Since the two composers nailed down full arrangement of Help at John’s house on April 11th, The Beatles got acquainted with this arrangement by the time they entered EMI Studio Two on April 13th, 1965 at 7 pm for a four-hour recording session for their films’ title song. Unlike their last recording session on March 30th to experiment on improving Paul’s song “That Means A Lot” (which proved to be a futile session), this time around they were on top of their game and got down to business.
Their sole focus was on getting the rhythm track down first with the intention of adding the vocals as an overdub later. Paul’s bass guitar and Ringo’s drums were fed to one track of the four-track tape while John’s 12-string acoustic guitar and George’s electric guitar were fed to another track, which left two open tracks for later overdubs. ‘Take one’ didn’t get passed the introduction because John broke one of the twelve strings on his Framus “Hootenanny” 12-string guitar and yelled out for everyone to stop. (John was the one most prone to break guitar strings as evidenced when listening to the recording takes of many songs–see “Yes It Is” for one of many examples.) Noteworthy on this first take was George’s awkward reading of the jangly but-distinctive guitar phrase.
After John’s guitar string was changed, ‘take two’ got just into the first verse before John began struggling with the chord changes, which ended that take. ‘Take three’ got through the chorus and into the beginning of the second verse but ended when John switched chords too soon.
The jangly guitar phrase still proved to be a little much for George to perform live so the group started discussing the possibility of George playing this guitar part as an overdub later. They knew the vocals were also going to be overdubbed later, so they discussed whether there would be enough tracks on the four-track recording console to accommodate it all. In order for George to overdub this guitar phrase as well, Paul suggested that someone should tap out a beat during the rhythm track to keep him in time with the song. John volunteered, saying “Well, I’ll do that,” and demonstrated by tapping on the body of his acoustic guitar.
With this settled, they began ‘take four,’ which omitted George’s guitar phrase for the time being. Both four and five’ actually made it all the way through the song, but they knew it could be improved. ‘Take six’ saw John needing to re-tune his guitar which ground the song to a halt just into the first verse. After his guitar was tuned, ‘take seven’ began which took the song through till the final verse when something, possibly Ringo coming in slightly late at the end of the chorus, made John stop playing. ‘Take eight’ didn’t make it through the introduction because of George having a problem with his guitar.
‘Take nine,’ however, became the “keeper,” although this appears to have been edited with another take, the edit being heard toward the end of the second chorus. Onto this complete rhythm track, overdubbing began. John performed his lead vocals with Paul and George performing background vocals onto one of the two open tracks. John double-tracked his vocals while Ringo overdubbed a tambourine part simultaneously on the choruses on the remaining open track. The only problem was, however, that they had filled up all four tracks on the console and they still had to record George’s guitar phrases in the introduction and choruses of the song.
George Martin and the EMI staff went into action by performing a procedure that was new to The Beatles at this point but would become very commonplace for them in the very near future. This procedure was making a tape reduction (or “bouncing”) which entailed copying all four tracks onto a new tape and combining elements of all four tracks of the original tape into lesser tracks on a new tape, creating new open tracks for further overdubs. In this case, they positioned the bass and drums of the rhythm track onto ‘track one’ and the guitars onto ‘track two.’ They then combined both overdubs, namely all the vocals and the tambourine, onto ‘track three,’ allowing one blank track, ‘track four,’ for George Harrison to record his lead guitar parts. George Martin and the engineering team took three attempts to do this tape reduction: The first attempt (‘take ten’) made it all the way through but was deemed not good enough, the second try (’take eleven’) was a false start, and the final attempt (‘take twelve’) was the “keeper.”
George Harrison then recorded his lead guitar parts onto ‘track four,’ which consisted of the descending guitar phrases heard throughout the song as well as two three-note descending guitar lines in each chorus. This completed the recording session for the day at 11 pm, the engineering team leaving the mixing for another day.
