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Help! (song)

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"Help!"
Song
B-side"I'm Down"

"Help!" is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom. "Help!" was written primarily by John Lennon, but credited (as were all Beatles songs written by either person) to Lennon/McCartney. The title was "out of desperation".[3] In 2004, "Help!" was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Composition

The documentary series The Beatles Anthology revealed that Lennon wrote the lyrics of the song to express his stress after the Beatles' quick rise to success. "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help'," Lennon told Playboy.[4] Writer Ian MacDonald describes the song as the "first crack in the protective shell" Lennon had built around his fragile emotions during the Beatles' rise to fame, and an important milestone in his songwriting style.

In the 1970 Rolling Stone "Lennon Remembers" interviews, Lennon said that because of its honesty it was one of his favourites among the Beatles songs he wrote, but he wished they had recorded it at a slower tempo. In these interviews, Lennon said he felt that "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were his most genuine Beatles songs and not just songs written to order. According to Lennon's cousin and boyhood friend Stanley Parkes, however, "Help!" was written after Lennon "came in from the studio one night. 'God,' he said, 'they've changed the title of the film: it's going to be called 'Help!' now. So I've had to write a new song with the title called 'Help!'."[5]

Paul McCartney reports that he had a hand in writing the song as well, being called in "to complete it" in a two-hour joint writing session on 4 April 1965 at Lennon's house in Weybridge.[6]

Recording

The Beatles recorded "Help!" in twelve takes on 13 April 1965 using four-track equipment. The first nine takes concentrated on the instrumental backing. The descending lead guitar riff that precedes each verse proved to be difficult, so by take 4 it was decided to postpone it for an overdub. To guide the later overdub by Harrison, Lennon thumped the beat on his acoustic guitar body, which can be heard in the final stereo mix. Lead and backing vocals were recorded twice onto take 9, along with a tambourine. A reduction mix was applied to the two vocal tracks, taking three attempts (takes 10 to 12), freeing up a track for the lead guitar overdub.[7] This was the group's first use of two 4-track machines for "bouncing".[8]

The vocals were re-recorded for the film during a session on 24 May 1965 at CTS Studios, a facility specializing in post-synchronisation.[9] In addition to attempting a better vocal performance, the session might have been done to eliminate the tambourine (which had been on the same track as the vocals) since no tambourine appeared in the film sequence.[10] With the new vocals, a mono mix was created at CTS Studios which was used for the film soundtrack. Mixes for record releases were prepared on 18 June. For the mono version, Martin decided to use a mix of the opening chorus of take 12 edited to the remainder of the CTS film mix.[9] Because all instruments were combined on a single track for the CTS session, it could not be used for a stereo mix, so the stereo mix was made from take 12.[10]

New mixes were created for releases of the Help! CD (1987), the Love album (2006), and the Help! DVD (2007).[7]

Releases

"Help!" went to #1 on both the UK and US singles charts in late summer 1965. It was the fourth of six number one singles in a row on the American charts;[citation needed] "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out".[11] The song marked a compositional turning point for the group, Lennon being the more dominant hit-single writer with five number ones culminating in "Help!", while McCartney afterwards produced eight number ones beginning with "Yesterday".[citation needed]

The song appears on the Help! LP, the US Help! soundtrack, 1962-1966, the Imagine soundtrack, 1, Love, and The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2. The mono version (with different vocals and no tambourine) was included on the Beatles' Rarities LP and in The Beatles in Mono collection.

