Eight Days a Week

Inspiration

Paul McCartney has attributed the inspiration of the song to at least two different sources. In a 1984 interview with Playboy, he credited the title to Ringo Starr, who was noted for his malapropisms, which are credited as the source of other song titles (such as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"):

LINDA: Ringo also said, 'Eight days a week.'
PAUL: Yeah, he said it as though he were an overworked chauffeur. (in heavy accent) 'Eight days a week.' (laughter) When we heard it, we said, 'Really? Bing! Got it!'

However, he has also credited the title to an actual chauffeur who once drove him to Lennon's house in Weybridge:

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.'

In a 2016 Q&A interview alongside Ringo Starr and Ron Howard, in preparation for the release of the documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years, he reiterated that he had heard it from a chauffeur who was driving him to Lennon's house whilst he was banned from driving.

Recording

"Eight Days a Week" is the first song which the Beatles took into the studio unfinished to work on the arrangement during the session, a practice which would later become common for the band. The song was mainly recorded in two recording sessions on 6 October devoted exclusively to this song, which lasted nearly seven hours with a fifteen-minute break in between. Lennon and McCartney tried several ideas for the intro and outro of the song. The first take featured a simple acoustic guitar introduction. The second take introduced an "oo"-ing vocal that was experimented with until the sixth take, when it was abandoned in favour of the final guitar intro. The final outro (along with unused intro takes) was recorded separately on 18 October. The final version of the song incorporated another Beatles' first and pop music rarity: the song begins with a fade-in, as opposed to the common fade-out ending. The instrumentation includes acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass and overdubbed handclaps. The fade-in and coda both include more guitar overdubs.

Release and acclaim

The song, along with two others from the album ("Baby's in Black" and "No Reply"), was planned as a single release. In the end, it was released as a single only in the United States on 15 February 1965, becoming a number-one hit (their seventh). Its B-side was "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party". The single release in the US was the result of DJs playing the song from imported copies of the Beatles for Sale album as an exclusive since it was not included on the album's US counterpart Beatles '65, nor was the B-side. Later, it and the B-side made a US album appearance on Beatles VI.

On the US charts, the song was the final of seven songs by the Beatles to be No. 1 in a one-year period; an all-time record. In order, these were "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Love Me Do", "A Hard Day's Night", "I Feel Fine", and "Eight Days a Week" (see List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones). The song was the second of six Hot 100 No. 1 chart toppers in a row (not counting the EP "4 - by the Beatles") by one act, a record at the time. The other singles were "I Feel Fine", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out".

Personnel

Live performances

Although it was a huge American hit, the group did not think highly of the song (Lennon called it "lousy") and they never performed it live or at any of their radio sessions for the BBC.

Paul McCartney performed the song live for the first time by any Beatle on 4 May 2013 at the Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and throughout his 2013–2015 Out There! Tour (but not at all shows).

Cover versions

The song has been covered by: