The opening song on the Beatles For Sale album, ‘No Reply’ was written by John Lennon for Tommy Quickly, another of Brian Epstein’s recording artists.
That’s my song. Dick James, the publisher, said, ‘That’s the first complete song you’ve written where it resolves itself’. You know, with a complete story. It was my version of ‘Silhouettes’: I had that image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the phone, although I never called a girl on the phone in my life. Because phones weren’t part of the English child’s life.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
‘Silhouettes’ was a 1957 hit for The Rays, an R&B quartet from New York. The opening lines of the song bear a certain resemblance to ‘No Reply’:
Took a walk and passed your house late last night
All the shades were pulled and drawn way down tight
From within the dim light cast
Two silhouettes on the shade
Oh what a lovely couple they made
This happened once before
When I came to your door
No reply
They said it wasn’t you
But I saw you peep through your window
I saw the light
I saw the light
I know that you saw me
’cause I looked up to see your face
Paul McCartney later claimed to have assisted Lennon in writing the song:
We wrote ‘No Reply’ together but from a strong original idea of his. I think he pretty much had that one, but as usual, if he didn’t have the third verse and the middle eight, then he’d play it to me pretty much formed, then we would shove a bit in the middle or I’d throw in an idea.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
The Beatles taped their demo of ‘No Reply’ for Tommy Quickly on 3 June 1964, although he never released a version of the song. This demo was misfiled and became lost in the 1960s, only resurfacing in 1993; it was released on Anthology 1.
This sprightly first version was treated casually by the group, who played around with the lyrics – at one point singing “I saw you walk in your face”. It also had a shorter “I saw the light” section.
The demo featured a drummer, although Ringo Starr had been taken ill earlier in the day with tonsillitis. Jimmie Nicol may have played instead; he was certainly at Abbey Road that morning for a tour rehearsal with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
The Beatles – with Starr – recorded ‘No Reply’ properly on 30 September 1964, with piano played by George Martin. They perfected it in eight takes, the last of which was used on Beatles For Sale.
John sings this one, and I do the vocal harmony. We tried to give it different moods, starting off quietly with a sort of vaguely bossa nova tempo, building up to a straight beat crescendo in the middle, and then tailing off quietly again.
Disc, 14 November 1964
For take five, the group tried repeating the middle section, extending the song from 2:14 to 3:17. However, they dropped this idea in the final version.
Take two of ‘No Reply’ was also released on Anthology 1. As in the demo version, The Beatles had trouble recording the song without deliberately messing up the lyrics (“You walked hand in hand with another plank in my place”). It also repeated the first verse towards the end of the song, in place of the one beginning “I tried to telephone”.
In this song Harrison played his Gretsch, not an acoustic guitar. It is very subtle in the final mix but can be heard in the last chord.
Actually, if you listen to the song, there are clearly two acoustic guitars playing: one by John and the other by George. This webpage also confirms it. A YouTube comment also mentioned some handwritten paperwork confirming that both George and John played their Gibson J-160E acoustic guitars in acoustic mode. Walter Everett also mentioned that George played his Grestch electric guitar as well.
I always loved that John tried to modify his voice either by singing it differently or by effects. This is one of my favorites where he certainly is trying to sing it differently. Lennon was one of the most expressive singers ever
I’m not sure where I read this, but Tommy Quickly has stated that the version on Anthology was not actually the demo that was sent to him, which lacked the bridge section.
Surprised that no-one has commented on the amazing ‘darkness’ of this song, surely one of the best album opening tracks of all time (certainly compared with some of the stale r’n’r fare on ‘Beatles For Sale’, e.g. ‘Rock n Roll Music’)…. McCartney’s backing vocals are chilling, almost possessed….
Agreed. In fact it is that “darkness” you mentioned that is, for me, the most compelling aspect of the song. That the Beatles had recorded such a moody, dark track in 1964 made me appreciate them all the more. One of my favorite of their pre-Rubber Soul work.
66ish here…yes dark…drew me in, sold…past mania, pre-serious studio stuff…one of the first songs I learned how to play – w/help of a music book for the final chord…..
John Lennon is a genius.
Yes, yes he is!
Just to complete it…”Oh yes he is, yeah.”
Yes. As is Paul McCartney.
