Best Song on The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ Poll

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by A Saucerful of Scarlets, May 9, 2018.

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  1. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    Several great songs here - I decided to give my vote to "I'll Be Back".

    I just finished reading the book "Tunesmith" by Jimmy Webb, and he talks about how you can use the melody to augment what is going on in the lyrics. Things like a rising or falling cadence to indicate exhilaration or depression respectively. Since then I have started to notice how this is used in certain songs. Note that the verses of "I'll Be Back" start out in a minor key, then briefly switch to major on the more hopeful lyric "but I'll be back again". This would not have been accidental.
     
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  2. el supernautico

    el supernautico A traveller of both, time and space

    Location:
    Germany
    Not accidental, but "out of the stomach", like we use to say here in Germany. The Beatles were self-taught and didn't do it because they knew it would work, they worked by instinct.
     
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  3. David Austin

    David Austin Eclectically Coastal

    Location:
    West Sussex
    I went for 'I Should Have Known Better'. It's just fun, melodic pop - there's nothing more worthy about than that. I suppose that makes it worthy.
     
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  4. abzach

    abzach Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I Should Have Known Better
     
  5. Gramps Tom

    Gramps Tom Forum Resident

    A Hard Day's Night
     
  6. Mooserfan

    Mooserfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastern PA
    This is my favorite album of all time. I really love every single song on the whole damn thing. And I’ve felt that way since I was four years old.
     
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  7. A Saucerful of Scarlets

    A Saucerful of Scarlets Commenter Turned Viewer Thread Starter

    I currently have 4 Beatles polls on the front page. Sorry everyone! :hide:
     
  8. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Really this was next to impossible, since this is essentially the perfect album of the era, and one of the best of all time, and a personal favorite. Not sure the Beatles ever really "topped" it though they did some very different things going forward.

    I chose "And I Love Her" because to me it suggested where they were headed, a level of maturity far beyond what anyone might have predicted just a couple years earlier. Really Paul's first great "standard," predating the big one "Yesterday."

    "Things We Said Today," "If I Fell," and "I'll Be Back" all very close behind. I love how the sound and feel of last of these served as a PERFECT "lead-in" to the next album, to the point it would have fit nicely on BEATLES FOR SALE.
     
  9. Daventhalas

    Daventhalas Active Member

    Things We Said Today because melodically it was ahead of its time.
     
  10. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    It is amazing, isn't it?

    Yeah they did some remarkable ostensibly more "progressive" stuff over the next few years but it is hard to beat AHDN for sheer musicality and enjoyment. Probably the one I'd pick if I had to pick just one to take to the proverbial desert island (though I'd try to sneak in BEATLES FOR SALE and the LONG TALL SALLY EP when nobody was looking...gotta have all of 1964's output ideally...).
     
  11. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Insanely catchy. And not nearly as simple as it feels, when you really start to break down the rather lengthy and winding structure of the song, it has a lot more "parts" and modulations and twists than one tends to realize because it just all goes down so easy and joyfully.

    Particularly interesting that the verses serve kind of as the chorus - starting with the first line reciting the title - ie, there isn't a separate chorus.
     
  12. AndyK235

    AndyK235 Forum Resident

    I don't know if I can pick just one. I love this album through and through. It is really their first masterpiece LP.
     
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  13. Hardy Melville

    Hardy Melville Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Yes, it's even harder to pick least favorite (or worst) - there aren't any that stick out.
     
  14. jmxw

    jmxw Fab Forum Fan

    I'd go with either I'll Be Back or I'm Happy Just To Dance With You.

    Neither of those two really clicked with me in a major way. But also neither of them are terrible... so ... overall, it is a great album.

    My favorite U.S. album from 1964 was Something New, probably because it was close to the British AHDN, although it did have Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand [which was balanced out by Matchbox and Slow Down]...
     
  15. maxwell2323

    maxwell2323 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis
    All the songs are great. Who is this band again?
     
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  16. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    I think it's The Crickets? I know insects come into it somewhere.
     
  17. samthesham

    samthesham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorhead MN
    A Hard Days Night...the best song of the early years...

    Things We Said Today & I'll Be Back , both of these songs were proof the Moptops were wise way beyond their years...

    No other 20 somethings were even close to this maturity in 1964...

    Signs of Rubber Soul can be heard within these 2 tracks...
     
  18. plentyofjamjars67

    plentyofjamjars67 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan
    The best one is "I'll Be Back" but my favorite is "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" so I voted for that one.
     
  19. I cannot narrow it down to only one.
    It’s a very big step forward with Lennon-McCartney writing all the tunes !
    Some highlights for me, anyway

    George singing Happy Just To Dance is good and everything, but how bout when John and Paul are free to sing background parts....awesome

    Opening chord of Hard Days Night. The way McCartney takes the bridge after Lennon’s verses.

    George’s nylon string solo on And I Love Her with a sweet Paul vocal.

    The whole mood of Things We Said and I’ll Be Back.

    Lennon’s appropriate guitar solo in You Can’t Do That. Go Johnny go !
    Great background vocals by Paul and George.

    John and Paul’s harmony vocals on If I Fell

    The Please Please Me and With The Beatles are great albums, but by the time of A Hard Days Night they were really coming into their own in a major way
     
  20. Hardy Melville

    Hardy Melville Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I'll Be Back is one of the best songs on the album! It represents a great leap forward, and was chosen as such as the closer, to indicate where they were going.
     
  21. Hardy Melville

    Hardy Melville Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Yes! Things for Paul, Back for John, showed that in the middle of making this album, they were already moving to the next stage in their development as songwriters. Both are great performances as well. We completely agree on them.
     
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  22. Freelance_Philosopher

    Freelance_Philosopher Well-Known Member

    Picked "Any Time at All" because it might very well the single most underrated Beatles track, being probably in a five-way tie for best on this album.
    (I'm surprised at the low turnout for "Can't Buy Me Love.")
     
  23. Baldo

    Baldo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Butte, Montana
    That’s a tough call....I picked “You Can’t Do That”.

    That snarky 12-string riff, John’s Chuck Berry-influenced lead break, Paul and Ringo layin’ down the groove, not to mention the vocals. It’s pretty damn heavy for 1964.
     
  24. jmxw

    jmxw Fab Forum Fan

    It just never did it for me. :shrug:
     
  25. anth67

    anth67 Purveyor of Hogwash

    Location:
    PNW USA
    I Should Have Known Better is my sentimental favorite, but Things We Said Today is probably the best song. (I voted my heart.)
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2018
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