “I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day …’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘… night!’ So we came to ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’”
Starr’s vocal miscue inspired the name of the film, which then set the song in motion.
Guitarist George Harrison also put his own creative stamp on “A Hard Day’s Night” with the song’s unmistakable opening chord.
[RELATED: Michael Jackson Thought This 1969 George Harrison Hit Was a Lennon–McCartney Song]
“We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning,” said George Martin, the Beatles’ producer. “The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch.”
Featured image by Mark Hayward Archive/Redferns
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