This is perhaps my favorite Fab song from their early period, say 1963-64. I love John’s voice, and this song was superb. No Reply was dark, yet still shined with its catchy middle section of handclaps and backing vocals. A real original in 1964. Still a tremendous song 46 years on!
Absolutely agree. As a young artist Lennon had the guts to express his angst, jealousy, mistrust, betrayal and hurt. How many of us, as teens experienced those very things that in hindsight are reductive but at that time were big drama? As dark as this song is, the middle eight was certainly Paul McCartney. It was uplifting, punchy and I love the whole-band hand claps. The harmonies within the middle eight are certifiably trademark Beatles which only at that time the “Hollies” could do.
Is the demo recorded for Tommy Quickly take 1? Because on Anthology, an engineer announces it as take 1.
On the demo from 3 June 1964, is possible that the drums were played by Paul McCartney. Ringo had tonsillitis, and Jimmy Nicol had left after his rehearsal. Any ideas on who plays drums on this track?
Elsewhere in his biography McCartney cited “No Reply” (along with “Yes It Is” and “I’m A Loser”) as “very much John Lennon songs.” Now he says – appearing to speak hypothetically – “IF he didn’t have the middle eight” we would “shove a bit” in the middle. That “middle bit” is possibly one of the finest of any Beatle song. I wish Paul would state clearly how much of that crucial middle John had when he brought it to him. The melody, chord changes and only lacking, say, the latter half of the bridge lyrically? Or did he and Paul write it together in the studio? On something like “Norwegian Wood” one gets the sense that Paul pretty much wrote the whole middle melody. Here he leaves it vague.
It’s vague because he really hasn’t got a clue. Paul cannot say he wrote something outright and then be proven incorrect later. That would cause all other claims to be doubted. Meanhwile, by the benefit of surviving Paul can bend history a bit. I do notice that his shadow of contribution in the Beatles gets a bit bigger with his later explanations. He sees himself being overshadowed by the legend of the deceased John. He is used to having people in awe of his prowess. The only problem is that he failed to meet expectations after the breakup. None of them ultimately mustered, but Paul was the one who advised the world that he would write music that would put the world on its ear. And, really, he didn’t. Despite all of the great McCartney-only Beatle songs, Paul couldn’t seem to so it after the breakup – although he did have some solid tunes, there was always something lacking. It all fits his character though. He even had to own more shares in the Beatles at the end and behind the backs of the others. He is trying to chart his own legend without being too arrogant.
I really love this whole McCartney-as-sinister-mastermind-out-to-retroactively-own-the-Beatles bug that people seem to have caught somewhere. What’s more likely: Paul deliberately exaggerates his own contributions despite the ability to factcheck him with a little digging, of that he misremembers exactly who wrote what over thirty to forty years on, when they often wrote in a fashion that would lend itself to muddying the recollection?
That’s one of the things I love about their songwriting. They wanted to write together to make the songs better, and for a long time they weren’t concerned with who got credit for what. It was about the success of the group. How amazing is that, to sublimate your ego when the world is worshipping you. I don’t fault Paul’s memory for changing through time, possibly in his favor, because they both gave us so much. I take the view that if they didn’t get caught up in ego about who was the bigger genius, then I try not to worry about it either.
My official first comment on this site! First of all, I want to acknowledge the bewilderment I bet the Beatles (alive and dead) must feel that 50 years later we’re still arguing about what Beatle did what on some day in 1964 🙂
So, reading the lyrics to the middle 8, I believe at least the words were driven by Paul–it’s a complete tone change, and I don’t imagine John switching from the tone of bitter betrayal to forgiveness and devotion–it’s really very inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the song, actually. Second, Paul has always been a diplomat, even to the point of insincerely understating his contributions. Like referring to George as “one of the [guitar] greats,” when in the studio Paul would sometimes take the more skillful guitar leads. I know this was back then, but there was an early group interview where the interviewer thought that because George played lead guitar, he was the leader of the group, and Paul said “No, John’s the leader of the group.” Also, 2 of the engineers involved said that Paul was very dominant in the studio in terms of musical arrangement. Also, it seems it was more in John’s nature to deride Paul’s influence in the Beatles, where it was more of Paul’s nature to build his bandmates up publicly, while behind the scenes he tried to creatively control things so that his vision was realized. I know none of this proves anything–just thoughts that come to mind.