Five days later, on April 18th, 1965, George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Phil McDonald entered Room 65 at the Abbey Road EMI complex with the intention of creating both the mono and stereo mixes of the song “Help!,” as well as a further stereo mix of the previously recorded song “The Night Before.” One stereo mix and three mono mixes (takes one through three) were made of “Help!,” these being supplied to United Artists for use in the film. It appeared that the song was complete and ready for inclusion on both the film and the released record.
Or was it? As many Beatles enthusiasts will point out, there is a very noticeable difference between the mono and stereo versions of this song as released on record. There are two distinctly different Lennon vocals between the two as well as other subtle differences. What we outlined above is exactly what we hear on the stereo mix, but what about the mono mix? Let’s first take a detailed look at the differences between the mono and stereo mixes and then we’ll look into how, and possibly why, these differences occurred.
Mono Mix: First of all, the mono mix has the identical introduction of the stereo mix. However, an edit on this mix occurs right when the first verse begins. This brings in a completely new double-tracked rougher-sounding Lennon vocal on top of the same instrumental track that we’ve outlined above. Differences in the vocal delivery include the lyrics in the first verse that are delivered as “and now these days have gone” instead of “but now these days have gone” as heard on the stereo mix. Also, the line “now I find I’ve changed my mind” is sung in a matter that is spaced out evenly on the mono mix while it is sped up noticeably on the stereo mix. As for a subtler difference, the last word of the first verse is “door” in the mono mix while it’s “doors” in the stereo mix.
As we go into the first chorus, we notice the absence of the tambourine as heard in the stereo mix in addition to different lead vocals. An abrupt edit is heard right as George’s jangly guitar phrase begins (heard as “won’t you (edit) please…”), which cuts out Ringo’s cymbal crash and John’s thumping on his acoustic guitar as they performed on the rhythm track. Another edit is heard after George’s guitar phrase ends (heard as “…please help (edit) me”) to bring the rhythm instruments back in. In fact, this same edit sequence is heard in all three choruses of the song. We also notice the absence of the tambourine hits on the one-beat of each measure in the second half of the third verse. And, in the songs’ conclusion, John doesn’t sing the first “help” with Paul and George; instead he just comes in on the word “me” to give a back-and-forth effect. (This effect is emphasized in the film footage of the movie as well.)
Stereo Mix: In the stereo mix, each chorus contains the tambourine as well as the unedited ending during George’s guitar phrases, allowing us to hear John’s acoustic guitar thumping and Ringo’s cymbals ringing out. Apart from the lyrical and emphasis differences mentioned above, the vocal performances are nearly identical but are obviously a different performance. Paul and George’s background vocals are a little more off-pitch in this mix, but Ringo’s tambourine accents in the final verse are very much evident.
How The Mono Mix Was Done: There was one further recording session that took place to prepare the song for inclusion in the movie. This occurred on May 24th, 1965, not at EMI Studios, but at CTS Studios in London, a facility specializing in post-synchronization. The mixes supplied by George Martin were deemed unusable for some reason, possibly because they featured a tambourine overdub while the filmed opening sequence for the movie show The Beatles performing the song without a tambourine being played. Since the tambourine was combined with the vocals on the master tape, an entirely new vocal track needed to be recorded.
In preparation for this recording session, George Martin created a new mix of the song sometime prior to May 24th, probably on a twin-track reel, omitting the vocal track and, presumably, editing out (or muting) the tracks that contained Ringo’s cymbal crash and John’s guitar thumping during the conclusion of each chorus. Then at CTS Studios, this mono instrumental track was transferred to one track of a new three-track reel (which is what CTS had capabilities for) leaving two open tracks for new vocal overdubs. John, Paul and George then re-recorded their vocal performance for the song on one of the open tracks, John unintentionally changing a word here and there in the process. This was then followed by John double-tracking his lead vocals onto the third open track. Therefore, with the tambourine removed from the song successfully, these tracks were then mono mixed and readied for inclusion on the movie.
