Tuesday, January 12, 2010

She's A Big Teaser


The flip side of the double-A single released on December 03 1965 in the UK (Parlophone 5389) and released three days later on December 06 1965 in the US (Capitol 5555) was an original Lennon/McCartney composition mainly written by John but only by a hair is entitled "Day Tripper". This tune contains a great riff and is the first Beatles song to contain an intentional drug reference. You see, a "Day Tripper" is mainly a part-time hippie. Get it? Anyway, a great riff and an excellent example of finely written rock and roll on the part of Messrs. Lennon and McCartney. It has been said that this was a "forced" writing due to the fact that time was running out and the songwriters were under pressure to be creative and eventually write something for the single. Not bad for a "rush job"!!

The basic rhythm track for "Day Tripper" was recorded on Saturday October 16 1965 at EMI studio two and it took three takes to perfect. The first take breaks down during the middle section and the second take breaks down during the first verse when someone switches chords too early. The third take is the keeper and the vocals as well as a second guitar and tambourine were overdubbed. All this was done in one day. The early takes of the song can be heard on bootleg (the vinyl version of "Ultra Rare Trax Volumes 3/4 on the "Swinging Pig" label).

A stereo mix for "Day Tripper" was conducted on October 26 1965 from the control room of studio two. This was a rarity as usually the mono mix would have been attempted first. This stereo mix was used mainly in the North American market. Three days later on October 29 1965, the song was mixed for mono as released on the single and monaural LPs. This mix was also conducted from studio two. Finally, a stereo mix (with more echo on the voices) was conducted a year later on November 10 1966 from room 65 at EMI studios essentially for the "A Collection of Beatles Oldies" UK LP on Parlophone. All mixes of the song feature a severe muting of the guitar and the tambourine during the last verse. This error is on all of the mixes listed above and the error was fixed in 2000 during work on the Apple 2-LP/CD "1".

"Day Tripper" appears not only as a single, but is available on the North American Capitol LP "Yesterday...and Today", the UK Parlophone LP "A Collection of Beatles Oldies", the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1962-1966", the EMI/Parlophone LP "20 Greatest Hits" (UK version only), the Apple 2-LP/CD "1", the Apple/EMI 2-LP "Past Masters Volume 1 and 2" and the CD version "Past Masters Volume Two" as well as the remastered Apple 2-CD "Mono Masters" and the Apple remastered "Past Masters".

"Day Tripper" was mimed for the Granada television special "The Music of Lennon and McCartney" as well as being performed during the December 1965 UK tour and during the world tour of 1966.

Did they really say: "She's A Prick Teaser"?

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