"Every Little Thing" Beatles for Sale (1964)

Welcome to Track Chatter, where we choose a different song to discuss in depth. This entry is part of an ongoing series in which we reconsider songs by The Beatles. Can anything new be said about this band or its music? Have a look below and let us know what you think.

Next up, we're looking at The Beatles' fourth studio album, Beatles For Sale. This album finds the band taking a step back from composing all the songs for the album, as they had done on A Hard Day's Night, and including covers of songs by Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, among others. The return to including so many covers may be due, in part, to the fact that the band released their first four albums over a span of only twenty one months, and it’s possible that they were feeling a bit creatively tapped. However, the album does show some steps forward in terms of songwriting and overall lyrical content, which showed a slightly darker side of The Beatles than that seen on earlier releases. Beatles For Sale was the first album that The Beatles released after having met Bob Dylan while on tour in 1964, and is generally thought to owe some of its darker shadings to his influence.

This time out, we're going to be listening to and discussing the track "Every Little Thing." While it’s undoubtedly familiar to Beatles fans, "Every Little Thing" is relatively unknown when compared to other tracks from the album like "Eight Days a Week," or "No Reply." Aaron selected this track for discussion quite early in our planning of Track Chatter entries, so let's have some opening thoughts on the song from him.



Aaron: “Every Little Thing” was relatively new to me when I was looking for a track to choose from this album. I’m sure I’d heard it before, but it didn’t jump out at me as being overly familiar like most of the other songs from the album, original and cover alike. The first thing that struck me was the insanely catchy chorus. In fact, on my first couple of listens, I naively thought that the chorus was really all that the song had going for it.

And I hope we spend a bit of time discussing that part of the song. But the more I listened, the more I realized how much is actually going on here. I’m not sure if the band and George Martin were starting to feel more comfortable with four-track recording, but the multi-tracking on this song seems really proficient.

But the thing I’m really liking about “Every Little Thing” at the moment is the drumming. There is a very effective build up that takes place through each verse and into the chorus. During the first half of each verse, Ringo keeps time only with the bass drum. Then, as John starts singing the second half, the snare drum kicks in, which increases the song’s intensity. As the band transitions from verse to chorus, Ringo starts hitting the ride cymbal pretty hard (it’s low in the mix, but still quite noticeable). And then, finally, there is that BOOM BOOM of the tympani (also played by Ringo, I’m assuming as an overdub). It’s clever drum production to be sure, but it’s also more than that. I’m pretty sure the drumming is just as responsible for what makes the chorus work as any of the lyrical or musical components. So, Lew, I’ve given you a few threads to play with there. Feel free to grab at any one of them.

Lew: In terms of lesser-known Beatles tracks, I think this is a really strong choice of songs. There's a lot to say about the song, in terms of the writing, but, as you noted in your comments above, the arrangement is particularly striking. I completely agree that the drumming is a big part of that. Ringo does a great job of approaching his drum part compositionally, which helps both to propel and define the sections of the song. It's almost like a Stewart Copeland drum part in that respect, although obviously not as complex. I also have to mention the timpani part briefly, because it adds so much depth to the chorus! It's a small, but brilliant addition, in my opinion.

I also think that George's guitar part is one the great things about the arrangement. It echoes the melody sung in the verses, at the very beginning of the song, and at other recurrent sections of the song. The ways he reintroduces it during the coda, alternating with the vocals singing "Every Little Thing" is a really smart piece of composition. At first, I thought he was playing an electric 12-string, but after some reading, I found out that his part is actually double-tracked (which speaks to your observation about the use of multi-tracking in this song, I think). So, it isn't a 12 string, but it definitely has a similar sound, and prefigures the 12 string style used later on by Roger McGuinn (who formed The Byrds the same year Beatles For Sale was released), Mike Campbell, Peter Buck, and so on.

Aaron: One of the things I’m really loving about this series is how with each of your responses I have to go back to the song and listen again. I didn’t pick up on the 12-string sound at all on the first few listens – it’s pretty subtle (to my ears, anyway) – but now that you mention it, it’s clear as a bell. It’s a good example of how deftly the Beatles and Martin were able to take advantage of advances in studio recording. Of course, later in their career (and with the Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, etc.), multi-tracking would be used for more . . . “far out” results. But here, as you point out, the effect is to contribute to the texture of the song without calling too much attention to itself. I know you and I have talked a lot in the past about whether a certain instrument, solo, lyric, etc. “serves the song,” and this is a fine example of that.

I was excited that you mentioned The Byrds. When I was trying to decide which track to choose from Beatles for Sale, I almost went for “What You’re Doing” because I thought it might be interesting to talk about that song’s (potential) influence on certain ‘60s groups. Roger McGuinn has always been pretty open about the influence of The Beatles on The Byrds – particularly the sound of George playing 12-string. If you listen to the beginning of “What You’re Doing,” it’s hard to deny a straight line from that track to The Byrds’ recording, the following year, of “Mr. Tambourine Man.” So I was happy that you picked up on a similar, less overt example of that influence in “Every Little Thing.”