Now, back to EMI Studios. On June 18th, George Martin, with Norman Smith and Phil McDonald as engineers once again, entered the control room of EMI Studio Two to create mono mixes of songs intended to appear on the “Help!” album, including its title track. He decided to utilize the CTS mono mix of the song for its release on record with one alteration. He decided to use the originally recorded introduction to the song, vocals and all, as originally recorded in EMI Studios on April 13th, 1965. He did, however, omit John’s vocal double-tracking, apparently feeling it wasn’t delivered acceptably. When the first verse appears, the CTS mono mix is edited on, which is what we hear then for the remainder of the song.
The stereo mix of “Help!,” as well as other songs intended for the album, was also created on this day by the same engineering team during the second session on this day. Since the mix supplied from CTS was only made available to EMI in mono, George Martin had to prepare the stereo mix from the original master, tambourine and all. Hence the major differences between the released mono and stereo mixes of the song. George Martin once again decided to omit John’s vocal double-tracking in the introduction as he had on the mono mix. The stereo landscape has the rhythm track on the left, the lead guitar overdubs on the right, and the vocals centered.
Brand new versions of the song were recorded later that year also, but in the form of live performances. On August 29th and 30th, recordings were made of their shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California in hopes of releasing a live album that year. That album didn’t materialize at the time, but on May 4th, 1977, the composite album “The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl” finally did get released. The August 29th performance of the song, which was produced by Engeman and engineered by Hugh Davies, was included on the album. The unreleased version of the song recorded on August 30th was produced by Voyle Gilmore and engineered by Pete Abbott. George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick cleaned up and processed the August 29th version for the album on January 18th, 1977.
January 5th, 1966 saw The Beatles record the song one more time at CTS Studios, but this time for a totally different purpose. Their legendary August 15th, 1965 show at Shea Stadium in New York City was being prepared for a television film entitled “The Beatles At Shea Stadium.” Because the sound quality was less than desired, The Beatles were called in on this day to touch up the songs. “Help!” needed a complete overhaul, so they recorded a completely new version of the song live in the studio to be dubbed onto the film footage of the concert. Extreme care needed to be taken to make sure they're playing and singing matched the footage, but The Beatles proved to be up to the task.
On January 23rd, 1969, The Beatles touched on the song briefly once again in a recording studio. This, though, was just an unrehearsed jam of the first verse (or so) they did while film crews were shooting footage at Apple Studios. This playful rendition was recorded during rehearsals for the song “I’ve Got A Feeling” for the “Get Back/Let It Be” project that year.
“I don’t like the recording that much,” John stated in 1970. He continued, “The real feeling of the song was lost because it was a single; we did it too fast, to try and be commercial. I’ve thought of doing it again sometime and slowing it down.” Sometime after he had made this comment, possibly in 1970, he actually tried his hand at recording a new version of “Help!” on piano, but at a much slower pace. Apart from bootlegs, it’s never seen the light of day.
When the compact disc era arrived in the 80s, George Martin felt inclined to create new stereo mixes for the entire “Help!” album. He and engineer Geoff Emerick entered Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Studios) sometime in 1985 to create a new stereo mix for the title song with basically the same stereo landscape but with less drastic panning.
Sometime between 2004 and 2006, Giles Martin and his father George created a further stereo mix of the song for release on the amazing album “Love,” which was used as a backdrop to the popular Cirque du Soleil show of the same name. The differences here include a somewhat extended final vocal harmony at the end as well as slight changes in the stereo landscape, George’s lead guitar work now taking center stage.
Then in 2015, Giles Martin and Sam Okell created yet another stereo mix in Abbey Road Studios from the master tape for inclusion on a re-release of the compilation album "Beatles 1."
Song Structure and Style
“It’s quite involved,” said George Harrison back in 1965 about the song “Help!” He continues, “A bit more involved than the others we’ve done because it has a counter-melody going as well as the main melody. I think it’s a grower because it’s the sort of song people will have to hear a few times before they realize what it’s all about. It’s a bit like ‘It Won’t Be Long.’ That’s the only one it is anything like.”
