The Beatles: Note By Note

John Lennon closes A Hard Day’s Night with one of his most vulnerable works. In this lecture, we trace how I’ll Be Back uses a cycle of leaving and returning to reveal insecurity at the heart of its n...

4 Okt 202545min

John Lennon’s "When I Get Home" pushes forward with urgency, both musically and lyrically. Special guest Jon Sunde joins us to talk about this Motown-inspired track. With harmonies doubled by Paul and...

27 Sep 20251h 38min

This lecture examines John Lennon’s “When I Get Home” as a study in lyrical focus and harmonic misdirection. We begin with the title premise: the narrator is away and eager to return, “with a whole lo...

27 Sep 202530min

In this episode, we dive deep into “Things We Said Today,” Paul McCartney’s sophisticated, future-nostalgic gem from A Hard Day’s Night. Written during a Virgin Islands getaway with Jane Asher, the so...

20 Sep 20251h 28min

This lecture explores Paul McCartney’s “Things We Said Today,” a song that begins as a tour-time love letter and evolves into a reflection on lasting companionship. The analysis traces how the lyrics ...

20 Sep 202543min

John Lennon’s sharp, country-tinged “I’ll Cry Instead” from A Hard Day’s Night packs more behind its brisk tempo than first meets the ear. We trace the song’s unusual recording. It was split into two ...

13 Sep 20251h 29min

I’ll Cry Instead turns on one small word: instead. The verses stake out a simple, driving premise: “I want to do X, but I can’t, so I’ll cry instead”. And every section reinforces that core. The middl...

13 Sep 202532min

What happens when a Beatles deep cut reveals more than you ever expected? In this episode, we dive into "Any Time At All"—a song John Lennon once called a rewrite of “It Won’t Be Long,” but that revea...

6 Sep 20251h 49min