Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby

Thematically it touches on numbers, darkness and home. It uses hyperbole and anaphora. The title is long by any standard, which also turns up in 'Do You Want to Know a Secret', a year earlier, and the language is built on a limited vocabulary.

'Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby' runs near 170 BPM in E major, and it is a rock and roll and rockabilly piece from first bar to last. It has a guitar solo, and the song runs on a 12-bar blues, which 32 of theirs do, such as 'Chains' and 'Money (That's What I Want)'. Curiously, its E → A7 → E → B7 chord sequence is one 'Flying', 'Boys' and 'Can't Buy Me Love' share, in other keys.

This song came out of EMI Studio 2, recorded in a single take with overdubs of tambourine and double-tracked lead vocal heavily processed with STEED echo. Lennon brought the Gibson J-160E, his acoustic rhythm guitar, and 1964 is the year he reached for it most. The record carries tape echo, one of eight Beatles records to use it. Six songs were recorded the day this one was, the 63rd to the 68th of their career.

Carl Perkins wrote it and Harrison sings lead. It exists to give George something to sing. The record has lead guitar and solos on it, which also turns up in 'Chains', a year earlier.

Out December 4, 1964 with Beatles For Sale. It was never lifted as a single. On the record it finishes the album, and it reached America eleven days later, on the Capitol album Beatles '65. This is their 69th record, and the 35th of the 35 they released in that year.