From this comment, it’s pretty clear that The Beatles were enthused about the song. "We think it's one of the best we've written," John stated in 1965. Paul even commented at the time, “I think it’s a good song. I don’t think it’s being bigheaded saying it’s a good song, but I just like it, we all like it.” With a song that pushes the envelope in content as well as structure, The Beatles had good reason to give themselves a deserved pat on the back for this one.
We’re beginning to see the group move a little further away from their usual aaba structure with a bridge, which was so common in their early years. In this case, we see them getting more acquainted with the use of the chorus (or some would say “refrain”). In “Help!” we have a ‘verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus’ format (or ababab) with an introduction and conclusion thrown in for good effect.
The use of an introduction that isn’t heard elsewhere in the song is used sporadically throughout the Lennon/McCartney songbook, an early example being “Do You Want To Know A Secret.” Obviously, the comparison stops there. This eight-measure introduction starts suddenly and urgently on the one-beat with a desperate three-part-harmony cry of “Help!” with all instruments flailing away at full volume.
Although this intro is mimicking the chord changes of the chorus which we’ll hear later, beginning the song with this chord progression leaves the first-time listener trying to get his bearings. It’s almost impossible to predict where we’re going - that is to say, where the home key of the song is. Propelled by Paul’s staccato bass quarter-notes, we finally arrive there with the fourth repeat of the title of the song, which is sung in a desperate falsetto that triggers a ‘Beatles break’ and the clever descending guitar phrase from George Harrison while Ringo’s crash cymbal rings out. Now that The Beatles definitely have the attention of all listeners, who are no doubt fumbling to dial 911, the tension subsides to begin the first verse so that John can fill us in as to what the problem is.
After a quick tom-tom drum roll from Ringo, John tells his sad story via a folk-style swing beat not unlike he regaled us with on “I’m A Loser” the year before. George sits out the verses instrumentally but his presence is felt in the background vocals which, with Paul, alternate between previewing what John is just about to tell us and repeating what he just said. This sixteen-measure verse actually consists of a pair of identical eight-measure phrases that features Paul’s half-note “oom-pah” bass work. Interestingly, Ringo ends the verse with a straight 4/4 drum fill simultaneously on his snare and floor tom which contrasts nicely with the swing beat of the song.
The first sixteen-measure chorus then appears which features John’s insistent pleas for help. George provides rhythm guitar chops on the two and four beats of each measure along with overdubbed lower note guitar phrases which are simple but very effective. John sings solo but double-tracked for the first eight measures and then is joined by Paul and George for three-part harmony for the third line “help me get my feet back on the ground.” The thirteenth and fourteenth measure comprise another ‘Beatles break’ that features George’s clever descending guitar phrase as a backdrop to the key line of the song, “won’t you pleeease, please help me” sung in falsetto by John and harmonized by Paul and George. The chorus is actually a stretched-out version of what we’ve already heard in the eight-measure introduction.
After another structurally identical verse and a repeat of the chorus, we round things off with a return to the first verse. This time, though, the first eight measures are sung in more hushed tones mimicking the acoustic singer/songwriter style. Ringo only plays on the bells of his cymbals while Paul only plucks the key bass notes on the one-beat of every other measure. The second half of this verse resumes the roles of the other Beatles as heard the first time around.
Thereafter, the chorus is belted out for the third time but ends in a somewhat surprising way. The last two measures are chopped off (which make it only fourteen measures long) and replaced by a satisfying four measure conclusion. John vehemently emphasizes the last word of the chorus three times, which happens to be the word “me.” In-between the first two occurrences, Paul and George interject harmonized “helps” while the band cuts out totally at the beginning of the third measure on the home key of A. The harmonized falsettos continue the song passed this measure with the words “meeee-oohmmmm.” The rising last note changes the final A chord to an added sixth, which is a similar trick to what we’ve heard two years earlier on “She Loves You” but with a more subtle effect.
