Eight Days A Week

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Eight Days a Week” is a song by The Beatles written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon based on McCartney’s original idea, The song was issued in the U.K. in December 1964 on the album Beatles for Sale. In the U.S., issued in February 1965 as a single with the B-side “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party“, it went to No. 1 for two weeks on 13-20 March 1965. The song was also issued in June 1965 on the U.S. album Beatles VI and reissued worldwide in 2000 on the Beatles number one compilation album 1. WLS ranked the song at #8 for all of 1965.

Inspiration

Paul McCartney has attributed the inspiration of the song to at least two different sources. In a 1984 interview with Playboy, he credited the title to Ringo Starr, who was noted for his malapropisms, which are credited as the source of other song titles (such as “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Tomorrow Never Knows“):

LINDA: Ringo also said, ‘Eight days a week.’
PAUL: Yeah, he said it as though he were an overworked chauffeur. (in heavy accent) ‘Eight days a week.’ (laughter) When we heard it, we said, ‘Really? Bing! Got it!’

However, he has also credited the title to an actual chauffeur who once drove him to Lennon’s house in Weybridge:

I usually drove myself there, but the chauffeur drove me out that day and I said, ‘How’ve you been?’ – ‘Oh working hard,’ he said, ‘working eight days a week.’

Recording

“Eight Days a Week” is the first song which the Beatles took into the studio unfinished to work on the arrangement during the session, a practice which would later become common for the band. The song was mainly recorded in two recording sessions on 6 October devoted exclusively to this song, which lasted nearly seven hours with a fifteen-minute break in between. Lennon and McCartney tried several ideas for the intro and outro of the song. The first take featured a simple acoustic guitar introduction. The second take introduced an “oo”-ing vocal that was experimented with until the sixth take, when it was abandoned in favour of the final guitar intro. The final outro (along with unused intro takes) was recorded separately on 18 October. The final version of the song incorporated another Beatles’ first and pop music rarity: the song begins with a fade-in, as opposed to the common fade-out ending. The instrumentation includes acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass and overdubbed handclaps. The fade-in and coda both include more guitar overdubs.

Release and acclaim

The song, along with two others from the album (“Baby’s in Black” and “No Reply“), was planned as a single release. In the end, it was released as a single only in the United States on 15 February 1965, becoming a number-one hit (their seventh). Its B-side was “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party“. The single release in the US was the result of DJs playing the song from imported copies of the Beatles for Sale album as an exclusive since it was not included on the album’s US counterpart Beatles ’65, nor was the B-side. Later, it and the B-side made a US album appearance on Beatles VI.

On the US charts, the song was the final of seven songs by the Beatles to be No. 1 in a one-year period; an all-time record. In order, these were “I Want to Hold Your Hand“, “She Loves You“, “Can’t Buy Me Love“, “Love Me Do“, “A Hard Day’s Night“, “I Feel Fine“, and “Eight Days a Week” (see List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones). The song was the second of six Hot 100 No. 1 chart toppers in a row (not counting the EP “4 – by the Beatles“) by one act, a record at the time. The other singles were “I Feel Fine“, “Ticket to Ride“, “Help!“, “Yesterday” and “We Can Work It Out“.

Live performances

Although it was a huge American hit, the group did not think highly of the song (Lennon called it “lousy“) and they never performed it live or at any of their radio sessions for the BBC.

Paul McCartney performed the song live for the first time by any Beatle on 4 May 2013 at the Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and throughout his 2013–2015 Out There! Tour (but not at all shows).

Paul McCartney, in Anthology:

I remember writing that with John, at his place in Weybridge, from something said by the chauffeur who drove me out there. John had moved out of London. to the suburbs. I usually drove myself there, but the chauffeur drove me out that day and I said, ‘How’ve you been?’ – ‘Oh, working hard,’ he said, ‘working eight days a week.’ I had never heard anyone use that expression, so when I arrived at John’s house I said, ‘Hey, this fella just said, “eight days a week”.’ John said, ‘Right – “Ooh I need your love, babe…” and we wrote it. We were always quick to write. We would write on the spot. I would show up, looking for some sort of inspiration; I’d either get it there, with John, or I’d hear someone say something.

John and I were always looking for titles. Once you’ve got a good title, if someone says, ‘What’s your new song?’ and you have a title that interests people, you are halfway there. Of course, the song has to be good. If you’ve called it I Am On My Way To A Party With You, Babe, they might say, ‘OK…’ But if you’ve called it Eight Days A Week, they say, ‘Oh yes, that’s good!’

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

• [a] mono 27 Oct 1964. edited.
  UK: Parlophone PMC 1240 For Sale 1964.
  US: Capitol 5371 single 1965, Capitol T 2358 Beatles VI 1965.
  CD: EMI CDP 7 46438 2 For Sale 1987.
• [b] stereo 27 Oct 1964. edited.
  UK: Parlophone PCS 3062 For Sale 1964, Apple PCSP 717 The Beatles 1962-1966 1973.
  US: Capitol ST 2358 Beatles VI 1965, Apple SKBO-3403 The Beatles 1962-1966 1973.
• [c] stereo 1993. edited.
  CD: EMI CDP 7 97036 2 The Beatles 1962-1966 1993.

The intro and ending were edited in. The remix [c] sounds identical to the old stereo version [b] but was reportedly redone for CD.

Last updated on March 9, 2016

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