Tell Me Why, and its incredible recording process revealed here and now.

February 27th, 1964 marked the third pre-scheduled day that The Beatles met in EMI Studio Two to record tracks for use in their first movie, which was to begin shooting on March 2nd. The early recording session of the day, from 10 am to 1 pm, first had them finally complete work on Paul's "And I Love Her," which took them three days to nail down. With that finally out of the way, they started on John's new composition "Tell Me Why," which began at approximately 11:30 am.

The group ran through eight takes (not all complete) with all four Beatles playing their usual instruments and singing three-part harmony simultaneously. There was a degree of frustration in getting all their parts down perfectly as evidenced in 'take four,' which didn't get much past the introduction before everything fell apart and tempers flared. Nonetheless, by take eight the song was done to everyone's satisfaction. Overdubs were then performed, John's double-tracked lead vocal being captured on the fourth open track of the four-track tape. However, the thickness of the three-part harmonies during most of the song appears to indicate that all three vocalists double-tracked their parts, not just John. A piano can be detected in the finished product so, since there is no piano heard in 'take four' of the initial recording, this was undoubtedly overdubbed at this time as well, presumably by George Martin as was quite usual up to this point in the band's recording career. By 1 pm, the song was done and it was time for lunch.

The afternoon session this day, from 2:30 to 5:30, was put aside to work on an earlier Lennon / McCartney collaboration "If I Fell," which they knew would need much TLC to get right. This may have been the catalyst to get "Tell Me Why" over with in the morning session, so as not to have to return to it later in the next session. The group was especially proud of "If I Fell," as can be seen by the inclusion of it in their set list during their first world tour later in the year.  "Tell Me Why" was not afforded such a luxury.

The mono mix of the song was made on March 3rd in the Studio One control room by producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and A.B. Lincoln. None of The Beatles were present, as they were busy filming the movie on this day.

It's interesting to note that George Martin decided to use the track that contained John's double-tracked vocal sparingly on this mono mix. His intention was to leave the verses single-tracked to get a more intimate sound when John sang alone, while the refrains would be double-tracked to add a fuller dimension when the harmonies kicked in. Since this meant turning the fader for that track up and down manually during the mix, a couple of flaws can be heard. When the first verse begins, you can hear John sing the first three words "well I gave" double-tracked before George Martin realized he needed to turn the fader down. Also, throughout the bridge, they left the track up slightly so, if you listen carefully, you can hear John's vocal double-tracked in the distance.

On June 9th, 1964, George Martin, Norman Smith and 2nd engineer Ken Scott convened in the control room of Studio Three to create mono tape copies of all of the songs to be used in the film "A Hard Day's Night," which included "Tell Me Why." There were now two copies of the mixes to send to United Artists Records (for use on their soundtrack album) and Capitol Records (for use on their album "Something New").

At the last minute, as usual, stereo mixes were made of the entire "A Hard Day's Night" album. On June 22nd, George Martin, Norman Smith and 2nd engineer Geoff Emerick met in the control room of Studio One for a long tedious day of creating mono and stereo mixes for the album. "Tell Me Why" got its only stereo mix on this day. Since it was done in such a hurry, they left the double-tracked vocal up for the entire song, which makes a noticeable difference between the mono and stereo mixes. The vocals appear sloppy wherever John didn't get the phrasing exactly the same on his overdub as he did on take eight. For instance, in the second verse, Lennon sang "if you don't" when double-tracking but sang "and if you don't" on the original take eight, which sounds awkward and jumbled on the stereo mix.

Song Structure and Style

"Tell Me Why" follows a pattern not unlike what we've heard before in the Lennon/McCartney catalog (namely "It Won't Be Long") which incorporates and highlights the use of the refrain. The full run-down in this pattern is 'refrain/ verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain/ bridge/ refrain', which would become ababaca. No solo section occurs in the song, so rhythm guitars rule the day.

The song starts out with a four-measure introduction which begins with a tumbling drum fill from Ringo. A rhythmic swing back and forth between two syncopated chords interspersed with repeats of the introductory drum fill creates a sense of anticipation for what is to follow. We are to hear abbreviated versions of this introduction six more times in the song, so the group makes good use of this effect.