But the main point of John and Paul to me was what someone else posted–back when things were awesome between them, they enthusiastically sublimated their individual egos to become this couple that was much more than their individual selves. So they maybe sometimes barely noticed who contributed what, because they just thought of themselves as a unit. To me, that is love, and it’s a big part of what made the Beatles so compelling that we still care so much about them 50 years later.
And finally–I love this song! And I also feel it comes completely alive when Paul comes in with his harmonies.
I love the Beatles and still listen to them all the time but I haven’t listened to a McCartney Beatles track in years. It is only the Lennon tracks I listen to. They are so much better than Paul’s. They have so much more depth. There was truth when John would describe some of Paul’s music as “granny songs.” Do you think John enjoyed doing tracks like “Ob La Di Ob La Da,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and “Lady Madonna?” I mean, does anyone, save the aforementioned grannies, actually listen to these songs? At least John’s silly songs were funny intentionally, even kind of bad intentionally. Not Paul’s. He did not have that playful side that John had. Paul took himself very seriously. Sure, pelt me with “Back in the USSR” and “Get Back.” Fine. I’m not saying Paul didn’t write some great songs. He did. But he wrote more than his share of bad ones, too. Even dreadful ones. And head-on, Paul’s song list thins out, and pretty fast, when you hold it up to Lennon’s. All Beatles fans begin as McCartney fans. But we are also often very young, even children, when we discover the Beatles — and it’s the McCartney catalogue we so quickly come to love, and it’s the McCartney songs which come to define the Beatles for us. But then we grow up, we mature, and we discover Lennon. Their solo work is proof, too. Lennon’s solo career was half-arsed (he had many other interests) and he even took five years off — and his solo output still blows Paul’s out of the water.
JPGR! Your comment is the best I´ve read for years! Wunderful. Perfect.
Johan – No, not really. But you go ahead and think that. It’s the ONE comment on these blogs that echo the miriad of silliness you post here.
Opinions vary.
Why is there so much dislike of MSH? I think it’s a fine song. A bit strange but fun and easy to listen to despite the subject matter.
The thing is, Paul could write any type of music. John couldn’t. Paul could’ve been a famous composer in any of the eras that proceeded the Beatles. Not so sure about John.
As for those “granny songs” Paul wrote, he wrote some pretty hard rocking tunes, too, starting with “I’m Down” and “I Saw Her Standing There” right up to “Helter Skelter” and “Oh! Darling.”
Not to mention “Oo You” and “Smile Away” proved he was still capable of doing it post Beatles.
Let’s not forget “Monkberry Moon Delight” which is surprisingly underappreciated, I think.
I think you take yourself very seriously, not Paul. Give it a rest.
Really? don’t get me wrong John wrote some great songs but it does seam to me that often he had no middle or bridge and that’ were Paul’s contribution comes in comes in. Also I think the Harmonies are greatly influenced by Paul. His backing harmonies on No reply are light years of what anybody was doing at the time. John’s songs always needed polishing they were raw and not totally worked out that is why I could never get into his solo stuff. Lack of backing volcals lack of instrumentation made everything sound like all you need is love. I call Imagine all you need is love part 2. Oh and Yoko’s catawalling is not back ups but distractions. In the later years if it wasn’t Paul polishing Johns songs it was George. With out help from Paul or George his songs are hollow. How many hits did post John have compared to post Paul or George for that matter. Lennon became a post beatle icon because he was an anti war protester
The problem with that take is Paul clearly had both the best post-Beatles material and the most post-Beatles material.
Only waiting to hear from Paul that he actually participated in Imagine, Mind Games etc ?
Here we go again about Ringo’s drumming capabilities. I always thought the drumming on this song was ace musicianship, almost orchestrial. The last huge cymbal was so tasty and expressive. The rather offbeat tempo drumming throughout. The high hat during the middle 8 and it’s transition to the remainder of the song. Was Ringo capable of all that? I have my doubts.
Of course Ringo was capable of all that, just as he was capable of the equally orchestral tympani fills on “Every Little Thing” elsewhere on BFS.
Check the article.
There’s nothing in this song Ringo wasn’t capable of.
I love these comments about Ringo that pop up on the site, like they had some mystery drummer come in and perform certain songs.
