Things We Said Today
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| “Things We Said Today” | |||||
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| Single by The Beatles from the album A Hard Day's Night in the United Kingdom and Something New in the United States |
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| A-side | "A Hard Day's Night" | ||||
| Released | 10 July 1964 (UK) 13 July 1964 (US) |
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| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 2 June 1964 |
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| Genre | Rock and roll | ||||
| Length | 02:38 | ||||
| Label | Parlophone (UK) Capitol (US) 5222 |
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| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| The Beatles singles chronology | |||||
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| A Hard Day's Night track listing | |||||
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"Things We Said Today" is a song by the Beatles and credited to Lennon & McCartney. It was composed for the film A Hard Day's Night and was the B-side of the "A Hard Day's Night" single in the UK.
The song is one of three main compositions (along with "And I Love Her" and "Can't Buy Me Love") that Paul McCartney wrote for the Beatles film. Recorded in advance of film production for lip-synching reasons, "Things We Said Today" has a reverse nostalgia premise. Paul McCartney: “I wrote this on acoustic. It was a slightly nostalgic thing already, a future nostalgia. We’ll remember the things we said today, sometime in the future, so the song projects itself into the future”.[1]
McCartney was particularly satisfied with his chord change, F major to B flat major—instead of the more obvious F minor—which first occurs beneath "…wishing you weren't so far away" in the song.[2] John Lennon accentuates McCartney's strident acoustic guitar strumming by triple hitting a low A note on a piano. The tempo of the song moves from ballad to rock and back with a minor to major key change during its middle eight section.
McCartney’s diction, double tracked, is so accurate that in places it cancels itself out, sounding untracked (conversely, Lennon’s vocals were always different, and often sounded quite messy when double tracked). This was still before ADT (Automatic double tracking) had been invented at Lennon’s behest, [3] by Abbey Road studio's Ken Townsend.
Paul McCartney wrote the song while cruising the Caribbean aboard a yacht called Happy Days in May 1964. It is based on his relationship with his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher. Because of their busy lives, they could not spend much time together.
The Beatles included "Things We Said Today" as part of their live set during their world tour.[4]
The French singer Dick Rivers recorded the song as "Ces Mots Qu'On Oublie Un Jour".
In 1989/90, Paul McCartney included the song as part of his own world tour.[5]
[edit] Releases
- UK LP soundtrack for A Hard Day's Night on Parlophone PMC 1230 (mono) / PCS 3058(stereo). Appeared also on their British EP Extracts From A Hard Day's Night.
- American release on Capitol's Something New LP.
[edit] Credits
- Paul McCartney – double tracked vocal, bass guitar, acoustic guitar
- John Lennon – acoustic guitar, piano
- George Harrison – lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
[edit] References
- ^ Badman, Keith (2000). The Beatles Off The Record. London: Omnibus, 91. ISBN 0-7119-7985-5.
- ^ Barry Miles Paul McCartney Many Years From Now P.122
- ^ Mark Lewisohn The Compleate Beatles Recording Sessions P.70
- ^ Bill Harry The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia P.649
- ^ Bill Harry The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia P.649
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