Capitol 2358
Producer: George Martin
Track listing: Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! / Eight Days a Week / You Like Me Too Much / Bad Boy / I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party / Words of Love / What You’re Doing / Yes It Is / Dizzy Miss Lizzy / Tell Me What You See / Every Little Thing
July 10, 1965
Six weeks
With the title of Beatles VI, Capitol Records once again tried to rewrite history, just as the label attempted to do with the title The Beatles’ Second Album. Beatles VI was actually the Beatles’ eighth full American album. It was, however, the band’s sixth album on Capitol Records (if you don’t count The Beatles’ Story, a late-1964 documentary double album, which included highlights from their songs and interview segments).
Beatles VI was comprised of the remaining six tracks from the British Beatles for Sale album (the others had been used on Beatles’ ’65), three songs from the forthcoming British version of Help!, and “Bad Boy” and “Yes It Is.”
As was the case with the Beatles’ other early albums, several of the selections on Beatles VI, such as “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!,” “Bad Boy,” “Words of Love,” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” were cover versions of early rock ‘n’ roll songs that were staples in the band’s live shows. These tracks were usually recorded in one or two takes, with producer George Martin occasionally overdubbing a bit of piano. George Harrison says the question of who would sing lead on the cover versions was usually decided by “who had the biggest ego and who shouted the loudest. John [Lennon] was the main man, really. He was the one that started the group. From his point of view, Paul [McCartney] joined his band and then I joined his band. After a point, it became our band, but John was the oldest and he was probably the best vocalist as well. There weren’t really any rules. It was just the way things evolved naturally.”
Also included on Beatles VI is “You Like Me Too Much,” one of Harrison’s first Beatles’ compositions. “It’s one of those very early songs that I wrote when I didn’t know what I was doing,” he admits. “I didn’t know how to write songs and I didn’t have anyone to help me write them. It’s a little naive song that I don’t feel particularly attached to.”
The Lennon-McCartney composition “Eight Days a Week” became the Beatles’ seventh Number One single on March 13, 1965, but it wasn’t included on an album until the release of Beatles VI. The song, the first to feature a fade-in, was initially considered as the title track for what became Help!.
The Beatles also employed novel tricks in the studio on a number of other tracks. On the cover of Buddy Holly’s “Words of Love,” Ringo Starr plays a packing case instead of his drum kit. On “Every Little Thing,” Starr plays tympani.
Beatles VI became the Fab Four’s fifth Number One album and second chart-topper of 1965 when it jumped from number 48 to the peak in its third week on the chart. The Beatles could do no wrong.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 10, 1965
1. Beatles VI, The Beatles
2. Herman’s Hermits on Tour, Herman’s Hermits
3. Mary Poppins, Soundtrack
4. My Name Is Barbra, Barbra Streisand
5. The Sound of Music, Soundtrack