The Beatles: Single By Single

I’ll follow the sun - being released as a single is an indication of just how strong their lesser known compositions are.

 

I recon we're about halfway through now...

Day Tripper


Single Released: 3 December 1965
B-side: We Can Work It Out

"Day Tripper" was written early in the Rubber Soul sessions when the Beatles were under pressure to produce a new single for the Christmas market.[4] John Lennon wrote the music and most of the lyrics, while Paul McCartney contributed some of the lyrics.[5] In a 1980 interview, Lennon said of the song: "That's mine. Including the lick, the guitar break and the whole bit."[6] In the 1997 book Many Years from Now, McCartney claims that it was a collaboration but Lennon deserved "the main credit".[7]

Lennon described "Day Tripper" as a "drug song",[8] and in a 2004 interview McCartney said it was "about acid" (or LSD).[9] The song title is a play on words referring to both a day-tripper or tourist and a "trip" in the sense of a psychedelic experience.[10] Lennon recalled: "Day trippers are people who go on a day trip, right? Usually on a ferryboat or something. But [the song] was kind of ... you're just a weekend hippie. Get it?"[6] In Many Years from Now, McCartney says that "Day Tripper" was about sex and drugs; he describes it as "a tongue-in-cheek song about someone who was ... committed only in part to the idea. Whereas we saw ourselves as full-time trippers".[11] The line "She's a big teaser" was code for "she's a prick teaser."[11]

During the sessions for Rubber Soul, a rift was growing between McCartney and his bandmates as he continued to abstain from taking LSD.[12][13] After Lennon and George Harrison had first taken the drug in London early in 1965,[12][14] Ringo Starr had joined them in their second experience, during the Beatles' stay in Los Angeles that August.[15] Given McCartney's continued abstinence, author Ian MacDonald says that the song's lyric may well have been partly directed at him,[16] as does music journalist Keith Cameron.[17]

References: Wikipedia

 

Shouldn't you at least acknowledge Boys/Kansas City which was released on Capitol's green Star-line label? It became the third and last time the boys missed the Top 100 altogether in the US, hitting #102 in late October of '65.

 

I was considering doing "Boys" after "I'll Follow the Sun".

 

Day Tripper is a great single. Has one of the most memorable guitar riffs of 60's rock!

 

DAY TRIPPER - One of the ABSOLUTE BEST GUITAR RIFFS EVER! As I said, if there's a full recording of the Beatles live in 66, I would love an official release, after hearing some samples this song live is my favorite version. The Beatles performing it live is some heavy rock! Another one of my absolute favorites!

 

An argument could be made it's the most memorable but I wouldn't wanna open that can of riffs. Although someone should....

 

Open it, because personally I think it's one of the ABSOLUTE GREATEST GUITAR RIFFS OF ALL TIME!

 

One of my more amusing Beatles-related memories happened at my favorite secondhand record shop in my hometown. My best friend and I used to spend most of our allowance money there, and the owner knew we were huge Beatles fans. One day while we were browsing there, he put on Mae West's version of "Day Tripper". Still one of the more...unique Beatles covers I've heard, and yes, it's sung from the day tripper's point of view ("It took him so long to find out, but he found out!")

As for the original, the day I tried to teach myself that riff was the day I realized just how talented a bunch of musicians they were. When people say rock and roll oldies are easy to play, they ain't talking about the Beatles.

 

And the fact that John wrote it and plays it throughout the record makes it akin to I Feel Fine, another of his "inspired by Watch Your Step" moments.
Most forum members dispute that John plays it, but none of them have offered any pertinent quotes while I have, from both John and Paul who say John played it on the record.

 

Probably is but would have some competition from the follow up Paperback Writer and also Birthday

 

I think Satisfaction is the winner in greatest 60s riffs of all time. Although all the Beatles and Stones mid 60's singles riffs are etched in gold.

 

Day Tripper and it's flip side represent, to me, the pinnacle of power pop - and the Beatles farewell to 1965 and their mop top personas. I love side one of Help! as it is nothing but power pop perfected. It seems to me that they had mined power pop for all it could be. They couldn't take it further so they moved on to a different kind of music. Rubber Soul was far more experimental in both songwriting and arrangement. But they still needed a killer single, and for that they returned to power pop. Day Tripper and its flip are polished, confident and sophisticated. Future Beatles singles would retain the polish, confidence and sophistication but veer away from power pop.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Here come the Monkees.

 

Excellent song no doubt. I believe Deep Purple used a little bit of the riff for Never Before.

 

They always tuned to the harmonica. Here they are August 1966

 

Just to be clear, THIS is a rip off of Watch Your Step:

I Feel Fine is inspired by it but at no point does it copy notes, chords or arrangement like Moby Dick does.

 

We Can Work It Out


Single Released: 3 December 1965
A-side: Day Tripper

McCartney wrote the words and music to the verses and the chorus, with lyrics that "might have been personal", probably a reference to his relationship with Jane Asher.[7]

With its intimations of mortality, Lennon's contribution to the twelve-bar bridge contrasts typically with what Lennon saw as McCartney's cajoling optimism,[6] a contrast also seen in other collaborations by the pair, such as "Getting Better" and "I've Got a Feeling".

In author Ian MacDonald's view, some critics have overemphasised the extent of McCartney's optimism in the song and neglect the toughness in passages written by McCartney,[6] such as "Do I have to keep on talking until I can't go on?" Lennon's middle shifts focus from McCartney's concrete reality to a philosophical perspective in B minor, illustrating this with the waltz-like passage suggested by Harrison that leads back to the verse,[7] possibly meant to suggest tiresome struggle.[6] Rather than a formal change to 3/4 time, the waltz effect is created through suspensions and triplets within the regular 4/4 rhythm.[9]

References: Wikipedia

 

As I'd mentioned while discussing Day Tripper, it and it's flip side We Can Work It Out represent the pinnacle of the Beatles power pop. Not only catchy and driving, but polished, confident and sophisticated, with it's alternating points of view and time signature changes. It's pretty tricky stuff.

 

I agree that We Can Work It Out is excellent pop, I don't even think it's power pop. Day Tripper isn't pop at all, at least not to my ears, I hear heavy rock!

 

The thing I like best about We Can Work It Out is the combination of a McCartney part and a Lennon part into one song. Both lyrically and musically they work well together.

 

I agree. I think it's a rare example of a true Lennon/McCartney song where you can hear how both of their very different styles complement each other perfectly. Unlike "A Day In The Life" and "I've Got A Feeling" it doesn't feel forced. It flows naturally as one song.

 

I've always liked We Can Work It Out, and I would probably put it in my top 30 or so Beatles (not top 10).

Day Tripper never did much for me, guitar riff or not. But there are plenty of songs I like less in the world ...

 

A contender for best Beatles single - almost impossible to split which I guess is why it was released as a double A side

 

Both great songs. Though I feel like it could've been this way:

Day Tripper - A-side
We Can Work It Out - B-side

 

That riff also sounds a lot like the one from the Yardbirds' version of "I'm Not Talking" (originally by Mose Allison, but his version doesn't feature the riff). That was from before Page joined them, but there's no way the resemblance is coincidental.