Eight Days a Week (song)

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“Eight Days a Week”
Single by The Beatles
B-side	"I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"
Released	15 February 1965 (US only)
Format	7"
Genre	Rock
Label	Capitol 5371 (US)
The Beatles singles chronology
"I Feel Fine" (1964) "Eight Days a Week" (1965) "Ticket to Ride" (1965)

"Eight Days a Week" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, which was recorded by The Beatles and released on their December 1964 album Beatles for Sale.sample (help·info)

The song, along with two others from the album ("Baby's in Black" and "No Reply") was planned as a single release. In the end, it was released as a single only in the US on 15 February 1965 becoming a number-one hit. Its second -side was "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party". The single release in the US was the result of DJs playing the song from imported copies of the Beatles for Sale album as an exclusive since it was not included on the album's US counterpart Beatles '65. Later, it made a US album appearance on Beatles VI.

Although it was a huge American hit, the group didn't think highly of the song, and never performed it live. They did, however, lip-synch to it during an April appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars.

According to Paul McCartney the title was inspired by a remark from a chauffeur who drove him to Lennon's house in Weybridge.

Curiously, McCartney has also credited the title to Ringo Starr, who was noted for his malapropisms. ^[2]

Eight Days a Week is noteworthy as one of the first examples of the in-studio experimentation that the band would use extensively in the future; in two recording sessions totalling nearly seven hours on October 6 devoted exclusively to this song, Lennon and McCartney tried one technique after another before settling on the eventual arrangement. Each of the first six takes of the song featured a strikingly different approach to the beginning and ending sections of the song; the eventual chiming guitar-based introduction to the song would be recorded in a different session and edited in later. The final version of the song incorporated another Beatle first and pop music rarity: The song begins with a fade in as a counterpoint to pop songs which end in a fade out.

[edit] Cover versions

The song has been covered by:

• Alma Cogan in 1965 as a double-A sided single with "Help!"
• The Supremes in 1965
• Procol Harum in 1975 on their album Procol's Ninth
• Billy Preston in 1976 on his album Billy's Bag
• The Runaways in 1978 on their album, And Now... The Runaways
• Joan Jett in 1982
• Lorrie Morgan in 1987 on her album Leave the Light On
• The Libertines in 2003
• The Worthless Peons - (Ted's Band) in the Scrubs season 3 episode, "My Best Friend's Wedding"
• The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their first album in 1998.
• B.E. Taylor in 2006 on his album, Love Never Fails (he has also played the song during nearly all of his concerts)
• Kristy Lee Cook in 2008 performed this song on American Idol (Season 7)

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 159. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8. 
2. ^ 1984 Playboy Interview http://www.music.indiana.edu, 13 October 2007
3. ^ 1984 Playboy Interview http://www.music.indiana.edu, 13 October 2007

[edit] External links

• Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "Eight Days a Week". Retrieved on October 29, 2006.