I’m not sure if you are commenting on my statement from way back on 24 Nov 2010, but I was not refering to the studio version released by the Beatles but the DEMO that was recorded when Ringo was sick. Mark Lewisohn notes that Jimmy Nichol had left after his rehearsal, when the demo was recorded. Listen to Anthology. There are drums on that track. Who played them?
I have nothing but respect for Ringo and his drumming.
Not at all. They were referring to the comment below yours about doubt Ringo played the final version. Which, for the record, is idiotic. He played the studio version. My guess is Norman Smith played on the DEMO.
“No Reply,” Take 1, has McCartney playing bass and singing descant
over Lennon’s vocal and Capri, and perhaps Harrison
playing drums in the ill Ringo’s absence. (Walter Everett)
Maybe Paul overdubbed the drums, or Ringo did later? For some reason I doubt that George played drums on this. Is there any evidence other than that one guy’s speculation?
That sounds plausible and Norman Smith was announcing the take from the control room as well as manning the faders of the mixing desk, so he couldn’t have possibly been in the live room to play the drums.
I agree!
Did anybody ever notice that the drum/cymbal strokes in ‘I nearly died ‘is not on the first bar nor on the fourth but between them: on the 4and half bar*.
This gives the song a massive boost and I wonder who came with this.
It is a rare drumtrick, Poco used it
* I don’t know the english word, measure or count or?
With all the great Beatles songs, I keep coming back to this one as my favorite. There’s so much happening within it!
One of my favorite Beatle songs if not my favorite. Definetly their most underrated.
Ringo’s drumming in the verse is a bossa nova style
There´s additional drums (No one can deny that´s Ringo playing here both). Sleeve notes quotes that it´s Paul who plays piano.
As a teen growing up with the Beatles, for me and most of my friends, it was all about the “beat”. Yeah, the lyrics mattered, but not really that much. The rhyme scheme mattered, I suppose, but few of us paid much attention. We blasted their records (45s and LPs), we danced to them, played them over and over, and then dismissed them as their next single or album came out.
Today, on returning to their body of work and listening with far better sound reproduction and with far more discernment, the genius of this group really shines. No Reply has an amazing simplicity, a mature and honest story line, a satisfying rhyme scheme (“Face” rhyming with “Place” two stanzas later!), a lilting Bossa Nova beat….it’s now one of my top 5 faves from the group.
One of my absolute favorites, and, in my mind, the point where the Beatles enter what I think of their “middle period” pre-Revolver (even though the Revolver-Sgt. Pepper-Magical Mystery Tour era straddles the middle of their career, I feel this stretch of albums is kind of a musical adolescence). Love the change of rhythm between the verse and chorus.
I especially like the contrast between the darkness of the lyrics and the inoffensiveness of the melody. It puts you in mind of a man barely keeping his emotions in check until he bursts out with the “I NEARLY DIED” or “I SAW THE LIGHT” lines, then clamping down on them in an attempt to keep things civil. The bridge lifts things up again for the delivery of his ultimatum before bringing things back down again in an attempt to end the conversation on a calm note, but he can’t resist getting in one more loud jab.
Hi all – this is my first post here. I’ve only been peeking in and out for a few days and have by no means exhaustively scoured the site, so I feel like a bit of an interloper. That being said, here goes anyway. This isn’t necessarily one of my favorite Beatles songs, and yet it’s one I never want to skip when it pops up while I’m in shuffle mode. Like many of you, I think the darkness of the lyrics juxtaposed against the rhythm and melody is compelling. The verses are fairly light, little tripping affairs and then they get to the chorus and the raw emotion just pours out. You can feel the anger tempered with hurt. Also, the bridge/middle eight is fantastic – I especially like the way it climbs and climaxes and then rounds back on itself into the title of the song in such an offhand way (“when you gave me no reply”). The other thing I like about the bridge that I’m not sure has been mentioned yet is the way the pronouns play out in the lyrics – you know, where he says, “If I were you, I’d realize that I.” Outside of the context, this role-switching could be confusing, but because it’s so much like the way people really talk, it works.
I sometimes don’t give John enough credit, because (I may as well say it) Paul has always been my favorite Beatle, but this is a fine piece of work.
