I've Got A Chip On My Shoulder That's Bigger Than My Feet

Next up from the "A Hard Day's Night" LP is another Lennon/McCartney original (mainly by John) and is a sorta angry country influenced song entitled "I'll Cry Instead". This features quite the jangly rythm with the guitar up front and that tambourine and high hat percussion behind it. This was the second song on the second side of the LP or the ninth song on the CD (UK version, of course).

The recording history of this particular tracks was a bit bizarre in that it was recorded in two sections rather than being done as a basic track. This was recorded on June 01 1964 at EMI Studio Two. The first track consisted of the basic track, the second was the vocal by John, the third was the acoustic guitar and the fourth was percussion and John's second vocal. The song was mixed for mono three days later in the same studio on June 04 1964. The mix contained the first two verses, the bridge and the third verse from the first section (from take six) and then the fourth verse, another bridge and the final fifth verse from the second section (from take eight). The edit was made at one minute and nine seconds after the words "I'll Cry". This mono edit was tape copied five days later - June 09 1964 in studio three - and sent to United Artists (who released it on the soundtrack) and Capitol Records (who released it on their mono LP).

A couple of weeks later, "I'll Cry Instead" was mixed for stereo with - once again - the two sections mixed separately. This time, the stereo edit for the song was cut between the two section at one minute and eight seconds after the words "until then" which eliminated a bridge and fourth verse. Realizing that the stereo version was much shorter in length than the mono version, the mono version was (at some point) trimmed to match the length of the stereo version. This is why there are two different mono versions of "I'll Cry Instead" lengthwise.

"I'll Cry Instead" is available on the Parlophone UK LP/CD "A Hard Day's Night" (both mono and stereo have the timing at 1:44), also on the North American United Artists soundtrack "A Hard Day's Night" LP ( both mono and stereo versions contain the mono version at 2:04), also on the North American Capitol LP/CD "Something New" ( the mono version has the longer timing while the stereo version has the shorter timing).

The song was never performed live for BBC radio (nor anywhere else, actually). Lastly, most (if not all) first pressing of the United Artists' version list this song as "I Cry Instead" on the back cover and the record label. Check your copies !!