Single - 26. Help! (song)

1. Inspiration.

As revealed in the miniseries The Beatles Anthology, Lennon wrote the lyrics of the song to express his stress coming from the quick rise to a massive level of success for The Beatles after years of obscurity. The rest of the band felt somehow surprised learning this, but they considered it normal. Since Lennon's feelings of insecurity were incongruous with the band's image of confidence, Lennon felt it was nearly impossible for the fans to understand the origin of the song. "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help'," Lennon told Playboy.^[5] Writer Ian MacDonald describes the song as the "first crack in the protective shell" Lennon had built around his fragile emotions during the Beatles' rise to fame, and an important milestone in his songwriting style.

In the 1970 Rolling Stone "Lennon Remembers" interviews, Lennon said that because of its honesty it was one of his favourites among the Beatles songs he wrote, but he wished they had recorded it at a slower tempo. In these interviews, Lennon said he felt that "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were his most genuine Beatles songs and not just songs written to order. However, according to Lennon's cousin and boyhood friend Stanley Parkes, the song was written after Lennon "came in from the studio one night[.] "God", he said[,] "they've changed the title of the film - it's going to be called 'Help!' now. So I've had to write a new song with the title called 'Help!'."^[6]

2. Recording.

The Beatles recorded Help! in 12 takes on 13 April 1965, in Abbey Road's Studio Two. The first eight takes were without vocals. Onto the final attempt the group overdubbed vocals, tambourine and the guitar fills at the end of each chorus, the latter played by George Harrison.^[7]

3. Releases.

The single and album versions of the song have slight differences. The American version begins with a James Bond-style instrumental.

The song appears on the Help! LP, the USA Help! soundtrack, 1962-1966, the Imagine soundtrack, 1, Love, and The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2. The single mono version appeared on the Beatles' Rarities LP, as well as on mono versions of the original LP release, and includes a slightly different lead vocal recording by Lennon.

4. Personnel.

• John Lennon: double-tracked lead vocal and acoustic guitar.
• Paul McCartney: bass and background vocals.
• George Harrison: lead guitar and background vocals.
• Ringo Starr: drums.