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Day Tripper

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This article is about the Beatles song. For other uses, see Daytripper.

"Day Tripper"
US picture sleeve
Single by the Beatles
A-side"We Can Work It Out" (double A-side)
Released3 December 1965
Recorded16 October 1965
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Length2:50
LabelParlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin
The Beatles UK singles chronology
"Help!"
(1965) 		"Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out"
(1965) 		"Paperback Writer"
(1966)
The Beatles US singles chronology
"Yesterday"
(1965) 		"Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out"
(1965) 		"Nowhere Man"
(1966)

"Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out" in December 1965.[3] Written primarily by John Lennon, according to himself (cf. below), it was credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the band's Rubber Soul album. The single topped charts in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway. In the United States, "Day Tripper" peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while "We Can Work It Out" held the top position.[4][3]

"Day Tripper" is a rock song based around an electric guitar riff and was included in the Beatles' concert set-list for about a year until their retirement from live performances in late August 1966. The single was the first example of a double A-side in Britain. Its success popularised the format and, in giving equal treatment to two songs, allowed recording artists to show their versatility.[5] As of December 2018, it was the 54th best-selling single of all time in the UK – one of six Beatles singles included in the top sales rankings published by the Official Charts Company.[6]

Composition

Main guitar riff

Under the pressure of needing a new single for the Christmas market,[7] John Lennon wrote much of the music and most of the lyrics, while Paul McCartney worked on the verses.

"Day Tripper" was a typical play on words by Lennon. In 1980 he recalled: "Day trippers are people who go on a day trip, right? Usually on a ferryboat or something. But [the song] was kind of ... you're just a weekend hippie. Get it?"[8] In the same interview, Lennon said of the song: "That's mine. Including the lick, the guitar break and the whole bit."[8]

In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, however, Lennon used "Day Tripper" as one example of his and McCartney's collaboration, where one partner had the main idea but the other took up the cause and completed it.[9] For his part, McCartney claimed it was very much a collaboration based on Lennon's original idea.[10] In the book Many Years from Now, McCartney said that "Day Tripper" was about drugs, and "a tongue-in-cheek song about someone who was ... committed only in part to the idea".[10] The line "she's a big teaser" is a double entendre for "she's a prick teaser."[10]

According to music critic Ian MacDonald, the song:

…starts as a twelve-bar blues in E, which makes a feint at turning into a twelve-bar in the relative minor (i.e. the chorus) before doubling back to the expected B—another joke from a group which had clearly decided that wit was to be their new gimmick.[11]

In 1966 McCartney told Melody Maker that "Day Tripper" and "Drive My Car" (recorded three days prior) were "funny songs, songs with jokes in".

In 2004 McCartney said: "‘Day Tripper,’ that’s one about acid (LSD)."[12]

Recording

The song was recorded on 16 October 1965. The Beatles recorded the basic rhythm track for "If I Needed Someone" after completing "Day Tripper".[7]

In 1966, the original stereo mix of "Day Tripper" was included on the US album Yesterday and Today, and in November of that year the song was remixed, for the stereo version of the British A Collection of Beatles Oldies compilation.[13] "Day Tripper" was later featured on the band's 1962–1966 compilation, released in 1973, with CD versions of that album replacing the original stereo mix with the November 1966 remix. The remix also appears on the Past Masters compilation, first released in 1988.[13]

Both stereo mixes contain some noticeable engineering errors. MacDonald highlights a "bad punch-in edit", at the 1:50 mark, on the track containing the vocals.[14] For a second or so just after the solo, the track containing guitar and tambourine drops out – a result of the parts being momentarily erased by mistake.[13] Bootleg releases of an early mix feature a technical glitch on the session tape itself. The drop-out was fixed for the release of the 2000 compilation 1, by copying the required sounds from another point in the song.[13]

