Editing Beatles for Sale (section)

===Original compositions===

===="No Reply"====
"[[No Reply (song)|No Reply]]" is about a young man who is unable to contact his apparently unfaithful girlfriend, although he knows she is home.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hertsgaard, Mark.|title=A day in the life : the music and artistry of the Beatles|date=1996|publisher=Pan Books|isbn=0-330-33891-9|location=London|oclc=60293710}}</ref> Beatles music publisher [[Dick James]] was pleased with the song, saying Lennon had provided "a complete story".{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=104–05}} Reviewer David Rowley said that its lyrics "read like a picture story from a girl's comic" and evoked a picture "of walking down a street and seeing a girl silhouetted in a window, not answering the telephone".{{sfn|Rowley|2002}} Sequenced as the first track on ''Beatles for Sale'', the song served as an uncharacteristic album opener, given its dramatic and resentful mood.{{sfn|Spencer|2002|pp=130–31}}

MacDonald attributes effectiveness to the acoustic guitar backing and the treatment given to Martin's piano part, which is rendered as "a darkly reverbed presence" rather than a distinct instrument.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=131}} The vocals on the song are "massively haloed in echo", contributing to a mid-section providing "among the most exciting thirty seconds" of all the Beatles' recordings.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=132}}

===="I'm a Loser"====
Music critic [[Richie Unterberger]] singles out "[[I'm a Loser]]" as "one of the very first Beatles compositions with lyrics addressing more serious points than young love".{{sfn|Unterberger|2005a}} Rowley considered it to be an "obvious copy of Bob Dylan", as when Lennon refers to the listener as a "friend", Dylan does the same on "[[Blowin' in the Wind]]".{{refn|group=nb|The Beatles had already used "my friend" in this way in their 1963 B-side "[[I'll Get You]]" and in their March 1964 single "[[Can't Buy Me Love]]". In the case of those two love songs, MacDonald says the form of address conveyed "the casual etiquette of a coolly unromantic new age".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=105}}}} He also said its intention was to "openly subvert the simple true love themes of their earlier work".{{sfn|Rowley|2002}} In Riley's view, "I'm a Loser" inaugurates a theme in Lennon's writing, in which his songs serve as "personal responses to fame".{{sfn|Riley|2002|pp=118–19}}{{refn|group=nb|Later examples, according to Riley, include "[[Help! (song)|Help!]]", "[[I'm Only Sleeping]]", "[[Baby, You're a Rich Man]]", "[[Don't Let Me Down (Beatles song)|Don't Let Me Down]]" and "[[Instant Karma!]]"{{sfn|Riley|2002|pp=118–19}}}}

===="Baby's in Black"====
As the third track on the album, "[[Baby's in Black]]" conveys the same sad and resentful outlook of the two preceding songs.<ref name="Erlewine/AM" /> Unterberger views it as "a love lament for a grieving girl that was perhaps more morose than any previous Beatles song".{{sfn|Unterberger|2005b}} It was the first song recorded for the album{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=47}} and features a two-part harmony sung by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney recalled: "'Baby's in Black' we did because we liked [[waltz]]-time&nbsp;... And I think also John and I wanted to do something [[blues]]y, a bit darker, more grown-up, rather than just straight pop."{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=160}} Beatles historian [[Mark Lewisohn]] cites the band's dedication to achieving a discordant twanging sound for Harrison's lead guitar part, and Martin's objection to the song opening with this sound, as an example of the Beatles breaking free of their producer's control for the first time.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=47}}{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=106}} To achieve the desired swelling effect, Lennon knelt on the studio floor and altered the volume control on Harrison's Gretsch as he played.{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=134}}{{refn|group=nb|The same volume-swell effect was a feature in some of the band's recordings from early 1965,{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|pp=134, 159}} by which point Harrison had acquired a volume/tone-control pedal to create the sound.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=54}}{{sfn|Everett|2009|p=52}}}}

===="I'll Follow the Sun"====
"[[I'll Follow the Sun]]" was a reworking of an old song. McCartney recalled in a 1988 interview: "I wrote that in my front parlour in [[20 Forthlin Road|Forthlin Road]]. I was about 16&nbsp;... We had this [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] image in [[Liverpool]], a rock and roll/R&B/hardish image with the leather. So I think songs like 'I'll Follow the Sun', ballads like that, got pushed back to later."{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=12}} Author [[Mark Hertsgaard]] cites its inclusion as a reflection of the shortage of original material available to the band, since McCartney acknowledged that the song "wouldn't have been considered good enough" for their previous releases.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=105}} Martin nevertheless later named it as his favourite song on ''Beatles for Sale''.<ref>''Beatles For Sale'' mini-documentary, 2009 CD re-issue</ref>

