Even this early in the group's career, Lennon had already composed material that revealed his anger and jealousy, such as I'll Cry Instead and You Can't Do That. Here, after barely six months of worldwide fame, he was expressing his very real fears and insecurities for all to see and hear, though the vast majority of fans did not realize it at the time.
The song was recorded at an evening session on August 14th, 1964. The arrangement went through a few alterations before the eighth take was deemed the best. Starting with take four, John began playing his harmonica live rather than waiting to overdub it later. Once overdubbing began, George played some extra guitar fills at various points, Ringo added a tambourine and John and Paul double-tracked their vocals during the refrains. Typical of the group's industriousness in those days, all of this was completed in roughly one hour.
The most Dylanesque touch is, of course, John's harmonica, which he attacks with gusto in the instrumental break. As for the country feel, not only is there George's rockabilly guitar work, but Paul plays a great walking bass line while simultaneously providing the high vocal harmony in the refrains.
Along with No Reply and Eight Days a Week, I'm a Loser was considered for release as a single before Lennon came up with I Feel Fine. The song was strong enough to make it into the group's stage act for almost a year, including Another Beatles Christmas Show at the end of the year and the 1965 European tour.
The song was released on both the album and the EP Beatles for Sale in England. In America, it appeared on the album Beatles '65 and the EP 4 by the Beatles. Live at the BBC presents a recording from the program Top Gear for which they even took the time to double-track John's vocal in places. And I possess a bootleg on cassette of a very spirited performance of the number from a concert in Paris from June of 1965.
No comments:
Post a Comment