Day Tripper

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Day Tripper is a 1965 single by The Beatles. It was written mainly by John Lennon, with help from Paul McCartney.

Contents

[edit] Writing

Day Tripper was written specifically to be a single late in 1965. It was released with We Can Work It Out as the A-Side. John recalled, "Day Tripper was [written] under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous. It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it. It wasn't a serious message song. It was a drug song. In a way, it was a day tripper - I just liked the word." Day Tripper was mainly John's idea, though he finished off the song with Paul at his home, Kenwood, in Weybridge. Paul recalls, "That was a co-written effort; we were both there making it all up but I would give John the main credit. Probably the idea came from John because he sang the lead, but it was a close thing. We both put a lot of work in on it." The song was a reference to the drug-based counterculture of the mid- and late- 1960's. A Day Tripper is a slang term for a person who does not fully become a hippie, instead only sometimes acting like one. John told Playboy in 1980, "It's just a rock 'n' roll song. Day trippers are people who go on day trips, right? Usually on a ferryboat or something. But it was kind of... you're just a weekend hippie. Get it?" In 1965, John had already begun using LSD, which he would soon convince George and Ringo to try, too. Paul later admitted that the song was about drugs, but in order to maintain their image, the references were made more obscure. Paul recalled in his authorized biography, Many Years From Now, "Day Tripper was to do with tripping. Acid was coming in on the scene, and often we'd do these songs about 'the girl who thought she was it'... But this was just a tongue-in-cheek song about someone who was a day tripper, a Sunday painter, Sunday driver, somebody who was committed only in part to the idea. Whereas we saw ourselves as full-time trippers, fully committed drivers, she was just a day tripper." There were also other, non-drug, double meanings. For example, the original lyrics included "She's a prick teaser." This was never very seriously considered, and was changed to "She's a big teaser." Paul recalls, "I remember with the prick teasers we thought, That'd be fun to put in. That was one of the great things about collaborating, you could nudge-nudge, wink-wink a bit, whereas if you're sitting on your own, you might not put it in."

[edit] Recording

Day Tripper was recorded in three takes on October 16, 1965, during the sessions for Rubber Soul. Much time was spent rehearsing the basic track, before the three takes were recorded, only the last of which was complete. They added more overdubs later that day, including Lennon and McCartney's vocals and Lennon's guitar solo. Also in this session, The Beatles recorded the rhythm track for If I Needed Someone.

[edit] Single Release and Charts

Originally, Day Tripper was considered to be the A-Side of the We Can Work It Out single, but it was decided We Can Work It Out, recorded on October 20, was a more commercial song. Because Lennon did not want Day Tripper to be considered a B-Side, the single was promoted as the first double A-Side. However, there is evidence that We Can Work It Out was requested by more rcord buyers, and was therefore more played on radio stations. The single was released in the UK on December 3, 1965, the same day as the Rubber Soul album. The single entered the charts at number one five days later. It stayed in the charts for five weeks. It sold more than a million copies. In the US, where the single was released on December 6, the single did not do as well, only going to number five in the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed in the Top 40 for eight weeks.

[edit] Live Performances

Day Tripper would be part of The Beatles' live repitoire from 1965 until they gave up touring in August 1966. It was the fourth song played at their final concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, 1966.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

[edit] Source

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