No Reply (song)

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“No Reply”

Song by The Beatles
Album	Beatles for Sale
Released	4 December 1964
Recorded	Abbey Road Studios 30 September 1964
Genre	Rock
Length	2:15
Label	EMI, Parlophone, Capitol
Writer	Lennon-McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Beatles for Sale track listing
Side one "No Reply" "I'm a Loser" "Baby's in Black" "Rock and Roll Music" "I'll Follow the Sun" "Mr. Moonlight" Medley: "Kansas City"/"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" Side two "Eight Days a Week" "Words of Love" "Honey Don't" "Every Little Thing" "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" "What You're Doing" "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby"

"No Reply" is a song by the Beatles from the UK album Beatles for Sale and the US album Beatles '65. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney.^[1]

The song is about a young man who is unable to contact his possibly unfaithful girlfriend, even though he sees her through her windows.

Originally John Lennon had intended to sing the higher harmony part of the chorus, as this was the original melody. However, his voice had deteriorated due to excessive use and Paul McCartney had to take this part, relegating Lennon to the lower harmony line.^[2]

According to Lennon in 1972, the Beatles' music publisher Dick James was quite pleased with "No Reply":

“

I remember Dick James coming up to me after we did this one and saying, 'You're getting better now — that was a complete story.' Apparently, before that, he thought my songs wandered off.

”

Reviewer David Rowley found its lyrics to "read like a picture story from a girl's comic," and to depict the picture "of walking down a street and seeing a girl silhouetted in a window, not answering the telephone."^{[citation needed]}

This song has been covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and is slated to be on their next album.

[edit] Tonality and form

The song is in the key of C major. The song form is standard AABA (verse-verse-bridge-verse), without a chorus as such, but including the refrain "No Reply."