The Night Before

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“The Night Before” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 film Help and accompanying album Help! The song was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney.

Composition and recording

John Lennon plays a Hohner Pianet electric piano throughout the song. The verses have a call and response structure. McCartney’s lead vocal alternates with Lennon and George Harrison’s harmony, singing the chorus “Ahhh, the night before …“, the whole being alternated with a second melody. In the opinion of musicologist Walter Everett, had the Beatles recorded “The Night Before” at a slower tempo, it “could have been a Kinks or Animals song”.

The Beatles recorded the song at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London on 17 February 1965. The band achieved a satisfactory rhythm track after two takes, and then overdubbed the vocals, lead guitar parts and maracas. The guitar solo over the third verse is repeated in part over the coda. Among Beatles biographers, Ian MacDonald considers that the playing is more in McCartney’s style, while Kenneth Womack credits only McCartney as the soloist and lists Harrison on rhythm guitar, playing his Gretsch Tennessean. However, the solos were performed by Harrison and McCartney together. Lennon later recalled that Harrison and McCartney played “the same break exactly, both playing but in different octaves”.

Film performance

For the film Help!, the Beatles performed “The Night Before” on location at Salisbury Plain. Just as the song finishes, a bomb explodes. The scene was filmed in the shadow of Stonehenge.

Live performances

The Beatles performed “The Night Before” during their final BBC radio session, on 26 May 1965. Titled The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride, this performance was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 7 June that year.

McCartney played the song on 15 July 2011 at Yankee Stadium, stating from the stage that it was the first time he had performed the song in concert. […]

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] mono 18 Feb 1965.
UK: Parlophone PMC 1255 Help! 1965.

[b] stereo 23 Feb 1965.
UK: Parlophone PCS 3071 Help! 1965.
US: Capitol SMAS 2386 Help! 1965.

[b1] mono made from [b] 1965, by Capitol.
US: Capitol MAS 2386 Help! 1965.

[c] stereo 1987.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46439 2 Help! 1987.

Last updated on May 9, 2021

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