It's Been a Hard Day's Night

Whether any of the above is true, United Artists did arrange a deal to release the Hard Day's Night soundtrack in the United States and Canada. This first Beatles movie went through several title changes, from Beatlemania #1 (its working title) to Off the Beatle Track (rumored, which became the title to one of George Martin's albums) to A Hard Day's Night, after Ringo coined the famous expression. Producer Walter Shenson called upon John and Paul to write a song called "Hard Day's Night," to play over the opening sequence, which had already been filmed. Lennon and McCartney obliged.

If the Hard Day's Night fan club script (from their Bulletin) is correct, the sequence of scenes in the final movie is different from the originally scheduled sequence. According to the "Making of..." documentary, some scenes were shot on the spur of the moment. The film premiered in London on July 6, 1964, and the United Artists soundtrack album was released on June 26th. By mid-August, every major theater in the United States (and many smaller ones) were showing the movie.

The soundtrack album differs from the British Hard Day's Night album in two major respects. First, the cover is entirely different. The front cover is red and displays the film title and "The Beatles" in large print (along with saying that this is the soundtrack). Only four Beatle photos are on the front cover of the US album, with others being moved to the back cover, taking the place of the liner notes which are found on the British release.

The soundtrack features only the songs which were actually featured in the movie, along with "I'll Cry Instead," which was dropped from the film. "You Can't Do That" had been dropped from the film also, but that song does not appear on the LP. United Artists never received stereo mixes of the songs from Parlophone, and so the stereo album features crude attempts at rechanneling the mono recordings into stereo. The album was filled out with George Martin instrumentals (from the film), and these do appear in true stereo on the stereo record.

United Artists was apparently forbidden from issuing singles from their album. Nevertheless, it held the Number One position long enough to keep Capitol's Something New album at #2. UA did issue two George Martin instrumental singles (UA 745 and UA 750), complete with Beatle picture sleeves, but as part of their arrangement with EMI, Capitol issued the Beatles singles from the film, including the title track. Capitol collected most of the film songs onto their Something New album, a collection which they agreed not to call "Hard Day's Night," so as not to compete with the United Artists album. Curiously, Capitol refrained from including the title song on any album until 1973, even though their collection, Hey Jude, was issued in 1969 and HDN would have made a good addition to that record. This may have been part of Capitol's arrangement with United Artists.

United Artists Label, 1964-1967

First issue, mono. The first pressings credited only "This Boy" to Maclen Music alone; the other songs are co-credited to Unart Music. The more common copies (value shown above) list "I Cry Instead" (incorrect spelling) on the label of the record. Less common copies (add $75 to $100) have the title correct ("I'll Cry Instead") on the label. All copies have the title misspelled on the cover.

First issue, stereo. The first pressings credited only "This Boy" to Maclen Music alone; the other songs are co-credited to Unart Music. The more common copies (value shown above) list "I Cry Instead" (incorrect spelling) on the label of the record. Less common copies (add $75 to $100) have the title correct ("I'll Cry Instead") on the label. All copies have the title misspelled on the cover.

The original back cover credits

Rare issue, stereo. Pink vinyl. Only one known copy exists, from the factory that spelled "I'll Cry Instead" correctly. The reason of manufacture is unknown, although it was manufactured at the Waddell plant and is thought to have been a "fantasy" item created by an employee. The photo is from the Songs, Pictures, and Stories website.

Hard Day's Night

UAL 3366 promo

$2000 +

White label promo, mono. Some copies are stamped as promos on the cover, and other copies came in normal mono covers.

After the LP's release, United Artists realized that since "I'll Cry Instead" was not used in the film, the song was not co-published by Unart Music. Copies pressed after mid-June of 1964 credit both "This Boy" and "I Cry Instead" [sic] to Maclen Music; the other songs on the LP are co-credited to Maclen and Unart.

Hard Day's Night

UAL 3366

$150

Second issue, mono. Second pressings credited both "This Boy" and "I Cry Instead" to Maclen Music only. The more common copies (value shown above) list "I Cry Instead" (incorrect spelling) on the label of the record. Less common copies (add $75 to $100) have the title correct ("I'll Cry Instead") on the label. All copies have the title misspelled on the cover.

Hard Day's Night

UAS 6366

$200

Second issue, stereo. Second pressings credited both "This Boy" and "I Cry Instead" to Maclen Music only. The more common copies (value shown above) list "I Cry Instead" (incorrect spelling) on the label of the record. Less common copies (add $75 to $100) have the title correct ("I'll Cry Instead") on the label. All copies have the title misspelled on the cover.

The album was selling so fast that United Artists contracted out to other manufacturers to press copies of the LP. This copy was pressed by RCA, having the RCA numbering in the matrix as well as on the label. The cover is the same as the second pressing UA cover (listing two songs). Most copies of the LP were manufactured by Columbia Records. Most west-coast copies were pressed by H.V. Waddell Co., a Burbank, California, firm.

