Ticket to Ride

For other uses, see Ticket to Ride (disambiguation).

"Ticket to Ride"
Song by The Beatles from the album Help!
Released	9 April 1965
Recorded	15 February 1965, EMI Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	3:10
Label	Parlophone
Writer	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Help! track listing
14 tracks Side one "Help!" "The Night Before" "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" "I Need You" "Another Girl" "You're Going to Lose That Girl" "Ticket to Ride" Side two "Act Naturally" "It's Only Love" "You Like Me Too Much" "Tell Me What You See" "I've Just Seen a Face" "Yesterday" "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"
Music sample "Ticket to Ride"

"Ticket to Ride"
Single by The Beatles
from the album Help!
B-side	"Yes It Is"
Released	9 April 1965
Format	7"
Recorded	15 February 1965, EMI Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	3:10
Label	Capitol
Writer(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"If I Fell" (UK-1964) — "Eight Days a Week" (US-1965) "Ticket to Ride" (1965) "Help!" (1965)

"Ticket to Ride" is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. In 2004, this song was ranked number 384 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Composition

The song was written primarily by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), with Paul McCartney's contributions in dispute. Lennon said that McCartney's contribution was limited to "the way Ringo played the drums". McCartney said that was an incomplete description, and that "we sat down and wrote it together... give him 60 percent of it... we sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session." This song was also the first song by the band in which McCartney was featured on lead guitar.

Lennon proudly claimed that it was the first heavy metal song given the droning bassline, repeating drums, and loaded guitar lines.^{[citation needed]}

The song features a coda with a different tempo that extends the song's length past three minutes, the first Beatles single ever to do so. Lennon said this double-time section (with the lyric "My baby don't care") was one of his "favourite bits" in the song.

Meaning of "ticket to ride"

While the song lyrics describe a girl "riding out of the life of the narrator", the inspiration of the title phrase is unclear. McCartney said it was "a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight", and Lennon said it described cards indicating a clean bill of health carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s. The Beatles played in Hamburg early in their musical career, and "ride/riding" was slang for having sex.

Release

"Ticket to Ride" was released as a single on 9 April 1965 in the United Kingdom and 19 April in the United States with "Yes It Is" as its B-side, topping the Hot 100 for a week in the US and the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in the UK. The American single's label declared that the song was from the United Artists release Eight Arms to Hold You. This was the original title of the Beatles' second movie; the title changed to Help! after the single was initially released. The song was also included on the Help! album released on 6 August in the UK and on 13 August in the US.

The song was the third of six number one singles in a row on the American charts, a record at the time, along with "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out".

When the song hit #1 in the US, the Beatles became the fourth consecutive British group to hold down the top spot. The other three groups, Freddie & The Dreamers, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders and Herman's Hermits, respectively, all hailed from Manchester, England; thus, the Beatles broke a combined six-week run at the top for Manchester groups.^{[citation needed]}

Music video

The Beatles filmed a music video, directed by Joe McGrath.^{[citation needed]}

Critical response

Music critics Richie Unterberger of Allmusic and Ian MacDonald both describe "Ticket to Ride" as an important milestone in the evolution of the musical style of the Beatles. Unterberger said, "the rhythm parts on 'Ticket to Ride' were harder and heavier than they had been on any previous Beatles outing, particularly in Ringo Starr's stormy stutters and rolls." MacDonald described it as "psychologically deeper than anything the Beatles had recorded before ... extraordinary for its time — massive with chiming electric guitars, weighty rhythm, and rumbling floor tom-toms. MacDonald also notes that the track uses the Indian basis of drone which might have influenced the Kinks' "See My Friends".

Chart 1965	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
US Billboard Hot 100	1
NL Top 40	1

Personnel

• John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, rhythm guitar
• Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass guitar, lead guitar
• George Harrison – rhythm guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, handclaps

Personnel per MacDonald

MacDonald wrote that Lennon played a Jetglo Rickenbacker 325 twelve-string guitar, and that Harrison was "probably" playing his 12-string Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar.

Preceded by "The Minute You're Gone" by Cliff Richard	UK number one single 22 April 1965 (three weeks)	Succeeded by "King of the Road" by Roger Miller
Preceded by "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" by Herman's Hermits	Billboard Hot 100 number one single 22 May 1965 (one week)	Succeeded by "Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys

The Carpenters' version

"Ticket to Ride"
Single by The Carpenters
from the album Offering/Ticket to Ride
B-side	"Your Wonderful Parade"
Released	1969
Format	7" single
Recorded	1969
Genre	Pop
Length	04:10
Label	A&M 1183
Writer(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	Jack Daugherty
The Carpenters singles chronology
"Looking for Love*" (1966) "Ticket to Ride" (1969) "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (1970)

In 1969, it was released by The Carpenters on their album, Offering/Ticket to Ride, and it became a minor hit. The song stalled at number #54 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and #19 on the adult contemporary. The Carpenters recorded the song as a slower ballad. At the time of its release in 1969 under the name Offering, it was a commercial failure and produced only one minor hit single - "Ticket to Ride", a ballad version of a song made famous by The Beatles. After the Carpenters' breakthrough however, the album was re-issued internationally under the name Ticket to Ride and sold moderately.

Chart 1969	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100	54
US Billboard Adult Contemporary	19

Other cover versions

Many artists have covered "Ticket to Ride", including The Bee Gees (1966), Vanilla Fudge (1967), The 5th Dimension (1967 on The Magic Garden), Hüsker Dü (1986), Gwen Guthrie (1987), The Punkles, Kids Incorporated (1993), Atomic Kitten (2007), and Chris Cornell on his 2011 solo acoustic tour.

Cultural references

It is believed that an orchestral version of the song is barely audible in the fadeout at the very end of the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. Initially this phenomenon was considered a mistake in remastering. However it is audible on high quality vinyl pressings from the time before the CD era as well. The Beatles and Pink Floyd both recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

The song is referenced in "Artificial Energy", by the Byrds, the opening track of The Notorious Byrd Brothers from 1968.

The title of this song is referenced in the Red Dwarf episode "Tikka to Ride", in accordance with the theme of curry on which the storyline focuses.

In a Doctor Who serial titled "The Chase", the First Doctor and his companions Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Vicki watch the Beatles perform "Ticket To Ride" on the Doctor's recently acquired time/space visualiser. The clip shown is about 15 seconds long and was of a mime performance the band gave on Top of the Pops shortly before the recording of the Doctor Who serial, started. It is the only footage of this performance known to exist.

In 2011, the song was parodied by The Fringemunks to recap Fringe episode 3.13, "Immortality."

References

• Harry, Bill (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2. 
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. 
• MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
• Turner, Steve (2005). A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-084409-4. 
• Unterberger, Richie (2007). "Review of "Ticket to Ride"". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/song/t2762408. Retrieved 13 May 2007. 
• Wallgren, Mark (1982). The Beatles on Record. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-45682-2.