Help! (song)

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“Help!”
Single by The Beatles from the album Help!
B-side	"I'm Down"
Released	1965-08-06 (UK) 1965-08-13 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Recorded	Abbey Road: 1965-04-13
Genre	Rock
Length	2:18 (UK), 2:39 (US)
Label	Parlophone (UK) Capitol Records (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Lennon/McCartney
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"Ticket to Ride" (1965) "Help!" (1965) "We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper" (UK-1965) ----- "Yesterday" (US-1965)
Music sample
"Help!" Problems? See media help.
Help! track listing
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"

“Help!”
Song by Deep Purple
Album	Shades of Deep Purple
Released	July 1968 (US) September 1968 UK)
Recorded	May 11 - May 13, 1968 Pye Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	6:01
Label	Parlophone (UK) Tetragrammaton (US)
Writer	John Lennon Paul McCartney
Producer	Derek Lawrence
Shades of Deep Purple track listing
"Mandrake Root" (5) “Help!” (6) "Love Help Me" (7)

“Help!”
Single by Tina Turner from the album Private Dancer
B-side	"Rock 'n' Roll Widow"
Released	1984
Format	7", 12" single
Recorded	1984
Genre	Pop/R&B
Length	4:30
Label	Capitol
Writer(s)	John Lennon Paul McCartney
Producer	Wilton Felder, Ndugu Chancler, Joe Sample
Tina Turner singles chronology
"Let's Stay Together" (1983) "Help!" (1984) "What's Love Got to Do with It" (1984)

“Help! (with Lananeeneenoonoo)”
Single by Bananarama from the album Greatest Hits Collection
Released	February 1989
Format	7" single, 12" single, CD single
Recorded	January 1989
Genre	Pop, Dance
Label	London Records
Writer(s)	John Lennon Paul McCartney
Producer	Stock Aitken Waterman
Bananarama singles chronology
"Nathan Jones" (1988) "Help!" (1989) "Cruel Summer '89" (1989)

"Help!" is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the album Help! and the film Help!. It was also released as a single, and was #1 for three weeks in both the UK and USA. "Help!" was written primarily by John Lennon, but credited (as most songs at that time) to Lennon/McCartney. Paul McCartney reports that he had a hand in writing the song as well, being called in "to complete it" in a two-hour joint writing session at Lennon's house.^[1] In 2004, "Help!" was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

[edit] Inspiration

As revealed in the miniseries The Beatles Anthology, Lennon wrote the lyrics of the song to express his stress coming from the quick rise to a massive level of success for The Beatles after years of obscurity. The rest of the band felt somehow surprised learning this, but they considered it normal. Since Lennon's feelings of insecurity were incongruous with the band's image of confidence, Lennon felt it was nearly impossible for the fans to understand the origin of the song. "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help'," Lennon told Playboy.^[2]

In the 1970 Rolling Stone "Lennon Remembers" interviews, Lennon said that because of its honesty it was one of his favorites among the Beatles songs he wrote, but he wished they had recorded it at a slower tempo. In these interviews, Lennon said he felt that "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were his most genuine Beatles songs and not just songs written to order.

[edit] Personnel

• John Lennon: double-tracked lead vocal and 12-string acoustic guitar.
• Paul McCartney: bass and background vocals.
• George Harrison: lead guitar and background vocals.
• Ringo Starr: drums.

[edit] Releases

The single and album versions of the song have slightly different lyrics. The American version begins with a James Bond-style instrumental.

The song appears on the Help! LP, the USA Help! soundtrack, 1962-1966, the Imagine soundtrack, 1, Love, and The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2. The single version appeared on the Beatles' Rarities LP.

