Eight Days a Week

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Eight Days A Week is a song off The Beatles' 1964 album Beatles for Sale. It was also released as a single in February 1965 in the US. It was written by both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, though the original inspiration came from McCartney.

Contents

Writing

Eight Days a Week was originally considered to be the title of The Beatles' second film, which would later be called Help!. John recalled in the April 1972 issue of Hit Parader, "I think we wrote this when we were trying to write the title song for Help! because there was at one time the thought of calling the film Eight Arms To Hold You." John would later talk about his dissatisfaction with the final result of the song, comparing it to the film Help! itself. "Help! as a film was like Eight Days A Week as a record for us. A lot of people liked the film, and a lot of people liked that record. But neither was what we wanted - we knew they weren't really us. We weren't ashamed of the film, but close friends knew that the picture and Eight Days weren't our best. They were both a bit manufactured." John lost interest in the song during the session when it was recorded, as he had just written the riff to I Feel Fine. John recalled, "Eight Days A Week was Paul's effort at getting a single for the movie. That luckily turned to Help!, which I wrote - bam! bam! like that - and got the single. Eight Days A Week was never a good song. We struggled to record it and struggled to make it into a song. It was his initial effort, but I think we both worked on it." Even though it was sung by John Lennon, the original idea came from Paul McCartney, who got it from something his chauffer said. Paul recalls, "I remember writing that with John, at his place in Weybridge, from something said by the chauffeur who drove me out there. John had moved out of London. to the suburbs. I usually drove myself there, but the chauffeur drove me out that day and I said, 'How've you been?' - 'Oh, working hard,' he said, 'working eight days a week.' I had never heard anyone use that expression, so when I arrived at John's house I said, 'Hey, this fella just said, "eight days a week".' John said, 'Right - "Ooh I need your love, babe..." and we wrote it We were always quick to write. We would write on the spot. I would show up, looking for some sort of inspiration; I'd either get it there, with John, or I'd hear someone say something. John and I were always looking for titles. Once you've got a good title, if someone says, 'What's your new song?' and you have a title that interests people, you are halfway there. Of course, the song has to be good. If you've called it I Am On My Way To A Party With You, Babe, they might say, 'OK...' But if you've called it Eight Days A Week, they say, 'Oh yes, that's good!'" Although, Paul himself has recalled on a different occasion that the quote came from Ringo.

"Linda McCartney: Ringo also said, 'Eight days a week.'
Paul: Yeah, he said it as though he were an overworked chauffeur: [Heavy accent] 'Eight days a week.' When we heard it, we said, 'Really? Bing! Got it!'

Recording

Work began on the song on October 6, 1964. The intro of this first take included a harmonized vocal introduction. Mark Lewisohn, who wrote The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, said "Take one was played straight, no frills, on acoustic guitar. On take two John and Paul introduced a succession of beautifully harmonised 'Ooohs', climbing up the scale, to precede the first guitar strum. On take three they merged the two ideas, 'Ooohs' and acoustic guitar. On take four the 'Ooohs' were altered to remain on the same pitch throughout rather than climbing the register. Take five incorporated 'Ooohs' at the end as well as the beginning. Take six took the shape of the released version but did not have the faded intro or outro." Takes 1, 2, 4, and 5 from this day were featured on Anthology 1. They recorded overdubs, known as Takes 7-13 onto Take 6. They recorded two edit pieces for possible inclusion into the beginning and ed of the song on October 18, though the first was never used. Eight Days A Week became the first pop song to use a faded-in intro. They mixed it to be like this on October 27.

US Success

Eight Days A Week was a large success in the United States, though The Beatles themselves did not like the song much. They never played it live, although they did lip-synch to it on the TV program Thank Your Lucky Stars. Eight Days A Week became a single in the US only on February 15, 1965, backed by I Don't Want To Spoil The Party. It entered the top 40 on February 27, spending two weeks at the number one. Despite dropping from number one quickly, it spent nine weeks in the top 40.

Personnel

The Beatles

Production

Available Versions

Available On

Cover Versions

Source

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