| "Ticket to Ride" | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by The Beatles | ||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Help! | ||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Yes It Is" | |||||||||||||||||
| Released | 9 April 1965 | |||||||||||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 15 February 1965 |
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| Genre | Rock | |||||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:10 | |||||||||||||||||
| Label | Parlophone | |||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |||||||||||||||||
| Producer | George Martin | |||||||||||||||||
| The Beatles singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||
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"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 at Abbey Road Studios and released two months later. In 2004, this song was ranked number 384 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
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Composition
The song was written primarily by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney), with Paul McCartney's contributions in dispute. Lennon said that McCartney's contribution was limited to "the way Ringo played the drums".[1] McCartney said that was an incomplete response, and that "we sat down and wrote it together... give him 60 percent of it... we sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session."[2] Lennon said the double-time ending section (with the lyric "My baby don't care") was one of his "favourite bits" in the song.[3] This song was also the first song by the band in which McCartney was featured on lead guitar.
Lennon proudly claimed that it was the first heavy metal song given the droning bassline, repeating drums, and loaded guitar lines.[1]
Meaning of "ticket to ride"
While the song lyrics describe a girl "riding out of the life of the narrator",[4] the inspiration of the title phrase is unclear. McCartney said it was "a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight",[2] and Lennon said it described cards indicating a clean bill of health carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s.[4] The Beatles played in Hamburg early in their musical career, and "ride/riding" was slang for having sex.
Release
"Ticket to Ride" was released as a single on 9 April 1965 in the UK and 19 April in the US with "Yes It Is" as its B-side,[5] topping the Hot 100 for a week in the US and the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in the UK. The American single's label declared that the song was from the United Artists release Eight Arms to Hold You. This was the original title of The Beatles' second movie; the title changed to Help! after the single was initially released.[6] The song was also included on the Help! album released on 6 August in the UK and on 13 August in the US.
The song was the third of six number one singles in a row on the American charts, a record at the time.[citation needed] The singles were "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out".[7] The record was equaled by The Bee Gees in the 1970s
Critical response
Music critics Richie Unterberger of allmusic and Ian MacDonald both describe "Ticket to Ride" as an important milestone in the evolution of the musical style of the Beatles. Unterberger said, "the rhythm parts on 'Ticket to Ride' were harder and heavier than they had been on any previous Beatles outing, particularly in Ringo Starr's stormy stutters and rolls."[8] MacDonald described it as "psychologically deeper than anything The Beatles had recorded before ... extraordinary for its time — massive with chiming electric guitars, weighty rhythm, and rumbling floor tom-toms. Macdonald also notes that the track uses the Indian basis of drone which might have influenced the Kinks' "See My Friends".[9]
| Chart 1965 | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
Personnel
- John Lennon – double tracked vocal, rhythm guitar
- Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass, lead guitar
- George Harrison – harmony vocal, rhythm guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, handclaps
- Personnel per MacDonald[10]
George Harrison is playing his 12-string Rickenbacker guitar.
| Preceded by "The Minute You're Gone" by Cliff Richard |
UK number one single 22 April 1965 (three weeks) |
Succeeded by "King of the Road" by Roger Miller |
| Preceded by "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" by Herman's Hermits |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single 22 May 1965 (one week) |
Succeeded by "Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys |
The Carpenters' version
| "Ticket to Ride" | ||||
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| Single by The Carpenters | ||||
| from the album Offering/Ticket to Ride | ||||
| B-side | "Your Wonderful Parade" | |||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 04:10 | |||
| Label | A&M Records 1183 |
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| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer | Jack Daugherty | |||
| The Carpenters singles chronology | ||||
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In 1969, it was released by The Carpenters on their album, Offering/Ticket to Ride, and it became a minor hit. The song stalled at number #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and #19 on the adult contemporary. The Carpenters recorded the song as a slower ballad. They released their debut album of the same name.
| Chart 1969 | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 54 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 19 |
Other cover versions
Many artists have covered "Ticket to Ride", including Vanilla Fudge (1967), The 5th Dimension (1967 on The Magic Garden), The Punkles, Kids Incorporated (1993), and Atomic Kitten (2007).
Cultural references
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009) |
An orchestral version of the song is barely audible in the fadeout at the very end of the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. Initially this phenomenon was considered a mistake in remastering. However it is audible on high quality vinyl pressings from the time before the CD era as well. The Beatles and Pink Floyd both recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
The song is referenced in "Artificial Energy", by The Byrds, the opening track of The Notorious Byrd Brothers from 1968.
The title of this song is referenced to in the Red Dwarf episode Tikka to Ride, in accordance with the theme of curry on which the storyline focuses.
In a Doctor Who episode titled "The Executioners," the Doctor and his companions Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki watch the Beatles perform "Ticket To Ride" on the Doctor's recently acquired time/space visualiser. The clip shown is about 15 seconds long and was of a mime performance they gave on Top of the Pops very recent to the recording of the Doctor Who episode and is the only footage of this performance known to exist. The episode transmitted on 22 May 1965 on BBC1 and was watched by 10 million viewers. This story was released on VHS in 1993.
Notes
- ^ a b Sheff 2000, p. 196.
- ^ a b Miles 1997, p. 193.
- ^ Sheff 2000, p. 198.
- ^ a b Turner 2005, p. 80.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 200.
- ^ Harry 2000, p. 1074.
- ^ Wallgren 1982, pp. 38–45.
- ^ Unterberger 2007.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 142–144.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 142.
References
- Harry, Bill (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2.
- Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- Turner, Steve (2005). A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-084409-4.
- Unterberger, Richie (2007). "Review of "Ticket to Ride"". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=33:avfpxxqsld0e. Retrieved 2007-05-13.</ref>
- Wallgren, Mark (1982). The Beatles on Record. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-45682-2.
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