Rating: 7.5/10
A Hard Day’s Night is an upbeat, peppy collection of songs. There’s lots of personality in the music and it feels like the boys were just having fun with these songs, but at the same time it feels more mature than their first two records. I’m very excited to review it. (Also I’m super excited to watch the movie that goes along with the album!)
In this post I’ll be ranking all the songs from The Beatles’ third studio album, A Hard Day’s Night, from worst to best (in my subjective opinion of course). It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a Beatles album, so I’ll now let the ranking commence!
13. I’ll Cry Instead (Track 9)
I feel like there’s a noticeable pattern in how I rank the songs on early Beatles albums, and that’s that I usually put really rowdy, basic songs at the bottom. This album fits into that pattern perfectly, because this song feels very upbeat but uninspired, and it’s just not catchy but it tries to be. It’s like the epitome of a filler track.
12. When I Get Home (Track 11)
There are some nice harmonies and guitar work in the chorus, but other than that there’s pretty much nothing interesting about this song. The songwriting is pretty simple and doesn’t feel personal at all. It just blends in with so many other Beatles song from this time period.
11. I Should Have Known Better (Track 2)
This one kinda gives me ‘Love Me Do’ vibes (but that might just be because of the harmonica). This song isn’t terrible and it’s fairly enjoyable (mainly because of John’s vocals) but it’s definitely not a highlight. I think if they had replaced the harmonica with a really strong, bold guitar riff the song would have been way better.
10. You Can’t Do That (Track 12)
The lyrics here are pretty possessive and questionable, but musically the song’s not too bad. John’s vocals sound really good and the backing vocals add some nice dimension to the song. The guitar riffing that ends the song is pretty nice too. Still, it’s not going on my Beatles playlist.
9. Things We Said Today (Track 10)
The guitar here is pleasant and Ringo’s drumming adds a nice beat and rhythm to the song. It’s not an absolute favorite of mine but it’s not bad at all.
8. Can’t Buy Me Love (Track 7)
Yay, we’ve finally reached my favorites from the album! This is one of the most popular songs from the record and I can see why. It’s fun, exuberant, and the hook is really catchy. The melody is carried super well, and overall, this is just an enjoyable listen.
7. Tell Me Why (Track 6)
This is one of the shortest songs on the album, but it’s very nice all throughout. The enthusiastic drumming, harmonized vocals, and passionate melody are the best parts of the song and make it stand out from other songs on the album. So it’s not one of the very best on the album, but it’s definitely good and I would never skip it.
6. I’ll Be Back (Track 13)
This song has a really sweet and sentimental sound to it that I really like. Sonically, it sort of fits in with ‘And I Love Her’ (which I’ll share my thoughts on later) which is, of course, a good thing. The melody on the “I love you so” part is really pretty and those parts are definitely my favorite. It’s a nice, gentle way to end the album and I really, really like this one.
5. Any Time At All (Track 8)
Ooooh, this one is really fun. The melody and instrumentation (especially the pushy, excited drum beat) gives the song so much spark and irresistibility. The vocals are also really great and make the song feel really happy. It’s not a super unique song that stands apart from others in this album’s tracklist, but it’s just an absolute joy to listen to every time it comes on.
4. A Hard Day’s Night (Track 1)
This song is just iconic. That’s it. The opening chord is so iconic and distinctive (to the point where just from hearing that opening chord you’d be able to tell what song this is) and the phrase “hard day’s night” is very iconic as well. This song opens up the album incredibly and lets everyone who’s listening know that this album is going to be more upbeat and thematically significant than Please Please Me and With the Beatles. The guitar that closes the song is also great, and overall this is just an amazing song. We all love it.
3. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You (Track 4)
Every Beatles album has that one song that just completely takes me by surprise by how good it is. For Help! it was ‘I Need You’ and for Abbey Road it was ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’/’Golden Slumbers’. It’s usually a song that isn’t super well known so I don’t hear much about it, then while I’m listening to the album for the first time I just find myself completely bopping along to it. This is that song for A Hard Day’s Night. It’s just so nice. The tone and melody is pretty unique for an early Beatles song and it just makes me happy. I already really like this song, and I can tell I’m just gonna love it more the more I listen to it.
(Also, I just found out that George is singing on this song, and I shouldn’t even be surprised. George’s songs are almost always hits with me, I genuinely adore his voice.)
2. If I Fell (Track 3)
This song is a ballad courtesy of John, and we love to see it. It’s really pretty and very earnest. It’s just so charming. The way John opens up the song is really nice, then when the John/Paul harmonies come in the song is just elevated into a whole new level of pleasant and somewhat dream-like. Overall, just a beautiful acoustic ballad, and a definite highlight of the album.
1. And I Love Her (Track 5)
“Bright are the stars that shine, dark is the sky. I know this love of mine will never die, and I love her.” Oh, what an absolute beauty this song is. It has the trademark Paul McCartney sentimentality and tenderness, and it just works so well. The guitar is beautiful, and George did a great job. The song just wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t have that gentle guitar riff. The soft percussion is also really nice. Paul sounds amazing and really sells the song. The lyrics are really sweet and romantic, and I feel like everyone would love to have a song like this written about them. Overall, this song is just stunning in every way and I love it (that was a pun, if ya’ll didn’t notice).
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