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Ticket
To Ride
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
John Lennon: Vocals, electric guitar
Paul McCartney: Electric guitar, bass guitar, vocals
George Harrison: Electric guitar, vocals
Ringo Starr: Drums, tambourine, handclaps
Recorded
February 15 1965.
Available
on:
Help!
Anthology 2
Live At The BBC
The Beatles 1962-1966 (Red Album)
The Beatles 1
A Collection of Beatles Oldies
Ticket
To Ride was the first Beatles single to last more than 3
minutes, thus exceeding the 'radio friendly' limit. It was
penned by John who later described it as "one of the
earliest heavy metal records made". The production
of the song was regarded as highly controversial at the
time and it was not received well by many EMI executives.
Ticket To Ride 'only' topped the US charts for one week
(in May 1965) before it was knocked off the top spot by
The Beach Boys' Help Me Rhonda. In the UK, it stayed at
number 1 for three weeks, in April and May 1965.
The song title may have been a little pun. Ryde is a harbor
on the north west side of the island Isle of Wight in England,
in which John and Paul visited a couple of years beforehand
(they took the ferry from Portsmouth to Ryde.) Hence, ticket
to Ryde may have been changed to Ticket To Ride!
Don Short, a journalist who traveled with the Beatles in
the sixties, told another story. In the book A
Hard Days Write by Steve Turner, he said the song refereed
to prostitutes in Hamburg:
"The girls who worked the streets in Hamburg had to
have a clean bill of health and so the medical authorities
would give them a card saying that they didn't have a dose
of anything," said Short.
"I was with the Beatles when they went back to Hamburg
in 1966 and it was then John told me that he had coined
the phrase 'a ticket to ride' to describe these cards. He
could have been joking - you always had to be careful with
John like that - but I certainly remember him telling me
that."
Paul played both bass guitar and lead guitar on the song,
including the characteristic guitar riff on the opening
sequence. Ringo's drum pattern - apparently developed in
collaboration with Paul - was also outstanding.
Ticket To Ride
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, Yeah
The girl that's driving me mad is going away
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care
She said
that living with me is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free when I was around
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care
I don't
know why she's riding so high
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me
I think
I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, Yeah
The girl that's driving me mad is going away, yeah, oh
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care
I don't
know why she's riding so high
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me
She said
that living with me is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free when I was around
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
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