“I remember I got very emotional at the time, singing the lyrics,” John stated about the song “Help!” in 1970. “Whatever I’m singing, I really mean it. I don’t mess about. Even if I’m singing ‘awop-bop-alooma-awop-bam-boom,’ I really mean it. And then there’s always that very emotional music going on at the same time.”
One of the biggest reasons this song works on so many levels is that we truly believe that John is in emotional pain. The song may have been “knocked out” as the theme for a movie, but the lyrics went far beyond the film’s concept and became a personal display to the world of what this cynical, sneering and happy-go-lucky guy really had going on in his head. He describes his childhood as being carefree and self-sufficient, “never needing anybody’s help in any way.” But now he relates how he’s not sure of himself even though he’s, in effect, “opened up the doors” from childhood into manhood. He now finds himself ‘out of control’ in his life; in a whirlwind, so to speak, needing help to get his “feet back on the ground.” While he does appreciate the girl he’s singing to “being ‘round,” he still feels the need to cry out repeatedly “please, please help me.”
In retrospect, anyone can imagine how caught up in the fame of being a famous Beatle would result in John expressing how his “life has changed in oh, so many ways.” But, all in all, he feels “insecure” about where he’s going and needs his girl like he’s “never done before.” Since all Lennon/McCartney songs up to this point had been about a relationship in some form or another, John still couldn’t shake himself from that concept – even in such a personally expressive song like this. A few months later, though, the mold is finally broken with “Nowhere Man,” which doesn’t even hint at love.
A noteworthy mention is the line “I need you like I’ve never done before,” which is an odd phrase not heard much but probably dates back to a song heard by John many years prior. The early Lennon/McCartney song “You’ll Be Mine,” which was crudely recorded in 1960 and is found on “Anthology 1,” curiously includes the line (spoken by John) “I love you like I’ve never done, like I’ve never done before.” This shows that the lyric has been in the back of John’s mind for at least five years.
As far as musicianship, John plays the role of folk singer expressing his inner emotions (ala Bob Dylan) and does the job convincingly well. Paul’s bass work is suitably performed and changes form for what is needed in each section of the song, while his counter-melody singing in the verses (done with George in unison) spices up the single-note melody lines that John wrote.
George puts in a highly crafted performance on lead guitar, overdubbing his jangly guitar phrases right in tempo. While he noticeably has to reach to hit his vocal notes in the counter-melody of the verses, his voice appears as the more prominent of the two, which shows him quite involved in this song. Ringo puts in a very steady and involved delivery, complete with dips in volume during emotive moments and swells during the high points of the song. All in all, the arrangement is tight and well-rehearsed, showing The Beatles quick to put in a commanding performance even at such a short notice.
Next Song – The Night Before:
Their third recording session of 1965, which is by extension also the third session for what became the soundtrack to their film “Help!,” was on February 17th of that year. This nine-hour session began at 2 pm in EMI’s Studio Two, the first five hours being devoted entirely to Paul’s composition “The Night Before.”
Official documentation details the band completed the song in two takes, which may sound puzzling since it took a total of five hours to record it fully. We need to remember, though, that these two takes were of the rhythm track only, which consisted of Ringo on drums and Paul on bass (track one), George playing rhythm on his Gretsch electric guitar and John on electric piano (track two). Once all decided that ‘take two’ was the better rhythm track, a healthy dose of overdubs followed recorded on top of it.
These overdubs included the vocals, first Paul’s lead vocal with backing vocals from John and George (track three), and then Paul’s double-tracked lead vocals, Ringo on maracas and the guitar solo (track four). The solo portion of the song was left empty in the rhythm track which was then overdubbed here, but who played it?
