The clanging chord which opened ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ – the title track of The Beatles’ first film, third album and seventh UK single – remains one of the most iconic moments of their career.
We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning. The strident guitar chord was the perfect launch.
Much has been made of the opening chord of the song. I still don’t know what it is. If you asked me to play it, I couldn’t; I’d have to work it out. I think there may be two chords in there, a G and an F.
The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present
Read more about the ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ opening chord.
The title
The phrase “A Hard Day’s Night” had been coined by an exhausted Ringo Starr following a filming session on 19 March 1964.
We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day…’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘…night!’ So we came to ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
While appropriated for the film after Starr’s utterance, it wasn’t a new phrase. It had appeared in John Lennon’s book In His Own Write, published on 23 March 1964, although Lennon always attributed it to his colleague.
There was no reason for Michael to be sad that morning, (the little wretch); everyone liked him, (the scab). He’d had A Hard Day’s Night that day, for Michael was a Cocky Watchtower.
In His Own Write, John Lennon
The phrase neatly summed up the frenetic pace of The Beatles’ existence in 1964, going from hotel room to dressing room to stage and back again. When it was seized upon by director Richard Lester for the title of the band’s first film, and announced to the press on 13 April, it left Lennon and McCartney with the task of writing a theme tune to order.
I was going home in the car and Dick Lester suggested the title Hard Day’s Night from something Ringo’d said. I had used it in In His Own Write but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringoism, where he said it not to be funny, just said it. So Dick Lester said we are going to use that title, and the next morning I brought in the song. ’Cause there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A side, who got the hit singles.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Paul McCartney remembered the selection of the title differently in his authorised biography.
We’d almost finished making the film and this fun bit arrived that we’d not known about before which was naming the film. So we were sitting around at Twickenham studios having a little brain-storming session; director Dick Lester, us, Walter Shenson [film producer], Bud Ornstein [European head of production for United Artists] and some other people were sitting around trying to come up with something and we said, ‘Well, there was something Ringo said the other day’… He said after a concert, ‘Phew, it’s been A Hard Day’s Night.’ John and I went, ‘What? What did you just say?’ He said, ‘I’m bloody knackered, man, it’s been A Hard Day’s Night.’ ‘Hard day’s night! F*****g brilliant! How does he think of ’em? Woehayy!’ So that came up in this brain-storming session, something Ringo said, ‘It was A Hard Day’s Night.’
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
what guitar is making the bright chord for the intro of the song, a hard days night-and what mic(s) and what amp?-and who played the chord/guitar?
Hi John. I don’t have any info on mics and amps (I suspect they were Vox amps). A couple of books which are on my to-buy list are The Beatles’ Gear by Andy Babiuk and Recording The Beatles(.com) by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew. Those should have the information you need.
There’s some info on the song’s opening chord here: https://www.beatlesbible.com/features/hard-days-night-chord/
I hope it’s useful – it has information on the instruments used and the notes played.
Is there a picture of them when recording the single, “A Hard’s Day Night”?
The guitar used for the opening is a Rickenbacker 360/12 twelve string, played by George and the amp is a Vox AC-50. I think that they used Neumann or AKG Mics.
There are two guitars (John AND George), a bass guitar, and piano in that opening.
It’s all 4 beatles and George martin on piano
John: D over and under G
Paul: D note
George:F over and under G
Ringo: ride and crash
George M: D chord
That article on the chord is great.
At the time, 12 string electrics were virtually non-existent. Harrison was given his by Rickenbacker when the Beatles first came to New York in February 1964. It was only the second ever produced by the company, and the first to use the (now) distinctive Rickenbacker string arrangement of having the low string first (higher on the guitar and first to be hit by the pick) then the high string below it. This is part of what makes the sound distinctive. It’s amazing that after 45 years, that sound still sounds new, distinctive and just cool.
There should be credits for the cowbell, but I´m not sure who played it. Emerick says Ringo at the same time with the bongos, but it seems impossible to play both at the same time.
Lennon sings both lead and harmony vocals, or at least his main vocal is double-tracked.
