Breakfast with Behka and The Beatles Recap: Week of April 14

Here's a look at all the songs I've played this week on our first segment in the morning show, Breakfast with Behka and The Beatles. 

On Monday, I played "All My Loving".

This one was on the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night. Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, it drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP. According to journalist Bill Harry, McCartney thought of the lyrics whilst shaving, though McCartney told biographer Barry Miles that he wrote them while on a tour bus.

On Tuesday, I played "All Together Now".

The song was recorded during the band's Magical Mystery Tour period, but remained unreleased until it was included on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. This song was composed by McCartney for use in the worldwide telecast of the UK segment of "Our World" TV special. "All Together Now" appears in an animated sequence in the film Yellow Submarine, and is also introduced by the Beatles themselves in a final live-action scene of the film, during which translations of "All Together Now" into various languages appear written on-screen (likely a nod to its inception as part of the aforementioned international show segment).

On Wednesday, I played "I'll Be Back".

According to music critic Ian MacDonald, John Lennon created the song based on the chords of Del Shannon's "Runaway" which had been a UK hit in April 1961. The Beatles recorded "I'll Be Back" in 16 takes on 1 June 1964. The first nine were of the rhythm track, and the last seven were overdubs of the lead and harmony vocals, and a guitar overdub by Paul McCartney. With its poignant lyric and flamenco style acoustic guitars, "I'll Be Back" possess a tragic air. Unusually for a pop song it oscillates between major and minor keys, appears to have two different bridges and completely lacks a chorus. The fade-out ending is unexpectedly sudden, seeming to arrive half a verse prematurely.

On Thursday, I played "You Won't See Me".

The song is about a crisis in McCartney's relationship with his then-girlfriend Jane Asher. She was rejecting him by not returning phone calls and ignoring him — for once, he was in a vulnerable position. The more biting tone of the song marks a change away from his earlier, happier love songs. "You Won't See Me" was recorded during the last session for Rubber Soul on the night of November 11, 1965. The deadline for completing the album was up and the band needed to record three songs that evening to complete. As a result, they cut the song in only two takes. At 3:22, the song was the longest that The Beatles had recorded to that point and marked a trend by Bob Dylan and others at the time to start writing longer songs.

On Friday, I played "Strawberry Fields Forever".

"Strawberry Fields Forever" was recorded for possible inclusion on the (as yet untitled) album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), being the first song recorded for the sessions, but was instead released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with Paul McCartney's "Penny Lane". "Strawberry Fields Forever" reached number eight in the United States, with numerous critics describing it as one of the group's best recordings. Strawberry Field was the name of a Salvation Army children's home just around the corner from Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. Lennon and his childhood friends used to play in the wooded garden behind the home. The period of the song's writing was one of change and dislocation for Lennon. The Beatles had just retired from touring after one of the most difficult periods of their career, including the "more popular than Jesus" controversy and the band's unintentional snubbing of Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos.

Let me know if there's a song you want to hear next week!

The Toppermost of the Poppermost,

Behka