When John Lennon was a child his Uncle George gave him a Hohner harmonica, and the youngster learned to play. Inspired by the song “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel, Lennon began adding it to his band’s instrumentation, playing it on “Love Me Do,” “From Me to You,” and “Please Please Me.” When The Beatles were recording songs for their first feature movie, they included only one song featuring the harmonica. Let’s take a look at the story behind “I Should Have Known Better” by The Beatles.
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I should have known better with a girl like you
That I would love everything that you do
And I do, hey, hey, hey, and I do
Freewheelin’
When George Harrison got a copy of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, it sent musical ripples through The Beatles’ sound. The opening harmonica riff on “I Should Have Known Better” is an approximation of Dylan’s sound. On February 25, 1964, the band entered EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London and recorded “You Can’t Do That” as well as “And I Love Her.” They also made several attempts to capture “I Should Have Known Better,” but abandoned the song after three tries. The band returned the following day to record another 18 takes of the song. Lennon played acoustic guitar, Paul McCartney played bass, and Harrison played the electric 12-string guitar that became a trademark sound on the soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night. Lennon double-tracked his lead vocals and overdubbed the harmonica. In 1980, Lennon told author David Sheff, “That’s me. Just a song. It doesn’t mean a damn thing.”
Whoa, oh, I never realized what a kiss could be
This could only happen to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see
That when I tell you that I love you, oh
You’re gonna say you love me, too, oh
And when I ask you to be mine
You’re gonna say you love me, too
The Soundtrack
The music from A Hard Day’s Night was released in America on June 26, 1964. It included the full version of “I Should Have Known Better” as well as an orchestrated instrumental version scored by producer George Martin. A couple of weeks later, on July 10, 1964, the album was released in the UK, including only the vocal version. The song appeared twice in the movie. The band lip-synched as they played cards on a train while schoolgirls gathered around. One of those extras went on to become George Harrison’s wife several years later. The scene was filmed in a stationary van at Twickenham Film Studios on March 11, 1964. Members of the film crew rocked the van to create the look of being on a train.
The song appears again toward the end of the movie when the band performs onstage. In both instances, McCartney pretended to sing even though his voice is not on the recording. The Beatles Anthology included comments Lennon made in 1964:
“Paul and I enjoyed writing the music for the film. There were times when we honestly thought we’d never get the time to write all the material, but we managed to get a couple finished while we were in Paris. And three more completed in America, while we were soaking up the sun on Miami Beach. There are four I really go for: ‘Can’t Buy Me Love,’ ‘If I Fell,’ ‘I Should Have Known Better’—a song with harmonica we feature during the opening train sequence—and ‘Tell Me Why,’ a shuffle number that comes at the end of the film.”
So, oh, I should realized a lot of things before
If this is love, you’ve got to give me more
Give me more, hey hey hey, give me more
No. 1 in Norway
On July 13, 1964, the song was released as the B-side of the “A Hard Day’s Night” single. The A-side went all the way to No. 1, and “I Should Have Known Better” reached No. 53. It was more successful in other countries, reaching the Top 10 in West Germany and going all the way to the top spot in Norway. There were slight differences between the mono and stereo releases. The harmonica part varies and on the stereo version, you can hear a noticeable audio edit during the second chorus between You’re gonna say you love me too, oh and And when I ask you to be mine.
Whoa, oh, I never realized what a kiss could be
This could only happen to me
Can’t you see, can’t you see
That when I tell you that I love you, oh
You’re gonna say you love me, too, oh
And when I ask you to be mine
You’re gonna say you love me, too
You love me, too, you love me, too, you love me, too
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Photo by United Artists/Archive Photos/Getty Images
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