Every Little Thing

The track carries the motifs of nostalgia, love and relationship, and the words are observational in manner. The writing reaches for anaphora (verses begin 'Yes, I know'), most at home in the Beatles' 1968 writing.

Written in A major and taken at about 118 BPM, 'Every Little Thing' is a rock and pop piece. The tune carries an appoggiatura leaning against the chord and a countermelody, and the countermelody had not been heard on a Beatles record before. Also, it has a guitar solo. Worth a footnote, the harmony moves A → D → E → A → G, the same shape 'We Can Work It Out' takes as D → G → A → D → C/D.

Cut in nine takes at EMI Studio 2, with Paul overdubbing piano and Ringo adding orchestral timpani to underline the chorus. Harrison is on the Gibson J-160E, his guitar, and 1964 is the year he reached for it most. The sound was built with double tracked vocal, as on 139 of their records. The Beatles put three songs on tape that day, the 57th to the 59th of their career.

McCartney wrote it and Lennon sings lead, and beyond the usual parts the record adds Starr on timpani, as on 'Golden Slumbers' and 'Carry That Weight', with 12-string guitar filling it out.

The song reached listeners on December 4, 1964, as one track among many on Beatles For Sale. America got it six months later, on Beatles VI, put out by Capitol. This is their 66th record, and the 32nd of the 35 they released in that year.