Why does Paul always go around these days trying to claim that he played a significant role in the writing of John’s songs? I don’t believe him on most of these claims, although there are a few cases where he might have suggested a tidbit now and then. Paul was undoubtedly the most musically talented member of The Beatles, but that does not detract one bit from from the fact that John and George were very gifted in their own right. Let it go Macca…we all know you wrote Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da and Maxwells’s Silver Hammer. You even wrote Yellow Submarine for Ringo to sing. You’ve built up quite a legacy yourself Paul, be decent enough to give John Lennon credit for his own masterpieces.
Paul has every right to say who wrote what, he was there wasn’t he? John’s story changed about three times after the breakup and he didn’t always have the best memory, did he?
Interesting choice of Paul’s songs to point out there, can I add some? For No One, Yesterday, Penny Lane, Here There & Everywhere, Hey Jude.
Or if you want to go the other way, we all know John wrote It’s Only Love and Bungalow Bill. He even wrote What Goes On for Ringo to sing.
For No One – overrated and boring
Yesterday – overrated
Hey Jude – overrated and boring
Penny Lane and Here.There & Everywhere are good.
It’s Only Love is a great song so not really working in your argument there.
What Goes On is very good also, again, not really helping your argument.
Bungalow Bill isn’t good, but hey, John couldn’t carry the band forever, eventually he just got bored and said F*** it.
There’s a reason the partnership was called Lennon-McCartney and it wasn’t just because of ABC order.
thank you for your list. i’m glad to find someone else who never liked Hey jude. what is funny is my two neices are not Beatle lovers but love that song. oh well.
As a matter of fact, both Lennon and McCartney have been quoted as saying their names were listed in that order for that very reason. (ABC), and the fact it “sounded better” to John.
I won’t list the “overrated” songs of Lennon, though the list would be every bit the equal of Paul’s – just like the list of great “classics” would be equal. Your assertion that these “Paul Songs” are overrated is one person’s opinion, NOTHING more.
For no one, Yesterday and Hey Jude are great songs. I believe Hey Jude won a Grammy back in the days when music WAS music. I think in a lot of Paul’s songs the depth of the words get lost due to the pure beauty of the melody. in for no one the way he describes her daily routine She wakes up she makes up and then goes onto how in her eyes you see nothing shows its all for her, she no longer needs you. Talk about cuts like a knife. Have you ever felt that? I have.
The quote is from Sir Paul’s book, where he goes through the entire Lennon/McCartney catalog, and makes *his* assessment of how these songs came about. Isn’t he entitled to do that?
Anyway, “…from a strong original idea of his…” and “…he pretty much had that one…” don’t really suggest that McCartney is taking a significant — to use your word — amount of credit on this one.
Perhaps one could argue that this site doesn’t *need* to quote Sir Paul’s book at every possible junction, but that isn’t going to make it go away.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I am sure that McCartney felt inferior to Lennon as composer. Lennon´s music is heavier, and will age better. McCartney´s name is bigger than his work. And McCartney is not always telling the truth when he speaks about composing credit. He can say whatever he will in Lennon´s absence.
Once again, you have NOTHING to base your assertion on other than your own biases and imagination. Your post here is nothing more than one-sided OPINION (though you try cloak it as “fact”). You can say whatever you will in absence of fact, quotes, and citations (as you have for years).
“As a matter of fact, I am sure” – Ok, we get this is your opinion, but not, in fact, fact.
Opinions vary.
That all being said:
I admire EVERYTHING John AND Paul did on No reply – they were amazing TOGETHER and I think it’s petty and small to try to put one of them over the other.
That’s easy enough for you to say, given what you have already said over and over and over. You’re just going in circles again.
Johan Ono Cavalli making up facts again. We get. You worship John and loathe Paul. You have made that clear for years. Your mission is accomplished. Now, go haunt some other music sites.
John was a Teddy Boy – Tough Guy, Jealous Guy, Run for your life if you can little girl, I won’t know where I am ….kind a guy ….Well sometimes…
On this demo he tosses insults at the guy she is with in the song.
These guys, our boys, were tough with women… John would hit.
Two things, one specific and one general. Regarding No Reply, the middle eight is somewhere outside the key of C major which gives it the oddly compelling melody – it starts on C but then E to an A, both of which should be minor. I think these were originally strung together without regard for the key, resulting in a mid-phrase key change that makes the lyrics even more compelling. Weird but lovely.
