“A Hard Day’s Night” was the first film of The Beatles, and the soundtrack accompanying the movie was every bit as good an made as much of an impact as the film itself. The idea for the film was had as early as 1963, when The Beatles were not outstandingly popular, and certainly hadn’t reached the dizzy heights of fame achieved in later years. When the film was made, EMI decided that a soundtrack of completely new songs had to be made to go with it and the band were given just a fortnight to write AND record the songs. This is the main reason why people have so much respect for this album: it captures the essence of the era it was written in and it a vast progression in the style and maturity of Lennon and McCartney. This album was the first and only album to feature a collaboration Lennon and McCartney songs only: before The Beatles had included cover versions of older songs and in later albums George Harrison and Ringo Starr contributed to the writing of the album. It was not entirely equal though: Lennon contributed ten songs whereas McCartney has three songs on the album.
The title of the movie was originally going to be “Beatlemania” but an occasion after a concert where Ringo got his words mixed up provided the perfect title: “A Hard Day’s Night”. The title song was the first on the album and the addition of George’s ‘G’ note being held is possibly one of the most recognisable of any Beatles song. This song started a pattern that was followed for the rest of The Beatles’ career: of the Beatles singing the part of the song (or the whole song) that they had written. A memorable song to follow was “If I Fell” written by Lennon. It was later seen as early proof that he did not just consist of rock ‘n’ roll, acid imagery and cynical wit. This was a delicate and melodic ballad which showed a totally different side to his character. His next number, “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You” was a song that Lennon did not think much of, and he handed it over to George to sing. His naïve style of singing suited the song though, and he quickly made it into his own. Paul’s strongest song on this album was probably “And I Love Her” which was written at the time for his then girlfriend, Jane Asher. This was simple, evocative and the gentlest song that The Beatles had recorded up to this point and was complimented with a predominantly acoustic arrangement. “Things We Said Today” was another of Paul’s tracks, where it is clearly shown that he started experimenting writing songs in minor chords. This style of music lends itself to reflective music rather than celebratory. John took this further by writing most of his songs on this album in the key of ‘G’ for the first time.
In conclusion, this album is another example of The Beatles obvious talent for music. I would recommend this for anyone with an interest in the era as the music encapsulates the time perfectly. For anyone who enjoys the film too, this soundtrack is the perfect way to connect with the film time and time again.