Music video

The Beatles filmed three different music videos, directed by Joe McGrath, on 23 November 1965. These videos, along with a batch of other mimed performances (including the song's flip-side, "We Can Work It Out"), were meant to be sent to various television music and variety shows, to air on those programs in lieu of personal studio appearances. The Beatles' decision to send out independently produced videos to promote their music on television was, in practice, an embryonic form of the modern music video – George Harrison would later remark jokingly that the Beatles had "invented MTV." One of the November 1965 promotional videos was included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, and two were included in the three-disc versions of the compilation, titled 1+.[15]

Other recordings

Jimi Hendrix recorded two versions, one with the Experience on BBC Sessions and an earlier version with Curtis Knight.[16] The song was also recorded by Otis Redding, Nancy Sinatra, Mae West, Herbie Mann, Lulu, Anne Murray, James Taylor, Type O Negative, Whitesnake, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, Sandy Nelson, Fever Tree, Mongo Santamaría, The Hollyridge Strings, Marty Gold, Billy Preston, Ian Hunter, Randy California, Geno Washington, Jose Feliciano, Cheap Trick, Booker T. & The M.G.'s, Ramsey Lewis, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and ELO.[17] Eric Clapton plays the riff during the song "What'd I Say" on the 1966 album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. Yes used the opening riff in the instrumental introduction to their 1969 cover of the Beatles' "Every Little Thing." April Wine used the riff on the song "I Like To Rock off of the "Harder Faster" album in 1979. Martin Mull used the opening riff as a brief quotation in his song "Licks Off Of Records". Paul McCartney has performed the song live in concert in 2009. Buffalo Springfield also uses the riff on the track "Baby Don't Scold Me" from the original mono pressing of their debut self titled album.

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald:[11]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1965–66) Peak
position
Belgian Walloon Singles[18] 12
Dutch MegaChart Singles[19] 1
Irish Singles Chart[20] 1
New Zealand Listener Chart[21] 8
Norwegian VG-lista Singles[22] 1
Swedish Kvällstoppen Chart[23] 1
UK Singles Chart[24] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[25] 5
US Cash Box Top 100[26] 10

References

  1. ^ "The Beatles 'Day Tripper'". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  2. ^ Terence J. O'Grady (1 May 1983). The Beatles: A Musical Evolution. Twayne Publishers. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8057-9453-3.
  3. ^ a b Wallgren 1982, p. 45.
  4. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 – Week of January 22, 1966". billboard.com.
  5. ^ White, Jack (5 June 2018). "Is the double A-side making a comeback? Dual singles are on the rise, and here's why". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  6. ^ Myers, Justin (14 December 2018). "The best-selling singles of all time on the Official UK Chart". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  7. ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, p. 64.
  8. ^ a b Sheff 2000, p. 177.
  9. ^ Wenner 2000.
  10. ^ a b c Miles 1997, pp. 209–210.
  11. ^ a b MacDonald 2005, pp. 167–168.
  12. ^ https://www.today.com/popculture/paul-mccartney-got-no-thrill-heroin-wbna5121163
  13. ^ a b c d Winn 2008, p. 364.
  14. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 168.
  15. ^ Rowe, Matt (18 September 2015). "The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With New Audio Remixes... And Videos". The Morton Report. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  16. ^ Jimi Hendrix & Curtis Knight - Day Tripper/Love, Love.
  17. ^ Day Tripper. Second Hand Songs.
  18. ^ "The Beatles – Day Tripper". ultratop.be. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  19. ^ "The Beatles – We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  20. ^ "Search in Search for Title: 'Day Tripper'". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "The Beatles". Flavour of New Zealand. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  22. ^ "The Beatles – Day Tripper". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  23. ^ "Swedish Charts 1962–March 1966/Kvällstoppen – Listresultaten vecka för vecka > Januari 1966" (PDF) (in Swedish). hitsallertijden.nl. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  24. ^ "Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  25. ^ "The Beatles – Chart history (The Hot 100)". billboard.com. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  26. ^ "Cash Box 100 1/29/66". cashboxmagazine.com. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

Sources

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