Things We Said Today

This song reaches for motifs of nostalgia, love and relationship, and the language is mixed, warm in places and cold in others.

This track is a ballad and folk rock song, and it moves at about 138 BPM. The record features a melodic bass (walking bass figures under verses). Then, the key moves from A minor to A major in the chorus. Coincidence or not, the chords run B7 → E7 → A → D, the same shape 'I'll Follow the Sun' plays as D7 → G7 → C → F.

Cut in three takes at EMI Studio 2. Take three was the master, with overdubs including double-tracked vocals and tambourine. That Hofner 500/1 is McCartney's bass, 1964 being the year he used it most. The kit in the room included the Ludwig Downbeat, one of the last Beatles records to use it. The day this one was recorded carried three songs in all, the 51st to the 53rd of their career.

McCartney wrote this one and sang it. It has the four of them on their usual instruments, with Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on lead guitar and Starr on drums. Lennon is credited with an audible via leakage despite mix omission, a habit that peaked in 1965.

The record was released as B-side of the UK chart-topping A Hard Day's Night single. In the US it appeared on the Something New album. That was ten days later. This is the Beatles' 51st record, and the 17th of the 35 they released in 1964.