[edit] Cover versions

• In 1968, Deep Purple recorded a cover version (greatly slowed-down) of the song on their album Shades of Deep Purple. Consistent with Lennon's other remark's about the song, he said that this version was 'the way the Beatles' should have done it'.
• In 1970, the Carpenters did a cover version for release on their album, "Close to You". It was not released as a single.
• In 1976, Henry Gross covered it for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II. John Lennon once stated that this was his favourite version of the song. George and Paul do backing vocals.
• In 1976, The Damned covered the song for the B-side of "New Rose".
• In 1980, Australian vocalist John Farnham released the song as a piano-based ballad recorded at a much slower tempo.
• In 1985, Ford Motor Company reportedly paid $100,000 for the use of the song in commercials promoting their Lincoln-Mercury product line. This was the first time a Beatles song was used for a national commercial campaign.
• In early 1984, Tina Turner released a version of the song recorded with The Crusaders as the follow-up to her successful cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together". "Help!" peaked at #40 in the U.K. but went relatively unnoticed elsewhere. The following single "What's Love Got to Do with It" became her big comeback and "Let's Stay Together" and "What's Love Got to Do With It" were later both included on her multiplatinum selling album Private Dancer - her ballad version of "Help!" was however only included on the European editions of the album.
• U2 played it often during their 1986 A Conspiracy of Hope Tour and 1987 Joshua Tree Tour at a slower tempo.
• In 1989, the song was recorded by British girl group Bananarama alongside French & Saunders and Kathy Burke and released as the official Red Nose Day single to raise money for Comic Relief. French, Saunders and Burke were credited as Lananeeneenoonoo (a paraody of Bananarama who they had imitated in the French & Saunders television programme). This version reached #3 in the UK charts.
• Noel Gallagher performed it at certain Oasis concerts at a slower tempo.
• Paul McCartney also slowed it down a bit when he played it during his 1990 concert tour as part of a tribute to Lennon.
• "Help!" has also been covered by The Carpenters, Michael Stanley, dc Talk, Dolly Parton, Alma Cogan, Rick Wakeman, Howie Day, McFly, Roxette and Fountains of Wayne.
• In 1991, the Finnish metal band Waltari covered Help! on their debut album, Monk Punk.
• In 1998 The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their first album.
• In 1999, British jazz singer Claire Martin recorded a slowed-down cover on her album "Take My Heart" with Noel Gallagher on guitar.
• In 2000, Tsunku and 7HOUSE covered "Help!" on their Beatles' cover album, "A Hard Day's Night".
• In 2003 Art Paul Schlosser recorded a parody of "Help!" called Smelt which is on on his Words of Cheese and Other Parrot Trees CD now at Apple iTunes.
• In 2007, Rapper, Lil' Wayne, sampled the song's chorus for his new official mixtape entitled, The Leak. The song was replaced on The Leak, however, and was instead put on various underground mixtapes.
• French artist Louis Bertignac, previously of Téléphone, covered the song on his 2005-2006 tour, along with another Beatles song, "I'm Down".

[edit] Cultural references

• American author Mark Z. Danielewski frequently references this song in his novel "House of Leaves."
• Featured in Cutting it Close, an episode of Full House, when Jesse Katsopolis breaks both of his arms in a motorcycle accident and has to adjust to a life where he always needs assistance.
• Mentioned in the film Yellow Submarine; when Young Fred is knocking on the Beatles' door, he says "Won't you please, please help me?" in reference to the song's lyrics.
• In the Powerpuff Girls episode "Meet the Beat-Alls", a military sergeant said "Help, we need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, we need the Powerpuff Girls." The sergeant himself may be a reference to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
• In the Only Fools and Horses episode The Jolly Boys' Outing, Mickey Pearce sings "Won't you please, please help me?" to a sleeping Albert, prompting Albert to tell him to "Get off, you noisy little git!" However, the version playing on the radio as Mickey sings is the Bananarama cover version rather than the original.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Barry Miles, Paul McCartney, p. 199; cited in Bob Spitz, The Beatles, p. 555.
2. ^ Bob Spitz, The Beatles, p. 555.