Published Northern Songs Genre Pop rock | Released 6 August 1965 Length 2:33 | |
Recorded 17 February 1965,
EMI Studios, London Label Parlophone, Capitol, EMI | ||
"The Night Before" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album and film Help! The song was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
Contents
Composition and recording
Lennon plays a Hohner Pianet electric piano throughout the song accompanied by McCartney's ascending and descending bass lines. The song's verse has a call and response structure. McCartney's lead vocal alternates with Lennon and George Harrison's harmony, singing the chorus "Aaah, the night before …", the whole being alternated with a second melody.
The Beatles recorded the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios on 17 February 1965. The band achieved a satisfactory rhythm track after two takes and then overdubbed the vocals, lead guitar parts and maracas. The guitar solo over the third verse is repeated in part over the coda. Although author Ian MacDonald considers that the playing is more in McCartney's style, these solos were performed by Harrison and McCartney together. Lennon later recalled that Harrison and McCartney played "the same break exactly, both playing but in different octaves".
Film performance
For the film Help!, the Beatles performed "The Night Before" on location at Salisbury Plain. Just as the song finishes, a bomb explodes. The scene was filmed in the shadow of Stonehenge.
Live performances
McCartney played the song on 15 July 2011 at Yankee Stadium, stating from the stage that it was the first time he had performed the song in concert. The only time the Beatles performed it outside of EMI Studios was for their final BBC radio session (The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket To Ride), on 26 May 1965. This performance was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 7 June that year.