The Night Before (song)
| "The Night Before" | |
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"The Night Before" is a song by the Beatles from the album and film Help!. It 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 alternating with Lennon and George Harrison's harmony, singing the chorus "Aaah, the night before . . .", the whole being alternated with a second melody. McCartney plays a guitar solo[2] on the third verse that is recapitulated in part as the coda of the song. However, Lennon said in a 1965 interview that it was Harrison and McCartney playing the guitar solo together, albeit in different octaves.
Film performance
The song is performed on Salisbury Plain in the second Beatles film, Help! and, just as it finishes, a bomb explodes. In the movie, the Beatles perform the song in the shadow of Stonehenge. Harrison mimes the terse, stabbing guitar solo — even though both he and McCartney played it on the record, according to Lennon.[3]
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.[4] 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, broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 7 June 1965.
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – double-tracked vocal, bass, lead guitar
- John Lennon – backing vocal, electric piano
- George Harrison – backing vocal, lead and rhythm guitars
- Ringo Starr – drums
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[5]
Cover versions
- Restless Heart released a cover version on their 2004 album Still Restless.
- Bulgarian pop star Lili Ivanova sang a cover version in the 1960s.
Notes
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- ↑ Miles 1997, p. 195.
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- ↑ MacDonald 2005, p. 147.
References
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External links
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- The Beatles songs
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- Restless Heart songs
- Songs from films
- Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
- Songs published by Northern Songs
- 1965 songs