And you know what, the more I listen to the song, the more I’m starting to appreciate the lyrics. I particularly like the line, “I remember the first time / I was lonely without her.” There’s an evocativeness in the line’s lack of reliance on simile or metaphor that I appreciate. Not to say that it deserves a spot in the Beatles lyric hall of fame (and maybe the song’s just growing on me), but I can see why people look at Beatles for Sale as a turning point in many ways. The band is really shifting here from earnest strivers to seasoned professionals.

Lew: I should say that I’ve been pushed into listening again by remarks that you’ve made, as well. The drum part in “Every Little Thing” is a great example – beyond being aware that the drums were keeping time and that there was a tympani in the chorus, I really hadn’t paid much attention to it at all until you brought it up.

To your point about the guitar part “serving the song,” I completely agree. In fact, I think I’d be hard-pressed to point to any instance of The Beatles playing a part that doesn’t serve the song. Even the parts that I don’t like as well seem to have the intention of representing the song in the best way possible. I think it’s often assumed that The Beatles weren’t very musically self-indulgent because they lacked the virtuosity to play more challenging parts. There may be some degree of truth to that idea (George wasn’t going to be playing Paganini’s Caprices, Ringo probably didn’t have a lot of skill with polyrhythms, etc.), but I think that misses the point. Whatever level of skill The Beatles were at, they seem to have been fairly disinterested by displaying that skill through anything other than playing a song.

Also, I think the lyrics are very effective – mainly because of the simplicity that you mentioned. It’s interesting to me that this is a Paul song – it sounds like something I’d expect Lennon to have written around this time. The fact that his voice is the one most clearly audible on the track probably contributes to that impression, but I definitely think of Paul’s lyrics as having less honest vulnerability (to bring up a term from our “Tell Me Why” discussion).

Aaron: At some point, I’m sure, we’ll spend more time on the Paul v. John question and all it’s many manifestations. Until then, I would say that your description of McCartney’s approach to lyric-writing is probably pretty commonly held. And yet, it’s around this time that he writes “Yesterday,” which, for all the hoopla surrounding it, is a pretty honest, simple, and direct song. (I don’t think it’s anything new to claim that a lot of the arguments about Paul v. John have more to do with personality than talent or quality.) In the case of “Every Little Thing,” I don’t think Paul’s approach to honest sincerity is quite there yet – if we compare it to some of John’s songs from the album like “I’m a Loser” or even “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” – but it does have the kind of simple clarity that he would soon achieve with songs like “Yesterday” or “I’m Looking Through You” (which was recorded only a year after “Every Little Thing”).

I think it was around this time that Lennon/McCartney stopped actively writing together – I’ve read that “Baby’s in Black” from Beatles For Sale is the last song on which they worked out the lyrics together. I wonder how much competition – for album space, for choice of single, for respect from other songwriters, etc. – would come to play in the way John and Paul’s songwriting would push each other. Do you know anything about that?

Another thing I think is worth mentioning, bringing it back to the song’s arrangement and production, is that it’s around this time that the band starts pushing themselves musically to be more creative. I agree with you whole-heartedly that this was almost always done in service to the song. However, they’re going to start using different time signatures (which, “Baby’s in Black” being one example) or things like the droning bass on “Ticket to Ride” from Help!. “Every Little Thing,” I think, is a lesser-known, but perhaps important indicator of the direction they were thinking about going in musically.

Lew: Sure, I think that your point about the production of “Every Little Thing” is very well taken. As you say, it really shows that they were thinking about production when they put together an arrangement. I'd even go so far as to say that the way “Every Little Thing” is produced shows an ability to think about music from an increasingly sonic point of view. At the risk of stating the obvious, there's more at stake here than simply playing through the song - they're trying to use sounds that affect the listener's perception of the song. As far as I can tell, the tympani part's main function is to get your attention so you'll pay attention to the chorus. So yes, I think it's an indicator of where the band was going, and also of the effect that they would have on music as a whole.

About John and Paul writing together, I’d agree that around this time there’s starting to be a much clearer delineation between the songs that belonged to primarily one or the other. I think that they were still collaborating up through Sgt. Pepper’s - they were definitely working together on “Getting Better” and “A Day in the Life” - but it's definitely on the decline. To your question about the competition that they may have felt for album space, I’m not sure. The fact that “Every Little Thing” was written by Paul, but primarily sung by John, suggests to me that their creative relationship was still strong, but I don't have any facts to support that.

Aaron: I like the way you put that – thinking sonically – it’s something that they rarely get credit for outside of discussions of Sgt. Pepper’s. Just to elaborate on one point, I didn’t mean to suggest that they stopped collaborating around this time – only that, from what I’ve read, they stopped the sort of “head-to-head” writing (as John called it) that they did in the early days, when they would sit down and write a song – it’s lyrics, music, melody, etc. – together.

I’ve really enjoyed the discussion of this song, which we almost didn’t choose, but which, I think, more than any of the others we’ve talked about yet, has really heightened my appreciation for how many cylinders these guys had firing at this point in their career. It really is the sound of a great band becoming even better.

Up next: A song from Help! that you’ve probably never heard of . . .