"I Should Have Known Better" is a song by English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

composed by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

(credited to

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

) and originally issued on '' A Hard Day's Night'', their

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the film of the same name released on 10 July 1964. "I Should Have Known Better" was also issued as the B-side of the US single " A Hard Day's Night" released on 13 July. An orchestrated version of the song conducted by George Martin appears on the North American version of the album, '' A Hard Day's Night Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''.

Origin

"I Should Have Known Better" was one of several songs written and recorded specifically for the Beatles' debut movie, "A Hard Day's Night".

Recording

The first recording session for the song was on 25 February 1964 at EMI Studios when three

take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...

s were attempted, but only one was complete. Take two was aborted when Lennon broke into hysterics over his harmonica playing. The song was re-recorded the next day after making some changes to the

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

. Lennon's harmonica playing opens the track, the last occasion the Beatles were to feature this instrument on an intro (" I'm a Loser", recorded 14 August 1964 has a harmonica solo). The song's middle sixteen section features

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

's new Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar. The mono and

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

versions have slightly different harmonica introductions. In the stereo version, the harmonica drops out briefly. Also, a noticeably clumsy and audible tape edit is heard during the second chorus between "You're gonna say you love me too, oh," and "And when I ask you to be mine."

Releases

United Kingdom

In the UK, "I Should Have Known Better" was included on '' A Hard Day's Night'', which was released on 10 July 1964. A single was not issued at that time, but in 1976, the song was released as a B-side to " Yesterday".

United States

In the US, "I Should Have Known Better" was released on 13 July 1964 as the B-side to " A Hard Day's Night" and reached number 53 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 43 on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' chart. As part of the film contract, United Artists acquired album rights for the American market. The company released a soundtrack album on 26 June 1964 with eight Beatles songs and four instrumentals. "I Should Have Known Better" was performed in the film, and it appears on the

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

released '' Something New'' a month later with songs from the UK version of ''A Hard Day's Night'' that were not used in the film. The songs were also later released by Capitol on the ''

Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

in 1970.

Continental Europe

"I Should Have Known Better" was released as a single in a number of continental European countries, including Norway, where it reached number one, Italy where it spent a week at number 15, West Germany, where it reached number six, and Sweden, where it topped the Kvällstoppen Chart for four weeks.

Charts

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald: *

– double-tracked vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

– bass guitar *

– twelve-string lead guitar *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

– drums

On film

The song is performed in the train's brake coach scene of '' A Hard Day's Night''. It was in fact filmed in a van, with crew members rocking the vehicle to simulate the action of a train in motion.

is seen lip-synching in the song, both in the train scene and in the live performance at the end of the film, despite not singing in the actual recording.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{authority control 1964 songs 1964 singles 1976 singles The Beatles songs The Beach Boys songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Sweden Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Phil Ochs songs She & Him songs Jan and Dean songs Capitol Records singles Songs written for films Songs published by Northern Songs