Promotional films

The Beatles filmed the title performance for the movie Help! on 22 April 1965. The same footage (without the darts and credits seen in the film sequence) was used as a clip to promote the release of the single. It was shown starting in July 1965 on programmes such as Top of the Pops and Thank Your Lucky Stars.[12]

The Beatles made another promotional clip of "Help!" on 23 November 1965 for inclusion in the year-end recap special of Top of the Pops. Directed by Joseph McGrath, the black-and-white clip shows the group miming to the song while sitting astride a workbench. Starr holds an umbrella overhead throughout the song, which becomes useful as fake snow falls during the final verse.[13]

Use in advertising

In February 1985, "Help!" became the first Beatles song licensed for a US television commercial. The Lincoln–Mercury division of Ford Motor Company paid $100,000 for the rights to the song, but not for the use of the original Beatles' recording.[14] The song was re-created by a sound-alike group with assistance from George Martin.[15]

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1965) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[16] 5
Canada (RPM Singles Chart)[17] 1
Germany (GfK)ERROR in Germany. MISSING PARAMETERS: songid. 2
Ireland (Irish Singles Chart)[18] 1
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[19] 1
Norway (VG-lista)[20] 1
Invalid chart entered UKchartstats 1
US Billboard Hot 100[21] 1

The song reached number one in several other countries according to charts listed in Billboard's "Hits of the World" feature at the time: Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Sweden.[22][23]

Cover versions

"Help!"
Song
"Help!"
Song
B-side"Rock 'n' Roll Widow"
"Help!"
Song

Cultural references

  • American author Mark Z. Danielewski frequently refers to this song in his novel House of Leaves.
  • The song featured in "Cutting It Close", an episode of Full House, when Jesse Katsopolis breaks both of his arms in a motorcycle accident and has to adjust to a life in which he always needs assistance.
  • The lyrics are quoted in the film Yellow Submarine; when Young Fred knocks on the Beatles' door, he says, "Won't you please, please help me?"
  • In the Powerpuff Girls episode "Meet the Beat-Alls", a military sergeant says "Help, we need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, we need the Powerpuff Girls."
  • In the Only Fools and Horses episode "The Jolly Boys' Outing", Mickey Pearce sings "Won't you please, please help me?" to a sleeping Albert, prompting Albert to tell him to "Get off, you noisy little git!" The version playing on the radio as Mickey sings is the Bananarama cover version rather than the original.
  • Several Major League Baseball teams (notably the New York Yankees) play the song when the opposing manager/pitching coach go out for a mound visit.
  • The release year of the song was asked as the final ¥ 5,000,000 question in the fictitious version of Who Wants to be A Millionaire, as depicted in the Mainland China sitcom iPartment.

Notes

  1. ^ Pollack 2000.
  2. ^ RIAA 2009.
  3. ^ Beatles Interview Database 1984, p. 2.
  4. ^ Spitz 2005, p. 555.
  5. ^ Lennon.net 2004, p. 5.
  6. ^ Miles 1997, p. 199.
  7. ^ a b Winn 2008, pp. 314–316.
  8. ^ Help! stereo remaster 2009 inlay card, ”Recording notes”.
  9. ^ a b Winn 2008, pp. 320.
  10. ^ a b Ryan & Kehew 2006, p. 392.
  11. ^ Wallgren 1982, pp. 38–45.
  12. ^ Lewisohn 2000, p. 190.
  13. ^ Lewisohn 2000, pp. 206–208.
  14. ^ Badman 2009, p. 352.
  15. ^ Miller 1988, p. 198.
  16. ^ "The Beatles – Help!" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  17. ^ "Top Singles – Volume 4, No. 1, August 31, 1965". RPM. 31 August 1965. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  18. ^ "Irish Singles Chart". The Irish Charts. (manual search required). Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  19. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 32, 1965" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  20. ^ "The Beatles – Help!". VG-lista.
  21. ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard: p. 36. 4 September 1965. Retrieved 30 March 2011. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  22. ^ "Hits of the World". Billboard: p. 30. 18 September 1965. Retrieved 30 March 2011. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  23. ^ "Hits of the World". Billboard: p. 34. 25 September 1965. Retrieved 30 March 2011. {{cite journal}}: |page= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)

References

Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (The Beatles version)
September 4, 1965
(3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number-one single (The Beatles version)
August 5, 1965
(3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
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