“George and Paul are playing the same break exactly, both playing but in different octaves,” Lennon informed Melody Maker on February 27th, 1965. Therefore, as an overdub onto 'track 4,' both George and Paul played the same guitar solo, but one was an octave higher than the other. Paul played his Epiphone Casino guitar while George used his newly acquired Fender Stratocaster. The final seconds of the song feature a miniature reprise of this solo, which both recorded the same way. By 7 pm, the song was complete and work started on George’s “You Like Me Too Much,” which extended the day another four hours.
The mono mix of “The Night Before” was created the next day, February 18th, 1965 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Ken Scott. This mix won placement in both the film and the British album.
The first stereo mix of the song occurred on February 23rd, 1965 in the control room of EMI Studio Two, but George Martin didn’t deem this task important enough to attend. Norman Smith supervised this stereo mixing session with 2nd engineer Malcolm Davies assisting. This mix ended up on the British and American stereo albums as well as the American mono album since they combined both channels to create their own mono mix.
A second stereo mix of “The Night Before” was created on April 18th, 1965 in Room 65 of EMI. Since they needed to create mono and stereo mixes of the newly recorded title track “Help!” to send to United Artists for the movie, they also thought to send a special stereo mix of “The Night Before” as well. Since these mixes were intended for the film, George Martin thought it important to attend, along with Norman Smith and Phil McDonald as engineers. Despite this effort, United Artists used the mono mix of “The Night Before” made on February 18th for the film, and this stereo mix never surfaced for anything.
Since the first stereo mix lacked the supervision of George Martin, a decision was made to create a new mix in 1986 for its debut on compact disc. Therefore, this third stereo mix is the one most known to all these days, although it’s nearly identical to engineers originally available in 1965.
Song Structure and Style
This formula pop song’s structure mimics in a format that was very usual for the early Beatles, in other words, the ‘verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse/ verse (partially instrumental)/ bridge/ verse’ format (or aabaaba) with a small introduction included. Because the song moves along at a nice pace with time to spare in filling out a standard two-and-a-half-minute length, a solo section (that is, half solo/half verse) appears as well as a repeat of the bridge and final verse. Also evident in their earlier work, such as 1964’s “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That,” we see here a bluesy vocal style on top of the framework of a pop song which, as usual, works well.
Before the pattern above begins, we hear a somewhat labored but effective eight-measure introduction. With the absence of any lead instrument or vocals, what we witness here is the basic rhythm track that sets the stage for the song without any frills. These basic chords change every two measures during this introduction, while the rest of the song changes chords on every measure almost all of the time. Some accidental vocal imperfections took place in the fourth measure of this introduction, which remain in both the stereo and mono mixes.
The first sixteen-measure verse begins immediately on the downbeat with Paul’s double-tracked vocals jolt the first sentence with “We said our goodbye…” Interestingly, John and George’s harmonized backing vocals finish this sentence with the title of the song, “…ah, the night before.” This pattern continues in every third and fourth measure as well as every seventh and eighth measure of each verse.
Notice too that Paul’s solo vocal that precedes the backing vocals trail off into the backing vocals section while the backing vocals trail off into Paul’s solo vocal line that follows it. For instance, Paul adds extra syllables to the word “goodbye-i-i-i” that continues when John and George start singing their part. Likewise, the backing vocals extend and slide down their final word “beforrrrrrrre” while Paul starts his next line, “love was in your eye.” This interesting interplay creates an overlapping effect that portrays the cohesiveness and cooperative nature The Beatles enjoyed during this part of their career.
The second half of the verses let Paul tell the rest of his tale by himself, although John and George create a backwash in the ninth through twelfth measure as the word “before” morphs into a harmonized “aaah.” As any good Beatles tune will do, the title of the song appears at the end of each verse. The pattern continues here again as Paul finishes the thought of the verse, as well as the moral of his entire story, with his solo line “treat me like you did the night before.” Paul even throws in a little vocal gymnastics on the word “did,” which is a slurred grace note reminiscent of what John repeatedly did on the previous year’s “I’m A Loser.” (For instance, notice the vocal slur John sings in the first verse on the word “love” during the line “there is one love I should never have crossed.”)
