When I Get Home

Yes, there is actually a song by the Beatles which contains the off-the-wall line, "I'm gonna love her till the cows come home."  And yet, as is usually the case, John Lennon sings it with such conviction that he makes it work.  In fact, rarely did he sing with as much ferocity as he does on When I Get Home.

This was one of the last songs recorded for the non-soundtrack side of the album A Hard Day's Night.  Like the title song, it is about a man returning to the comforts of domestic bliss.  Unlike that song, which is sung to the woman waiting for the singer to come home, this one is addressed to the woman who is standing in his way, thereby incurring his wrath.  From what we know about John's relationship with his wife Cynthia, it seems out of character for him to have written a song about wanting to return to her, but he did most likely write When I Get Home while on vacation with her in Tahiti in May of 1964.

The Beatles tackled the song during the evening session on June 2nd, 1964.  Eleven takes were required before they arrived at the best basic track.  The only overdubs were John double-tracking his lead vocal in the bridge and at the end of the song, plus Paul and George's harmony vocals (not the prettiest harmonies they ever recorded) and a piano part played by Paul.  The group attack on the song, both vocally and instrumentally, is impressive, producing a heavier sound than we were used to hearing from the Beatles, even in their early Mersey beat days.  John's thrashing rhythm guitar, Ringo's drum kicks and Paul's throbbing bass and piano all contribute to the cacophony.  

As mentioned above, When I Get Home appeared on the album A Hard Day's Night in the UK.  It was also featured on the EP Extracts From the Album A Hard Day's Night in that country.  In America, its one and only release was on the Capitol album Something New.