You could call it the magical mystery chord. The opening clang of the Beatles’ 1964 hit, “A Hard Day’s Night,” is one of the most famous and distinctive sounds in rock and roll history, and yet for a long time no one could quite figure out what it was.
In this fascinating clip from the CBC radio show, Randy’s Vinyl Tap, the legendary Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive guitarist Randy Bachman unravels the mystery. The segment is from a special live performance, “Guitarology 101,” taped in front of an audience at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto back in January, 2010. As journalist Matthew McAndrew wrote, “the two-and-a-half hour event was as much an educational experience as it was a rock’n'roll concert.”
One highlight of the show was Bachman’s telling of his visit the previous year with Giles Martin, son of Beatles’ producer George Martin, at Abbey Road Studios. The younger Martin, who is now the official custodian of all the Beatles’ recordings, told Bachman he could listen to anything he wanted from the massive archive–anything at all.
Bachman chose to hear each track from the opening of “A Hard Day’s Night.” As it turns out, the sound is actually a combination of chords played simultaneously by George Harrison and John Lennon, along with a bass note by Paul McCartney. Bachman breaks it all down in an entertaining way in the audio clip above.
You can read about some of the earlier theories on The Beatles Bible and Wikipedia, and hear a fascinating account of one scholar’s mathematical analysis of the component sounds of the chord from a few years ago at NPR. Or, you can simply let the song work its own magic in the opening sequence to the 1964 Richard Lester film, below.
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There additional two other additional elements to the original chord, which actually features all four Beatles and George Martin.
If you listen carefully, the chord starts with the single strike of a snare drum, and George Martin plays a piano chord underneath as well.
Martin also doubled George Harrison’s guitar solo on piano, which is why it sounds the way it does.
Maybe that’s true, Dougald. Anyone who wants to learn about some of the various theories can follow the links in the last paragraph. But what Bachman is saying here is that he had an opportunity to listen to all the source material–to hear each of the component tracks in isolation–and that the chord breaks down as he says.
Mike
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
I just wonder if anyone who isn’t a baby boomer cares. (Since I *am* a boomer, I’m in no position to say.)
@Richard: oh yeah there are a lot of us (non baby boomers)who appreciate the magic and genius of the music and the era and movement it started. There are only so many firsts in the world and the Beatles were one of the pioneers of music. Whether people understand or want to understand how to make that first chord, once it’s played it resonates with a lot of people and just makes you wanna sing and play.
I think the music of the Beatles transcends generations somehow. It’s magic. I am a late Boomer (born 1963) and love their music, my youngest daughter born in 1991 has a tattoo’d Beatles sleeve and “All you need is love” tattoo’d on her back. Then again maybe it’s genetic. Nature vs nurture. whatever it is, that chord is awesome and totally unique. Thanks for sharing this!
Home boy hit the nail on the head. That’s that, next…
It’s a little more complicated than Mike Springer suggests. The song was originally recorded on a four-track recorder, and there were no “component” tracks of the individual instruments making that chord. The entire band was recorded on track 1, with vocals on track 2. Track three was acoustic guitar and percussion, and track 4 was the solo with guitar/piano. See Recording the Beatles book for more.
What Giles Martin apparently did for the One album and Cirque du Soleil show, was to use new digital technology that could separate the individual musical instrument components out of single tracks. This is how he was able to do the mashups on that album. Bachman mentions being invited to go and listen to the ProTools files.
Weez,
By “component tracks” I meant the individual tracks that make up the record. Nothing more. Thanks very much for the helpful input. (And for citing your source; it sounds like an interesting book.)
Best,
Mike
The Beatles have brought class and style to many generations. The Beatles at least for me can relate to today’s youth just like back then. Just my opinion.
Do younger people care about this or the Beatles in general? I’m 40, was born after The Beatles broke up and recognize their genius with regular plays of their albums. My SEVEN year old son loves them as well. A Hard Days Night being one of his favorite films and Beatles RockBand – we play as a family. The Beatles will live on.
I am a substitute teacher and from my experience most kids elementary school age love love love melodic music like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Elvis, etc.
It’s when they get older in that terrible teen & pre-teen phase when they’re going through all those hormonal changes and they (most it seems) subconciously feel the need to totally overhaul practically everything they liked as a small child.
Many times I think it’s just an act of rebellion. You know the old adage: “You’re not suppose to like your parents music..it’s not cool.” And others simply succumb to peer pressure that permeates all around them.
I don’t have hard evidence to back this up, it’s just my determination from years of observation and interaction.
Here is a poor man’s version that we did back in the 1960s with a band I had.
Play B on the A string ( 2nd fret) and A ( second fret) on the G string. All other strings are open. On a 12 string it is fairly effective.
I have always thought it to be a Gm7 with some addition I can’t quite remember. In terms of “tab” from high “E” (1st string) 335353.