Studio sessions
30 September 1964
16 October 1964
4 November 1964
A gentle but somehow anguished folkish number of John's, and a rather bizarre way to start off an album (no potboiler here). John based this "story" on the Ray's classic doo-wop hit "Silhouettes", one of his favorite songs. Unlike that song, though (and Led Zeppelin's "Silhouettes" tribute, "Fool In The Rain"), no-one gets off the hook.
Studio sessions
14 August 1964
26 October 1964
4 November 1964
Written at least partially on an airplane flight, this song brings John's love of Dylan to the fore. Even more importantly, it shows how his songs were becoming more personal and breaking free of Socratic notions of "feel-good" pop hits. John's not talking about being heartsick for some girl, he's talking about everything, and it's a main reason that this is one Fab song John never spoke ill of.
Studio sessions
11 August 1964
14 August 1964
26 October 1964
4 November 1964
29 August 1965
30 August 1965
More formula; a nice play on color imagery, but that's about all. Some nice harmonies, though. This was written by John and Paul together, an occurrence that was becoming increasingly rare.
Studio sessions
18 October 1964
26 October 1964
4 November 1964
An old Cavern barn-burner, this Chuck Berry cover doesn't quite do the original (or their previous Berry covers) justice. John gives it the old college try, however.
Studio sessions
18 October 1964
21 October 1964
4 November 1964
An example of reaching back that works. Paul's interesting little acoustic number (written in Quarrymen days) fits in nicely with the earlier albums' similar quiet moments ("Till There Was You", "And I Love Her", "A Taste Of Honey"). It's still a scavenger hunt, though, because it's not as melodically strong as any of the others.
Probably the most hated of the "official" Beatle songs (at least until "If You've Got Trouble"). Another obscure cover dusted off by John, but it feels stillborn; instead of transforming shlock into gold, like in the old days, they just alter it a little.
Studio sessions
18 October 1964
26 October 1964
26 January 1969
13 March 1969
This raveup was a Little Richard cover (L.R. basically ripping up the blues classic "Kansas City" and then going off into the stratosphere halfway through and calling it a medley). Paul and the boys do a bangup job, although it doesn't quite match the original, which felt like it might explode in your face like a pipe bomb. This is a little more controlled. Just a little.
John would later call it "crap" (as he would lots of other made-to-order Beatles songs) but he's wrong on this one... how does a song this good get buried on this album? Like "Please Please Me" or "All My Loving", you can nearly hear the sound of teenagers around the world squirming in their seats from hormones and puppy love. And dig the fade-in, a last-minute and wildly unconventional bit of mixing that presaged their later studio trickery.
Studio sessions
18 October 1964
26 October 1964
4 November 1964
Paul and John spend far too much time on Beatles For Sale paying homage to their forbears. This Buddy Holly number isn't even one of Holly's best, but it does showcase where Paul gets a lot of his ideas from. Ringo beats on a packing case, a possible hommage to Holly's similar percussive invention in "Everyday".
Studio sessions
26 October 1964
27 October 1964
Carl Perkins gets two tributes on BFS - this and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby". Both are superior to the Richard/Berry/Holly covers, for whatever reason. Ringo is utterly charming, and the Sun sound is reproduced to a T.
Studio sessions
29 September 1965
30 September 1965
27 October 1965
Tympani? Hmm. Another tribute to Jane Asher, this song is slight but intriguingly skewed in a way that makes this seem like the forerunner to "Penny Lane" and other songs with simliar jumps in chord structure. Think of it as the butterfly beginning to move inside the cocoon.
Studio sessions
29 September 1964
26 October 1964
4 November 1964
John's other "personal" BFS number, disguised as another lost-or-misplaced-love song -- if he's a Beatle, why isn't he happy? And why can't he show anyone? Again, there's a definite folk sound, though the (wonderful) harmonies come off more countryish than anything.
Studio sessions
29 September 1964
30 September 1964
26 October 1964
27 October 1964
The other classic on BFS, an example of the Fabs using earlier discoveries to ever-better effect. The march-time drums, the major-to-minor lurches, the jangly guitars; it's all there, but at the service of better songs. "Nowhere Man" may have been inspired by the Byrds, but this was one of the Byrds' inspirations. Believe it.
Studio sessions
18 October 1964
21 October 1964
4 November 1964
29 August 1965
30 August 1965
A nice album closer, this song (intentionally?) brings us up from the heartbreak all over BFS and gives George (finally!) a chance to sing. One of the finest Beatle covers, and even more faithful to the echo-and-slap-bass sound of classic Sun records than "Honey Don't" OR "Matchbox".
