Studio Two, EMI Studios, London
This full day's work at Abbey Road began quietly with a 10:00am - 1:00 pm mono mix session for "Ticket To Ride", "Another Girl", "I Need You", and "Yes It Is". Between 3:30 and 5:15 pm, the Beatles began and completed, in nine all-acoustic takes, John's Bob Dylan-influenced ballad "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". From a recording point of view, this song is especially note-worthy in that it marked the first time the Beatles called in a session musician to augment their line-up. (Andy White, who drummed on "Love Me Do" and "PS, I Love You", was called in to replace Ringo for those early recordings, not complement his contribution.) The musician was musical arranger and flautist Johnnie Scott, and in return for his £6 session fee (but no sleeve credit) he contributed tenor flute and alto flute parts.
Ringo had secured a lead vocal on all Beatles albums to date excepting "A Hard Day's Night". But since he had yet to provide a self-composition for his outings a suitable "vehicle" was always provided. For Please Please Me it was the Shirelles' song "Boys". For With The Beatles John and Paul gave him "I Wanna Be Your Man'. On Beatles For Sale he had sung Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't, and he had sung another Perkins song, "Matchbox", on the EP Long Tall Sally. But what would be his contribution to this new LP? Written especially for the occasion by John and Paul, the answer was a rocker entitled "If You've Got Trouble". To this day, the song remains unreleased, locked in the EMI vault - and it's not difficult to see why. It wasn't one of the better Lennon-McCartney numbers by any stretch of the imagination, nor was it brilliantly performed in the one and only take (with overdubs) recorded in the early part of a 6:30-10:30 session this evening.
In the latter part of the same session, Paul's Tell Me What You See" was started and completed in four takes. As with George's "You Like Me Too Much", this was submitted, but not selected, for the new film, so it ended up on the non-soundtrack side of the associated album.
The Complete Beatles Chronicle - Mark Lewisohn
