Rock and Roll Music

The motifs of music, cultural snapshot and anatomy are in there, if not always in the foreground. There is anaphora in the writing, and the language is dense.

'Rock and Roll Music' runs at roughly 160 BPM in A major, a rock and roll song with blues behind it (12-bar blues form (verses) and extended 14-bar blues (chorus)). You will notice the defining riff, a brief E7 pickup hit before vocal entry. Underneath it is a plain 12-bar blues, the shape behind 32 of the Beatles' recordings, such as 'Little Child' and 'Chains'. You can hear how the chorus arrives first, before any verse. By accident or design, the chords run A7 → D7 → A7 → E7 → A7 → E7, which is 'Here Comes the Sun''s A/E → D → A → E7 → A → E7 in another key.

Basic track captured in a single take on October 18, 1964, with Lennon's lead vocal cut live alongside the band. George Martin later joined Lennon and McCartney on the studio piano for a six-handed overdub. McCartney is on the Hofner 500/1, his bass, in use since 1962 and heard on 93 Beatles records in all, such as 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You'. The day this one was recorded carried six songs in all, the 63rd to the 68th of their career.

Chuck Berry wrote it and Lennon sings lead. George Martin played piano, as he also did on 'You Really Got a Hold on Me' and 'All You Need Is Love'.

The record reached the public on December 4, 1964, with Beatles For Sale, and was never a single. America got it eleven days later, on Beatles '65, put out by Capitol. This song was the 25th of the 35 records they released in that year, and the 59th counting from the start.