A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Buy A Hard Day’s Night on CD, on stereo vinyl, or on mono vinyl

Listen to A Hard Day’s Night on Apple Music or on Spotify

The first album to consist of all original Lennon/McCartney tracks, A Hard Day’s Night was the soundtrack to the #1 movie of the same name. John provided the most songs; 10 of the 13. The film was about “Beatlemania,” how the group reacted to screaming girls and massive media attention. Screenwriter Alun Owen said, “They were at the time 22 or 23 years old. They had never acted before. If you go through the script, you’ll see that no sentence is longer than six words, because they couldn’t have handled any more.” The American version, rather than featuring 13 Lennon/McCartney tunes like the British LP, had 8 Lennon/McCartney songs and 4 Lennon/McCartney songs as played by George Martin’s Orchestra. The album was nominated for the 1964 Grammy for Best Original Score Written For a Motion Picture or TV Show. The initial 1987 CD release was mono only, and the 2009 remastered edition was issued in stereo while the mono mix was included in the Beatles In Mono box set.

Track list

Side A

1. A Hard Day’s Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can’t Buy Me Love

Side B

1. Any Time At All
2. I’ll Cry Instead
3. Things We Said Today
4. When I Get Home
5. You Can’t Do That
6. I’ll Be Back

Release history

• Parlophone PMC 1230 (mono), released July 10, 1964
• Parlophone PCS 3058 (stereo), released July 10, 1964
• Odeon OP 7123, released September 5, 1964 (Japan)
• Apple/Odeon OP 7123, released June 25, 2014 in Meet The Beatles! (Japan, 2014)
• Odeon STO 83739, released 1964 (Germany, as titled ‘Yeah! Yeah! A Hard Day’s Night’)
• Odeon ‎Records MOFB 299, released January, 1965 (Brazil, as titled ‘Os Reis Do Ié, Ié, Ié!’)
• Parlophone CDP 7 46437 2 (mono CD), released February 26, 1987
• Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-103 (vinyl), released February 1987
• Apple 0946 3 82413 2 4 (remastered stereo CD), released September 9, 2009
• Parlophone PMC 1230 (remastered mono CD), released September 9, 2009 in The Beatles In Mono box set

A Hard Day’s Night (Japan, 1964), front cover

See also

• A Hard Day’s Night (USSR, 1986)