===="Eight Days a Week"====
"[[Eight Days a Week]]" marked the first time the Beatles brought a partly formed song into the studio and completed the writing process as they recorded it.{{sfn|Millard|2012|p=179}} Two recording sessions, totalling nearly seven hours, on 6 October were devoted to the song, during which Lennon and McCartney experimented with various techniques before settling on a final structure and arrangement. Each of the first six takes featured a strikingly different approach to the beginning and end sections of the song; the eventual chiming guitar-based introduction was recorded during a different session and edited in later. The song's opening fade-in served as a counterpoint to pop songs that close with a [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade out]].<ref name="Unterberger/EightDays">{{cite web|first=Richie|last=Unterberger|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/eight-days-a-week-mt0010100313|title=The Beatles 'Eight Days a Week'|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=10 April 2017|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411055810/http://www.allmusic.com/song/eight-days-a-week-mt0010100313|url-status=live}}</ref> Hertsgaard writes that the surprise provided by the fade-in was heightened for LP listeners due to the track being sequenced at the start of side two.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=104}} Lennon was later highly dismissive of "Eight Days a Week", referring to it in a 1980 interview as "lousy".<ref name="Unterberger/EightDays" />

===="Every Little Thing"====
The dark theme of the album was balanced by "[[Every Little Thing (Beatles song)|Every Little Thing]]", which Unterberger describes as a "celebration of what a wonderful girl the guy has".{{sfn|Unterberger|2005e}} McCartney said of the song: "'Every Little Thing', like most of the stuff I did, was my attempt at the next single&nbsp;... but it became an album filler rather than the great almighty single. It didn't have quite what was required."{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=174}} Musicologist [[Walter Everett (musicologist)|Walter Everett]] says the chorus's incorporation of "leaden" [[parallel fifth]] harmonies, supported by Starr's timpani, was the inspiration for a proto-[[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] version of the song recorded by the English [[progressive rock]] band [[Yes (band)|Yes]] in 1969.{{sfn|Everett|2001|pp=258, 403}}

===="I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"====
Lennon's "[[I Don't Want to Spoil the Party]]" returns to the sombre mood established by the opening three tracks.<ref name="Erlewine/AM" /> MacDonald considers the performance to be the album's "most overt exercise in country-and-western", aided by the tight snare sound, Harrison's rockabilly-style guitar solo, and the despondent minor-third harmony part. MacDonald likens the effect to "I'm a Loser", in that Lennon's confessional tone is again couched in "a protective shell of pastiche".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=129–30}}

===="What You're Doing"====
The lyrics of "[[What You're Doing]]" concern McCartney's relationship with Jane Asher{{sfn|Spencer|2002|p=131}} and demonstrate an aggrieved tone that was uncharacteristic of his writing.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=131}}{{refn|group=nb|Asher was also the muse for McCartney compositions such as "[[I'm Looking Through You]]" and "[[You Won't See Me]]", from ''[[Rubber Soul]]'', "[[We Can Work It Out]]",{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=131, 180}} and "[[For No One]]", from ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]''.{{sfn|Sounes|2010|p=144}}}} Author Simon Philo identifies the song's combination of musical arrangement, "sonic texture" and lyrics as an early example of the influence of cannabis on McCartney, who said the drug made him start "really thinking for the first time".{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=84–85}} The recording features a syncopated drum pattern and a jangly Rickenbacker guitar [[riff]],{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=260}} as well as an instrumental [[Coda (music)|coda]] that McCartney introduces by playing high up on the neck of his [[Höfner]] bass.{{sfn|Spencer|2002|pp=131–32}} A satisfactory arrangement proved elusive until the band remade the track on the final day of the ''Beatles for Sale'' sessions.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=181}}{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|pp=49, 51}} While highlighting the studio techniques used to achieve the completed recording, MacDonald considers "What You're Doing" to be a possible rival to "I Feel Fine" as the Beatles' "first sound experiment".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=130–31}}{{refn|group=nb|McCartney later dismissed the track as "a bit of filler", however, saying, "Maybe it's a better recording than it is a song&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=175–176}}}}