The corrected back cover credits

As an interesting note, some reissue copies of the LP show the original, incorrect, cover credits listing "This Boy" as the only song not co-credited to Unart.

Capitol Record Club issue, mono. Issued very late in 1966 or early in 1967. The only specially-marked Record Club issue of any Beatles record documented to have been issued in mono. Both label and cover list the record club's catalog number. The cover is folded differently than covers manufactured for UA; these covers have a "4" on the back and were made by the same company that made covers to accompany records pressed at Capitol's factory in Jacksonville, IL.

Capitol Record Club issue, stereo. Issued very late in 1966 or early in 1967. Both label and cover list the record club's catalog number. The cover is folded differently than covers manufactured for UA; these covers have a "4" on the back and were made by the same company that made covers to accompany records pressed at Capitol's factory in Jacksonville, IL.

Third issue, released in 1968. Known as the pink/orange label. All reissues from this point on appear in stereo only. On some copies, the back cover has been corrected so that only a blank white space remains, instead of the publishing credits. There are four typesetting variations of this label style. Three of these keep the misspelling of "I Cry Instead," and the one that corrects it adds a new misspelling: "Tell Me Who" instead of "Tell Me Why." These different labels can be identified as follows:

Label Style	Misspellings	"The Beatles"	Vocal/Instrumental Info	Song Times	Song Credits	Titles Justified
#1	Tell Me Who	Yes	Yes	No	No	Left
#2	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	No
#3	I Cry Instead	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Left
#4	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Left

Fourth issue, released in 1970. Known as the black/orange label. The back cover to most copies has been corrected so that only a blank white space remains, instead of the publishing credits. Later copies are found with a dark red cover (see below). There are four typesetting variations, as follows:

Label Style	Misspellings	"The Beatles"	Vocal/Instrumental Info	Song Times	Song Credits	Titles Justified
#1	Tell Me Who	Yes	Yes	No	No	Left
#2	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	No
#3	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Left
#4	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Left

Here, on label #4 the title line and the line "Original motion picture soundtrack" take up approximately the same space; on label #3, the soundtrack line is clearly longer. The word "STEREO" on label #4 is also in bolder print.

Fifth issue, released in 1971 or 1972. Known as the tan label (without "All Rights"). Copies from this point on have dark maroon covers. The back cover has been corrected so that only a blank white space remains, instead of the publishing credits. There are four label variations, as described in the table below.

Interestingly, some tan label copies of the LP mistakenly reversed two of the credits on the back cover, instead showing Alun Owen as the film company and United Artists as the screenwriter. Click here to see a photo of this strange (but not rare) variant.

Label Style	Misspellings	"The Beatles"	Vocal/Instrumental Info	Song Times	Song Credits	Titles Justified
#1	Tell Me Who	Yes	Yes	No	No	Left
#2	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Center
#3	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Center
#4	I Cry Instead	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Center

Here, label #2 has a bold "STEREO" at the left; label #3 has "STEREO" in thin print at the top right.

Hard Day's Night

UAS 6366

$20-25

Sixth issue, released in 1975. Known as the tan label with "All Rights Reserved." Has an additional rights statement in the rim print of the label. The back cover has been corrected so that only a blank white space remains, instead of the publishing credits. This label style exists in four typesetting variations, as follows:

Label Style	Misspellings	"The Beatles"	Vocal/Instrumental Info	Song Times	Song Credits	Titles Justified
#1	Tell Me Who	Yes	Yes	No	No	Left
#2	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Center
#3	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Center
#4	I Cry Instead	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Center

Here, label #2 has "ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK" at the left and the title at the right; label #3 has "STEREO" in thin print at the top right, and the title information is centered on the label.

Hard Day's Night

UAS 6366

$20

Seventh issue, released in 1977. Known as the sunrise label. The back cover has been corrected so that only a blank white space remains, instead of the publishing credits. The label style exists with four typesetting variations, as follows:

Label Style	Misspellings	"The Beatles"	Vocal/Instrumental Info	Song Times	Song Credits	Titles Justified
#1	Tell Me Who	Yes	Yes	No	No	Left
#2	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Center
#3	I Cry Instead	No	No	No	No	Center
#4	I Cry Instead	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Center

Here, label #2 has "ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK" at the left and the title at the right; label #3 has "STEREO" in thin print at the top right, and the title information is centered on the label.

Hard Day's Night

Capitol ST-11921

$10

Eighth issue, released in 1980. Capitol Records obtained the right to issue the entire Liberty/UA catalog, and eventually issued the Hard Day's Night album on their purple label. At this point, they corrected the misprints on the label. This album was reissued by Capitol in 1983 (rainbow label) and again in 1988 (new purple label).

© 1998, 2006 Frank Daniels