It´s not a piano. Actually it´s a Hammond organ played in a piano register. This sound was also used in songs like “Misery”, “Things we said today”, “I wanna be your man” & “Any time at all”
I like the solo in ‘a hard days night’ it is supposed to be played fast, but George couldn’t do it so the slowed the tape down to half speed, and then George played his solo at halfspeed an octave lower. And George Martin added the same line on the piano.
Later when they were supposed to play this song live, there was a problem. George couldn’t play the solo as fast as needed.
Later when they were playing on the BBC Top of the Pops, as found on the CD Beatles at the Beeb. The song was recorded live but the solo didn’t go well. So what to do..?
They cut the solo from the LP-album and inserted it inte the live version from TotP. Listen very close to the song ‘a hard days night’ from the Beeb, you’ll hear it, especially in the earphones. These are thing that I do like about the beatles.
Just watched, “McCartney 3, 2, 1,” and McCartney talked about recording that solo at half-speed. Still find it hard to believe as it’s not hard at all – compared to, let’s say, “Til There Was You,” which Harrison played LIVE on his giant Country Gentleman on their first Ed Sullivan appearance!!
In the video attached to this article, George is playing the solo live, so he must have mastered it.
Actually the solo is edited. Listen closely and you’ll hear the cut edition where they inserted the solo from the album version.
I read somewhere that Norman Smith played the congas(bongos on ‘a hard days night’ He showed Ringo at first, but in the end it was Norman who played it on the record.
Norman was the balance engineer at the session and he couldn’t overdub the bongos if he was occupied with manning the controls and faders of the mixing desk. Norman may have misremembered, being such a long time ago, and as I said in one post, there’s no such thing as a 100% infallible memory.
The bongo style and tempo is similar to what Ringo played on “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl”, so I’m pretty sure that he played the bongos on “A Hard Day’s Night”.
I don´t agree with Urban…, please hear the live recording of the song in Live at the Hollwood Bowl (EMI 1977), George plays the solo very well, without any overdubs. And with no piano even.
I’m with Carlos. That solo is really easy. I’m sure George could play that.
It’s not “easy”, and George hadn’t mastered it when they recorded the BBC version. If I recall, the use of the studio-recorded solo is even mentioned in the liner-notes (I only have the CDs themselves now).
The BBChost clearly states that George was absent from that recording session and they all laughed about the edit being spliced in.
First & last ricky chord, solo and bongoes are overdubbed. John and paul’s voices are both double tracked. About the solo speed, it’s true George wasn’t able to play it on the recording session because it was made in a rush and he didn’t had time to practice enough. But he did it well on live as the song was played on almost every concert they did in 64. Hard Day’s Night was the first album recorded on a 4 tracks tape machine.
Did anybody pick up on the lyrical similarity with Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business”? The Beatles had performed this song frequently on their BBC shows during 1963, and given the increasingly hectic nature of their work schedule it’s possible that they adapted the storyline to fit the proposed title “A Hard Day’s Night”…
What was the German title for ‘A Hard Days Night?
I have a card that stars Wilfred Bramwell, and has the title, ‘Vier Sind Im Bild’ which translates, according to Google, as ‘Four are in the picture.’
The album was called Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! A Hard Day’s Night. There’s a picture in the Germany discography. I suspect the film was called the same, though I may be wrong.
The German title of the movie is “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” (e. g. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeah!_Yeah!_Yeah!).
I think that Gearge Harrison had a really raw deal. Often songs were arranged or even composed in the recording studio with little or no time for George to think up, let alone practice, solo or other lead parts. At the start of a session he might hear a song played through for the first time but within an hour or three the song was finished, having evolved through several incarnations, but with fresh guitarwork, so appropriate and essential that it’s impossible to think of the songs without it.
It’s impressive in any circumstances, in those it’s incredible.
Good point. But impromptu can also be an advantage. All of the Beatles were great at just putting it out. Sometimes thinking too much is counterproductive. I have no idea what the deal was in the studio, but these guys were so talented they could run with the moment so well.
