Music: “Ticket to Ride” by the Beatles

Apr. 9, 1965 - On sale today is “Ticket to Ride,” a new single by the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney. The B-side is “Yes It Is.”

The Beatles recorded “Ticket to Ride” on Feb. 15 at EMI Studios in London. It was the band’s first recording session since completing the “Beatles for Sale” album on Oct. 26, after which they had toured the U.K. and played a season of Christmas shows in London until mid-January. Clocking in at 3:10, it is the first Beatles single to be longer than three minutes.

“Ticket To Ride” is also the Beatles’ first song to feature Paul McCartney on lead guitar. He played the lines, which can be heard in the fade-out, on an Epiphone Casino hollow-body electric guitar. Lennon played a Fender Stratocaster, and George Harrison played a Rickenbacker 360 12-string.

Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s