A Hard Day's Night Outtakes

On April 16 1964, The Beatles entered Studio two at EMI in order to record the title song for thier upcoming first film as the title was settled on "A Hard Day's Night". This tune written mainly by John with Paul singing the middle eight was recorded in nine takes (with the basic tracks being the lead and overdubs added later). This included drums, 12-string electric (George), guitar (John), bass (Paul) and the two vocals. Most of the session consisted of perfecting the middle eight section of the song with some stray bass notes and slightly different lyrics for the early takes.
The guitar solo by George was also extinguished in the early takes and it was decided to overdub the solo instead. This turned out to be the 12-string and piano solo heard on the final mix. Some of the takes for the song simply feature the opening chord played over and over. Takes 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are complete while the other takes are fragments and are incomplete due to mistakes.
These takes are available on various CD bootlegs including "Unsurpassed Masters, Vol. 2" which features takes 6 and 7 and "Ultra Rare Trax, Volume Two" which features take 4
; "The Ultimate Collection, Volume Three" contains the session with the other takes present. It must also be said that take one from this session is commercially available on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 1" project.

"Saturday Club" for the ninth time.

On March 31 1964 (actually after the afternoon taping of the Beatles miming to songs for their movie at the Scala Theater - see previous entry), The Beatles hopped over to the Playhouse Theater in London to record a radio show for the BCC series "Saturday Club".  The show would be broadcast four days later on April 04 1964 in the late morning. The host for this show was Brian Matthew who conducted the interviews between tunes.

The songs performed for this show include a Carl Perkin's number "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" which is sung by George Harrison and eventually recorded for EMI and released on the fourth LP later in the year. Also at this session The Beatles performed an original song not yet released anywhere and would be later be put out on an EP in the UK: "I Call Your Name" with the vocals mainly by John Lennon. Next is a cover of a cover (actually, a Ray Charles tune with an Elvis arrangement) with the title of "I Got A Woman" and once again sung by John Lennon.

Next up the two side of the latest single are performed ( in order to promo it naturally). The B-side appears first in the form of "You Can't Do That" and then the A-side is next with a performance of "Can't Buy Me Love". John vocals and Paul vocals respectively.

Another Carl Perkin's cover song is performed by the group; this time mainly sung by George once again with the title "Sure To Fall (In Love With You)" and they finish the set with the Little Richard cover of "Long Tall Sally" of which would also appear on the upcoming summer release and title of their future EP.

Probably the best way to listen to the entire show (or most of it anyway) is from the vinyl LP "The Beatles At The Beeb - Volume Ten" and slightly more complete and upgraded on disc seven of the "Complete BBC Sessions" bootleg CD.

The version of "I Got A Woman" from this show is commercially available on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD release "On Air - Live At The BBC Volume 2".

"You Can't Do That" Outtake Footage

On March 31 1964, The Beatles were filmed performing a mock concert in front of fans at the Scala Theatre in London for their first feature length film "A Hard Day's Night" (Phil Collins is in the audience as a young child at this point). The Scala Theatre saw the following songs being mimed that day/evening: "If I Fell", "I Should Have Known Better", "She Love You" and "Tell Me Why". All of these mimed performances can be viewed in the film.
The one song that did not make the cut for the final version of the film was a mimed performance of "You Can't Do That". This song was left off but was used on television for the "Ed Sullivan Show" a couple of months after it was filmed. Ed Sullivan had an interview with the Beatles before the clip is shown (which took place at the Ambassadeurs garden in London on April 17 1964 and finally shown with interview and clip in place on May 24 1964.
You can see the clip commercially on the video documentary "The Making of A Hard Day's Night" as well as on the YouTube link below: (the audio runs a little slow)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EYa5YkJu4Q

"Ready, Steady, Go!" for the Current Single

On March 20 1964, The Beatles appeared once again at the Associated-Rediffusion TV Studios Nine at Television House in London to appear live on the "Ready, Steady, Go!" TV show shown on British television. This time the show is hosted by Keith Fordyce and interviewed by Cathy McGowan.
The purpose of this appearance was simply to promote the new single "Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That". Both songs are mimed on this show as well as the first song from the second LP namely "It Won't Be Long". Also featured in the soundtrack is the B-side to the previous single "This Boy"
The soundtrack to this show is available on vinyl as a bootleg entitled "Ready, Steady, Go!" although it is a bit weird since the songs are mimed so you basically hear the commercial recording with screaming at the end. I've also added a link to the Youtube source which does not have the entire show but has the intro spliced into a miming of "You Can't Do That", an interview with George and into a miming of "Cant' Buy Me Love". The clip ends with the presentation of  an award from "Billboard" magazine by the host.
Missing in the clip is a John interview whereby he promotes his first book "In His Own Write". There is also a Beatles artwork competition -Songs include the previous mentioned "This Boy" as well as "Please Mister Postman" (both the commercial versions). Ringo is also interviewed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfIJxvFMy2Y

"From Us To You" For The Second Time.

On February 28 1964, The Beatles arrived at Studio One, BBC Piccadilly Studios in London to record their second episode of the "From Us To You" radio special. The show would eventually be broadcast at the end of March 1964 (the 30th to be exact).
The show starts with the familiar them song "From Us To You" with the lyrics changed to suit the radio show (From Me To You, of Course). The guests on this show included the Hollies and the Stones.
The next tune played is the new B-side of the new single "You Can't Do That" with cool reverb on John's voice and George playing his 12-string Rickenbaker. This is followed by a Chuck Berry cover sung by George "Roll Over Beethoven" which opens side two of the second Beatles LP (the latest one at this point). In between Paul's banter with the host Alan Freeman about his vocal influences, John is buy promoting his first book "In His Own Write" which was a recent release at the time.
The next four songs are all from the second LP "With The Beatles". First up is the cover ballad of "Till There Was You" sung by Paul himself, this is followed by a spotlight for Ringo with his version of the original Lennon/McCartney tune "I Wanna Be Your Man" (also covered by the Stones). After this, John Lennon once again takes the lead for a version of the classic Motown cover of "Please Mister Postman". Paul takes over from John and sings his original tune "All My Loving". After this tune, John once again engages in banter with host and promotes his book once again - a little more deeply this time.
The Beatles return to their previous single for a version of the B-side "This Boy" with harmonies by all three frontmen and lead by John. The Beatles promote their latest single by playing it for the BBC: "Can't Buy Me Love"  (the A-side and the number 1 single in the UK by the time the show was first aired) with Paul on the lead. The Beatles finish the set with another reprise version of the theme song "From Us to You".
This particular show is available on a number of bootlegs and actually a lot of the songs were released commercially on the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "Live At the BBC" including the theme "From Us To You", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Till There Was You", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "All My Loving". The rest of the material can probably best be found on the vinyl bootleg "The Beatles At the Beeb, Volume Nine" as well as the Great Dane Box set CD volume seven on "The complete BBC Sessions".