Like "It Won't Be Long" before it, "Tell Me Why" begins with the refrain, which in this case is twelve measures long and emphasizes the title phrase with their trademark vibrant three-part harmony. This refrain is actually made up of two nearly identical five-measure melody lines that are repeated. After each melody line we hear a one-measure repeat of the introduction, which brings the measure count to the full twelve.

While the song is firmly grounded in a 'swing-style' regarding beat and melodic phrases, we see the bluesy vocal style appear in the eight-measure verse that next occurs. Lennon relates his story personally in the first and third line of the verse, yet Paul and George harmonize the second and fourth lines with him as if to add weight to the personal argument that John is waging with his girl.

This segues directly back into a repeat of the refrain, which sets the pattern to be followed afterward in a quite predictable, yet effective, manner. As we enter the third refrain, we see that they forgo the final introductory syncopated phrase in order to play a transitory chord that leads into the first and only occurrence of a bridge.

This ten-measure bridge is sung mostly by John solo except for the third of the four lyrical phrases ("is there anything I can do"), which is sung by all three vocalists in a 'self-mocking' falsetto. Then, in an effort to break the monotony, they once again forgo the introductory syncopated phrase for a full measure of triplets from Ringo, which is used as a segue into a final refrain.

The final refrain is identical to the others except that it is extended to fourteen measures to create a suitable conclusion to the song. The ending consists of the introductory syncopated phrase repeated three times using chords unheard anytime previously in the song followed by the home chord to create a satisfying resolve to the song. This conclusion has been used to good effect by The Beatles before, such as in "It Won't Be Long" as well as "Please Please Me."

"I think a lot of these songs like 'Tell Me Why' may have been based in real experiences," McCartney explains, "or arguments with Cynthia or whatever, but it never occurred to us until later to put that slant on it all."

Although Lennon never suggested as much in regard to "Tell Me Why," when examining its lyrics, one can easily see how a disagreement with Cynthia could have been an inspiration. Accusing her of lying, as repeated twice in every refrain, fits in well with his self-admitted jealousy at the time, which he had just written about in "You Can't Do That." The subject of crying, which John brings up countless times in his songwriting career ("Not A Second Time," "I'm A Loser," "I'll Cry Instead"), appears once again as he's "holding back these tears in my eyes."

The lyrics "I gave you everything I had" can also be seen to fit the scenario of the time. "Cynthia wanted to settle John down, pipe and slippers," McCartney recalls. "The minute she said that to me I thought, 'Kiss of death.' I know my mate and that is not what he wants. She got a couple of years of that, but he finally had to break loose." The idea of John working hard within The Beatles to give Cynthia the secure life she wanted in their Kenwood mansion and associated lifestyle causing enough resentment to relate in song is easy to accept.

Although the bite of these lyrics are surprisingly contrasted with the happy-go-lucky swing-style of the song as a whole, this is actually a recurrence of a similarly dissatisfied relationship subject matter via a happy sounding melody line as heard in "Please Please Me." Happily though, the desperation displayed in "Tell Me Why" is finally revealed in the bridge as the result of his underlying feelings toward her. "Is there anything I can do," John sings, "I'm so in love with you."

Performance wise, Lennon stands tall again with his vocals at the top of his register, sometimes on the verge of cracking. Even though the sting of bitterness is evident in his vocals, his performance vocally and on rhythm guitar has the overall effect of an effervescent and fun-loving toe-tapper. 

McCartney brings everything he has to the song as he's used to doing, supplying spot-on harmony vocals and smooth, appropriate walking bass lines in the refrains that give the impression that there are more chord changes than there actually are. Harrison's rhythm guitar work is also stellar in that it punctuates the intricate chords of the song while he simultaneously provides a lower harmony vocal part, to create the rich Beatles three-part block harmonies that fans love to hear.

Ringo also rises to the occasion with his triplet-based, tumbling drum fills throughout the song as well as a swing beat that has a booming resonance. For being a song with such a short life-span in their career, all four musicians give the performance of a lifetime.

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