This verse concludes with a fanfare that consists of two ascending chords. This allowed a suitable transition from one verse to the next since the last chord of the verse would otherwise be the same as the first chord of the next verse. Later in the song, whenever a verse goes into a bridge, there is no need for this fanfare, so they don’t play it.
After a second verse that is identical in structure except for the omission of the ending fanfare, we go into the first occurrence of the bridge. The bridge is eight measures long and is sung in its entirety by Paul alone, although he is double-tracked throughout. In order to make the arrangement stand out, Ringo switches from playing his ride cymbal normally to hitting just the bell of the cymbal. He also switches to alternating from a rim shot on the snare drum to a double hit on his tom-tom, which creates a Latin rhythm (as witnessed in the film footage of the movie “Help!”). The melodic climax of the song occurs at the end of the bridge when Paul hits a high A note on the word “cry.”
After the bridge, we return to an identical repeat of the first verse which segues nicely into the ‘solo/verse’ section of the song. The end of this verse, though, shows Paul obviously enjoying himself with his vocal track. The first of his double-tracked vocals has him ending the last line with “the night before…oh, oh…yesssss.”
While the next section is structurally identical to a verse, the first eight measures are utilized as the instrumental, or solo section of the song, while the last eight measures conclude the verse vocally with the lyrics of the second verse. The Beatles were used to utilizing this trick as seen in “A Hard Day’s Night” and “I’ll Follow The Sun” (to name a couple).
The guitar solo heard in the first eight measures is anything but ad-lib as we would hear in early Beatles recordings. This dual guitar solo, played by both George and Paul, are overdubbed playing the same notes an octave apart and are so rehearsed that it comes across as nearly flawless. The second of Paul’s double-tracked vocals shows him adding a small nuance at the end, this time in the form of a quick “yeah.”
After an identical repeat of the bridge, they then repeat the second verse, which is also becoming an established pattern (witness “Eight Days A Week” and “Ticket To Ride”). It sounds as though a minor flub occurred during Paul’s double-tracking overdub. He apparently started singing the first verse for the final verse (beginning with the word “we”) instead of the second verse (beginning with the word “were”). Nobody thought we’d catch it, but we did!
Because of the insertion of a small conclusion to the song, this last verse is actually eighteen measures long. The ending consists of a partial reprise of the fanfare that is heard at the end of some of the verses while Paul repeats the title of the song once again (as if we didn’t know what the song title by that point). As the eighteenth measure begins, the song ends with a powerful final chord and crashing cymbal.
This song is obviously Paul’s vehicle to shine in the movie soundtrack. His exuberant vocal work stands out, as does his bass playing which by this point in the game is getting a little more well-deserved volume in the mix. His guitar work in the solo gets the job done, Paul probably the one to orchestrate the solo with George in the first place.
John is next to be mentioned for his impressive first jaunt as a keyboardist on a Beatles song (his barely heard chords in “Things We Said Today” not worth mentioning). He and George’s background harmonies in the verses flow suitably well. George doesn’t get feature prominently in this song, although his rhythm guitar work and his half of the guitar solo excel proficiently. Ringo puts in a spirited performance with his small drum fills and changes in texture when required.
Lyrically, Paul tells the familiar story of how yesterday, all his troubles were so far away. Coincidentally, these lyrics depict how last night everything seemed fine with his relationship but, as he states, “now today I find you have changed your mind.” When they had said their “goodbyes” yesterday, he remembers that ‘love was in her eyes’ and she was “so sincere.” He resolves to remember her as she was the previous night, although these memories make him “wanna cry.”
While the similarities to this and a very popular Paul song of the same era are obvious, the differences are also apparent. This time, he accusingly asks, “were you telling lies?” He also is addressing his former girlfriend directly, while the other song (which will remain nameless) dabbles in the third person.
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