The Beatles broke new ground with practically every move that they made in the early 60s. They rewrote the rule book for what a rock group could and should do. As such, other bands had to try to raise their game just to keep up.
The 1964 album A Hard Day’s Night represented an impressive flex by the band. It was the first album where all the songs were written by the band, specifically John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Videos by American Songwriter
A New Challenge
The Beatles entered 1964 having just enjoyed one of the finest years any British band had ever encountered. They turned it up a notch by visiting America for the first time in February 1964 while their song “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was charming US audiences. The world pretty much belonged to them from that point.
For their next trick, they decided to make their first motion picture. It was a field about which they knew very little. But they wisely aligned themselves with the right people to help guide them through the making of the film. And their natural charisma helped immensely once they found themselves on camera.
The film needed a new batch of songs from the group. Deadlines were tighter than usual, since the band was not only tasked with acting in the film but also with providing the soundtrack. John Lennon and Paul McCartney then decided to raise the difficulty level even higher.
No Covers
Right from the start of their career, The Beatles insisted upon writing as much of their material as possible. They famously clashed with producer George Martin about their second single when Martin wanted to give them a pre-written track. The group won out, ending up with a smash in “Please Please Me” as a result.
On their first two albums, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the bulk of the tracks. But they did relent on occasion and recorded a few well-chosen covers. They mostly took those songs right from the live set that they did at The Cavern in Liverpool.
But when it came time to put together A Hard Day’s Night, the pair decided that they weren’t going to fall back on cover songs that they already had in their repertoire. And since neither George Harrison nor Ringo Starr had found a writing groove by that time, that meant that Lennon and McCartney were responsible for all 13 songs on the record.
All Killer, No Filler
To say that Lennon and McCartney rose to the occasion would be an understatement. Their natural competitiveness helped. Lennon stepped up with the frantically paced title track in “A Hard Day’s Night”. McCartney responded with a high-speed chase song of his own in “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Lennon’s ballad “If I Fell” was matched by Macca’s “And I Love Her”.
Because the filmmakers didn’t have room for all the songs on the album in the movie, it gave Lennon and McCartney some leeway to try out moodier numbers for those LP-only songs. Bittersweet tracks like “Things We Said Today” and “I’ll Be Back” shone on the second side.
A Hard Day’s Night is nothing short of a masterpiece LP, and an all-original one to boot. The Beatles had set the bar ridiculously high and put the onus on other bands to clear it while relying on their own songwriting wits.
(Photo by Eyles/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)