"The Night Before" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 film Help! and soundtrack album of the same name. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Described as a pop rock or rock and roll song, its lyrics reflect on the singer's last night with his lover before being abandoned.
Recorded in February 1965, "The Night Before" was the first Beatles song to feature electric piano, played by John Lennon. Its film sequence was shot the following May, showing the band miming to the track on Salisbury Plain. The Beatles only played the song live once, during their final BBC Radio performance. In contemporary interviews, McCartney said that it was one of his favorite songs from the Help! film and one of the Beatles' best recordings up to that point. Critics have given it mixed reviews, with some praising it while others dismiss it as insignificant. Many fans consider it one of the Beatles' best early songs. George Martin, Herbie Mann, Josie Cotton, and Restless Heart are among the artists who have covered it.
Background and recording
Neither Paul McCartney nor John Lennon had strong memories about writing "The Night Before". Although the song is credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, both identified it as being written primarily by McCartney. McCartney recalled writing it at the apartment of his then girlfriend Jane Asher and her family, at 57 Wimpole Street in central London.
The Beatles recorded "The Night Before" on 17 February 1965 during the third session for the soundtrack of their second feature film, Help!, in which they also recorded George Harrison's song "You Like Me Too Much". Recording in EMI's Studio Two, George Martin produced the session, assisted by engineers Norman Smith and Ken Scott. The band achieved a satisfactory basic track in two takes, featuring McCartney singing and playing bass, Ringo Starr on drums, Harrison playing rhythm guitar on his Gretsch Tennessean, and Lennon playing a Hohner Pianet electric piano, the first time the instrument was used on a Beatles recording.
The band overdubbed several parts onto take two. McCartney double-tracked his vocal, Lennon and Harrison added backing vocals, Starr added maracas to the bridge, and McCartney and Harrison – the former of whom using his new Epiphone Casino – played a dual guitar solo, doubling each other in octaves.