By this time they were recording on four-track and solos were often left off the rhythm track to be overdubbed later, or were replaced later . I would bet it was mainly a question of time- whether they had it to do overdubs and get them right. Some of his playing is beautiful, and some is excruciating.
Harrison was the youngest and, it seems, lacking a bit in self-confidence. In ’65 he seemed to start to gaining that, both vocally and on guitar. He seemed to mature during this time, probably due to a lot of things: getting married, discovering a fascination with the music and philosophy of India, the challenge to his role in the band as Paul started playing a lot of leads, and the simple act of getting a bit older.
It’s true that Paul did some lead guitar, but not to the extent of jeopardizing George’s job as lead guitarist. It’s not very nice to say that George had no self-confidence: just listen to his guitar solos on “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Something” and you’ll hear how confidently he played them.
He did go into Indian music, that’s right, but it was no different to Paul going into classical music or John going into experimental/avant-garde music.
I disagree with your assessment of George getting a raw deal. He was a very, very good lead guitarist, but who cares if he wasn’t Al di Meola, Frank Zappa or Jimi Hendrix? He had his own style and his playing style clearly suited the band’s needs.
Don’t believe everything you read and according to Robert Rodriguez, what Geoff Emerick wrote in his book about George said more about Geoff himself not to mention that Geoff’s recollections of some sessions were belied by session audio via bootlegs.
Great insight, artwest! I never thought of it that way but you’re right. You’re comment is a breath of frsh air on a site that is chock-ful of lot negativity aimed GH. He was aweome.
I’m seconding your praise for artwest’s comment, BBB.
does anyone else find it silly how paul remembers it, when it was already proven that john wrote about the ringo moment a long while before the movie.
Not really. “Many Years From Now” was written over thirty years after the song, and Paul’s quotes were reminiscences, not researched facts. It makes sense he’d get details wrong after that long.
Yes, I find it amusing. Paul has a tendency to dramatize things and, at times, to seemingly try to steer some of the credit away from John. Of course, it would be hard to do were John still with us!
Paul’s recollection of the event isn’t even necessarily inconsistent… It’s quite possible everyone in the room was trying to pick the most catchy title for the film and that’s how it happened. He just adds that Ringo had said the phrase “the other day”… Paul’s inconsistency lies in the gap between when it was first said and when the meeting was. Maybe not “the other day” but a few months before.
I was there as a kid the day they filmed HDN at Marylebone Station, not Paddington as the sleeve notes say.
In the opening sequence the Beatles are filmed running, (and tripping) in Boston Place, a street that runs parallel to the station. Later Apple’s offices would be sited there and Paul makes reference on Anthology.
I love this album. It has John’s toughness in the vocals. He dominates but all the others are firing too. Things become more melodic and equally good in a different way when Paul takes over. All you need is Love being the last John ‘A’ side that really counts.
Both halves of the Beatles output are great. I don’t favour either. Just count myself bloody lucky.
Is there a book that ACCURATELY reports WHO PLAYED WHAT on EACH SONG the Beatles recorded and released?
For example, the times PAUL played LEAD, instead of George . . . and the times GEORGE played bass instead of Paul.
Stuff like that?
“Paul McCartney – Bass Master – Playing the Great Beatles Bassline” outlines all of Paul’s bass work and includes a section of who played bass for every Beatles song. It does have some errors (e.g. Paul did not play bass on She Said, She Said) but is fairly accurate.
You are absolutely correct! I was starting to think that!
from the cavern to the rooftop explains everything. $15
Most of the authors’ and biographers’ assertions about who played what is based on guesswork: the usual routine in the studio (John and George on guitars, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums) and retrospective statements that aren’t always factually correct. Although handwritten notes from George Martin or whoever have cracked some line-up discrepancies, we can only speculate and the line-ups may never be conclusively disclosed once and for all.
It is a good idea, however, to trust our ears.
it s an F chord with G on top
That’s what George H. plays……there’s a whole lot more going on there along with that.
