The Beatles had a lot on their plate when the time came to write their third album, A Hard Day’s Night. It would be the first and last album in their catalogue that would feature an all Lennon-McCartney line-up of original compositions. Plus, they had a movie to star in, featuring said songs on the record. And they went on tour to promote both the film and the new record. It would be the year of very tight schedules.

This album would be one of two released that year, with accompanying tours and other personal appearances that would make having days off a rarity. Here we find the Beatles at the height of the earliest phase in their career that would introduce them to the world as four smiling boys in suits playing jangly music, and expanding Beatlemania all over the world while they were at it. But, what lay under the surface of their waggling heads, cheeky smiles, and clever quips? As it turns out, quite a lot when one listens closely to the songs.

Discussing these very issues with my old friend Graeme Burk and me is Shannon Dohar, who’s favourite film as a child was, you guessed it, A Hard Day’s Night. Speaking of that film, we talk about what it meant for the band, and what it means as a film on its own. We also talk about ways that the movie, as great as it is, penned them in as narrowly defined versions of themselves for years after its release, with breaking out of that mould becoming a desparate neccessity by the end of the decade.

Take a listen to the episode right here.

Enjoy!