No Reply
From BeatlesWiki
No Reply is the opening track from the Beatles album Beatles for Sale.
Contents |
[edit] Writing and Recording
The song was written originally to be given to Tommy Quickly to record. Quickly apparently recorded his own version, however, it was never released. The idea for the song was based off a 1957 record by The Rays called "Silhouettes," where a guy watches a girl's silhouette through her window. The Beatles later recorded a demo of their own version, which was included on Anthology 1. This version features an unknown drummer, most likely Jimmy Nicol, as this demo was recorded when he was filling in for Ringo on their 1964 world tour. The Beatles' version was recorded on September 30, 1964, in eight takes, the last of which was the master version. On Take 5, The Beatles tried repeating the middle section, extending the song from 2:14 to 3:17. This idea was quickly dropped.
[edit] Unreleased Demo
A demo exists of the song which has never been heard by anyone except The Beatles, Tommy Quickly, and people releated to the aforementioned musicians. It was given to Quickly to record. Colin Manley, the guitar player on Quickly's unreleased version, said that "I don't think the Anthology 1 version is the demo we heard; it's too complete. I wish it would have been the one we heard. I'd back my life that the demo we used had no middle eight; it didn't have any clue as to the rhythm we should use. It contained the sound of a toilet flushing at the end which we thought was hilarious because it was typical of John's humor. I think we were told it was recorded in a hotel room. We immediately noticed when the Beatles put it on their album Beatles for Sale that it had a middle eight." Since then, noone has heard that demo, not even bootleggers.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The Beatles
- Lead Vocals: John Lennon
- Rythm Guitar: John Lennon
- Handclaps: John Lennon
- Backing Vocals: Paul McCartney
- Bass: Paul McCartney
- Handclaps: Paul McCartney
- Rythm Guitar: George Harrison
- Handclaps: George Harrison
- Drums: Ringo Starr
- Handclaps: Ringo Starr
[edit] Guest Musicans
- Piano: George Martin
[edit] Production
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Norman Smith
[edit] Cover Versions
- The Beatles Tribute Project
- Scarlets, from their 1980 album, 'Haagse Beat Nach'
- Tommy Quickly (unreleased)