Oh paul, the over bearing one…. I have always loved this song and the movie. (And Ringo’s a secret genius. He just doesn’t know that.)
Made by John in a hurry, the verse was clearly inspired on Buddy Holly’s “Well Alright”, harmony and structure. But still and awesome song.
A great song and as George Martin said in the above article, the guitar opening at the beginning is perfect. It sets the scene for the song, album and brilliant film. I saw the Beatles films on TV as a kid and Let It Be at the movies in 1979, 9 years after its original release. I am so pleased to have them all on DVD now. A Hard Day’s Night is a classic film. The song is a collaboration, but it is mainly written by John Lennon with he and Paul McCartney sharing the vocals on different parts of the song, which works brilliantly. Of course it is legend how Ringo accidentally came up with the title. George Harrison’s lead guitar work using the trusty Rickenbacker is brilliant. First heard this song on a family members 45 and later got the album.
Paul McCartney & John Lennon equally wrote this song.
artwest makes a great point, about George needing to time to think out and plan
a mature guitar part, where unfortunately, the sessions grew very impatient with him
if he didn’t nail a fully developed part after an hour or so. That apparently was not
how his music muse works, and he took unfair criticism.
I love Paul’s bass, but I have to bring up how he would spent hours in the night perfecting
a bass part (to overdub over his first take), after everyone left. (according to Geoff Emerick)
And John’s creativity seemed limited to bringing the initial shape of the song, and then getting
impatient when multiple takes were required to ‘mature’ it. (granted these ‘initial shapes’ were
masterpieces in the rough!).
It didn’t seem like George got this privilege.
Sorry, but I disagree with you and artwest’s comments about George getting a raw deal. George was a very good guitarist and both he and Paul were perfectionists in their own way. There is no way that he would’ve been The Beatles’ lead guitarist if he wasn’t good enough for the job or incapable of playing solos right.
He also took a bigger role in production aspects for “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun” as well as “Within You Without You”.
I recall watching The Beatles receive a Grammy from Peter Sellers. Could have been for this song. They all said, “Thank you, Mr.Ustanov.” Then one by one said “Itsa” Sellers said “Itsa?” “Longwah.” Sellers: “Longwah?” “TooTi” Sellers: “Too Ti?” I believe it was John who said, “Perary!” Then they broke into “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” and fade.They had taped it from England for the Grammys. Wonder if that exists anywhere. Anyone?
As it is known that all the Five Beatles(George Martin Included) were contributing to the ‘opening chord’ which has ‘D G C F A’ notes in it… So it is safe to conclude that all the contributions led to ‘Dm11omit 9’ chord… And not to forget Paul’s ‘D’ note on the Bass.
(I hope it’s not too off-topic)
A close approximate on one guitar, according to fan Andy Partridge (of XTC) starting from 6th to 1st strings (easier than tab format in this space):
F / A / D / G / C / G. It’s close!
He based the verses of their song This Is Pop on these chords (except on the last verse chord where he adds a G# on the G string).
In their tune, as above, 6th to 1st:
1. C / E / A / D / G / D
2. A / C# / F# / B / E / B
3. (So called Beatle chord) then
4. F / A / D / G# / C / G
Their chorus has nothing to do with it, except the last chord slash.
He reckons the chord is a big Rickenbacker gtr stab in the back of British Victoriana music!
Great site by the way. Thanks.
Ach, it’s about the first chord. Sorry. Got carried away.
I believe similar but a weaker chord they played as the closing of Roll Over Beethoven. It had some power, though, the moment I heard it at the cinema hall during a New Year Eve party in the 70’s.
It’s a good rock song, but I a little tired of it, doesn’t happens usually with the good Beatles songs
and they are so many, but it happens with this one.
Can anyone tell me the exact date of the Hard Day’s Night cover photo session? I have been searching for that date for years. Not even Mark Lewisohn’s works have that information.
The middle eight, where Paul sings “When I’m home, everything seems to be alright, yeah, when I’m home, feeling you holding me tight, tight yeah!” was probably written in tandem with John.