The general comment is reserved for the POV of J, G and P in their songwriting “voice.” John is usually “I”, George is usually “you” and Paul is, more frequently than either, “they.” Not always, of course, but usually enough to recognize this as a possibility. That idiosyncrasy in their songwriting increased their “universality”, as it were. I’m pretty sure they will be remembered very much like Shakespeare.
It’s that great harmony with paul and john “I saw the lite;I nearly died”Paul singin’high harmony’s over john is savage!…j.g.
I love the huge symbol crash at the end. for some reason that escapes me, I always expect it at the wrong time.
IMHO, the “double-tracked” John voice in the verse is actually… Paul’s singing the unisono and imiting John’s timber!
Heard this song for the first time last week, and I can’t stop playing it!
Yes, Wayne, I agree with you. Why does McCartney always go around to claim he played a significant role in writing of Lennon´s songs?
I think the reason is that he feels inferior to Lennon. He knows that his music, in opposite to Lennon´s music, cannot age. And McCartney doesn´t always tell the complete thruth. He is a genius PR-man.
The Beatles first hit and great breakthrough 1963 was Please Please Me, a Lennon composition. During the years 1963-1965, or before Yesterday, Lennon was the dominant composer – among other things the masterpiece No Reply — in The Beatles, composed most of their hits and dominated the films with his music. Nowadays some music writers talk about 1967 the year with the great three singles: Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love and I Am The Walrus = all Lennon compositions! All over the world Lennon with The Beatles had 27 hits and McCartney 22. But Lennon´s musical dominance was a kind of secret. Nobody knew. Instead this happened:
Ned Rorum in New York Review of Books, January 1968,
Readers Digest 1968,
The Pengiun Stereo Record Guide first edition,
Das Grosse Lexikon der Musik 1978,
The Oxford Companian to popular music 1991,
the cover to Beatles Go Baroque 2000,
and many many others, for many many years, wrote that McCartney was the melody composer in The Beatles, Lennon is not mentioned as composer.
How could this happen? This is a music history scandal! And nobody talks about it. George Martin contributed a lot, because he always preferred McCartney´s more 1930s like music. And Martin made uncorrect statements, for example 1966 that McCartney composed almost all music in The Beatles. And McCartney indicates 1970 that he composed Because and said 1971 among other things that “Lennon-McCartney is only a myth, it´s all mine”, and 1990 that he “wrote Help”.
The situation became a little better 1994 when Ian MacDonald released the book Revolution in the Head, where he comments who wrote what about every song. Now it became obvius how many masterpieces Lennon had composed. After that McCartney admits Lennon composed Help and so on. But McCartney is not satisfied. He is tremendeously embarrassed by the fact that Lennon was the dominant composed before 1965 or 1966. About the Lennon songs from that time, McCartney found the way: About a McCartney composition he always says, or said “It´s mine”, but about a Lennon composition, he always said “we did it together”, oh so cute. And people translate that as if McCartney did the music and Lennon the lyrics, and that´s what McCartney wished without lie literally. McCartney will always succeds in his PR activity. The establishment always believes him more than Lennon, because he wrote Yesterday, and because he is always smiling. People is still nagging about McCartney´s music importance in all Beatles music.
Hi, Cavalli. I couldn’t prevent myself to ask you a few questions.
1. When did McCartney ever even hinted he wrote ‘Because’?
2. Who told you Lennon music ‘aged’, and McCartney’s didn’t?
3. What did you mean with “Lennon with The Beatles” had 27 hits, and McCartney 22?
Get well soon. I really hope you do.
To smile and to make people smile and happy is a great feel, let me tell you that. Much better than having heroin, or rewriting the facts.
And I’m not sure what kind of Beatle fan you are, not knowing the three 1967 Beatles singles are “Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever”, “All You Need Is Love”, and “Hello Goodbye”.
Joe, I hope this time you will post my reply. The last three times you didn’t.
Please keep discussions relevant to the article you’re commenting on. Thanks.
Could you do something about that Johan Cavalli fellow? He’s a warped John Lennon sycophant. He doesn’t need to tear Lennon and Mccartney apart.
I’d always thought I heard an organ in the middle 8, not a piano! what do you hear?
For me, the piano makes this song! But I don’t hear an organ, just that pounding piano against the rhythm guitar.
On the right side, with bass drum and cymbal when John sings “I saw the light” and “I nearly died” and, at the end “No reply”: accented on those three last words (light, died, reply) is the piano – hard and crisp. Very ahead of it’s time.
Yes, in the middle eight, there is a muddy piano playing the chords in straight eight notes.
Anyone hear as I do in the last verse subtle finger snaps off to one side starting at around 1:35. You really have to listen for it. Not mentioned in any notes on the wiki site.
I’d love to hear someone’s confirmation
I hear the finger snaps stereo right on the last verse.
They always had a couple of tunes on their LPs that were ‘singles material’. ‘No Reply’ was always a hit single to me. Love the Bossa Nova drumming very much Ringo. He is more of a technical drummer than a physical one.
Paul died in 66.. the new guys name is Bill Shepherd.. a studio musician.. and member of the Bonzo Band and Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots…yet…. he’s been Paul longer than the original Paul, that’s why he says he can’t remember and makes up stuff…get the book the Memoir of Billy Shears and you will begin to scratch the surface… published by Pepper Press owned by Macca Corp owned by Sir Paul..aka Billy… will reveal it all by 2021.
Must bring the discussion back to the brilliant “No Reply” song itself: John immediately shines with his beautiful voice, which we hear before anything else on the album! And he also shines not only with his voice and smart songwriting, but also for his excellent acoustic rhythm guitar work on this song. His guitar carries this song.
Paul shines for his “chilling high harmonies” – as Johnny said above – and they take this song to another level, emotionally. Paul helps us to feel that chill in the exclamations “I saw the light!” and “I nearly died!”
Ringo shines for his typically excellent timekeeping and poignant cymbal crashes, also noted above. Those cymbal crashes add to the chilling feeling the protagonist is experiencing as he is being betrayed by his lover.
I don’t hear George’s rhythm contribution as much on this particular song but that’s okay because he more than makes up for it on the very next track “I’m A Loser” and the rest of the “For Sale” album; where he flaunts his newest Gretsch, the Tennessean, in tastefully articulate lead fills and solos throughout that really make you appreciate his desire to express guitar tone as well as the notes themselves.
George Martin makes his typically humble but helpful contribution with piano, bolstering John’s rhythm guitar backbone throughout the song, but carrying more rhythm for the bridge as the fab four strengthen with hand claps!
Please, let’s remember the Beatles were “four guys…just a band, who made it very very big, that’s all.”
Sincerely, this band made songs we’re still loving and analyzing more than fifty years later. Like “No Reply”, a beautifully-chilling-amazing song that is not only a standout on the “For Sale” album, but a standout in their entire catalog of songs.
This is one of my favorite early Beatles songs- it moves into high drama with the shift into minor chords under “I saw the light! “
As a Yank, this was always the opening to Beatles ’65. Even to this day, I still see that album cover. Of course it belonged to my best friend yet somehow I ended up with it. I have no insight to offer on the song other than I think it’s one of their best.
Back to demo, Paul on drums.George on bass is what I think.
Could be, but on the demo the drums sound so rudimentary and clunky that I would bet it’s George or some other “amateur” drummer, with Paul on bass and live vocal and John on electric guitar and live vocal.
Sergey, back in 2011, also suggested it was George on drums.
The first half of Beatles for Sale is really excellent. Second half not so good. This is definitely one of the highlights and a great song. Harrison’s playing a syncopated part against Lennon’s main guitar. It’s what gives the piece it’s jump/rolling quality.
Here’s one for everyone! Listen to the 2009 remaster of this song. Ringo plays eighth notes on the bass drum during the chorus, that continues for an additional measure as the chorus ends. It’s perfect. He commented that all the remasters allow us to hear much more of his kick drum than on original versions. His bossa nova feel during the verses is unique in that bossa novas, popular during that period, were usually played on the rim of the snare. Note that well place cymbal crash just before the song ends. In recent years Ringo has been recognized by the great drummers as amazingly tight and unique. As a drummer, I always felt he was the most over exposed, yet underrated drummer. That has changed greatly. Paul has commented that Ringo joining the band was a major addition to them becoming what they ended up being.