I Don't Want to Spoil the Party explained

I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
Cover:I dont want to spoil the party single.PNG
Border:yes
Caption:US picture sleeve (reverse)
Type:single
Artist:the Beatles
A-Side:Eight Days a Week
Released:
Recorded:29 September 1964
Studio:EMI, London
Genre:Country rock, pop rock[1]
Length:2:33
Label:Capitol
Producer:George Martin
Chronology:The Beatles US
Prev Title:I Feel Fine
Prev Year:1964
Eight Days a Week
Title2:I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
Year:1965
Next Title:Ticket to Ride
Next Year:1965

"I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was featured as the twelfth track on the 1964 album Beatles for Sale. "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" was also released on the Beatles for Sale (No. 2) EP. It was later released as the B-side of the US single "Eight Days a Week", and then as the fifth track on the North America-only album Beatles VI. The song reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Lyrics

The lyrics anticipate themes that were to become familiar in Lennon's songwriting – alienation and inner pain. In this song, the narrator is at a party, waiting for his girl to show up. When it becomes clear that she has stood him up, he decides to leave, rather than spoil the party for everyone else. Both the lyrics and melody share a melancholy sound and theme with songs that precede it on Beatles for Sale, such as "No Reply" and "I'm a Loser". Author Ian MacDonald views the song as a return to the subject matter introduced by Lennon on "I'll Cry Instead", from the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night album, and a "preview" of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", from Help!

Recording

The Beatles recorded "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" on 29 September 1964 in 19 takes, the last of which was released. George Harrison's guitar solo, played on his new Gretsch Tennessean in the style of Carl Perkins, was enhanced by midrange resonance boost, giving it an especially bright sound. According to The Encyclopedia of Country Music, the song is an early example of country rock, anticipating the Byrds' work in that style. MacDonald describes it as the "most overt" country track on Beatles for Sale, an album that is "dominated by the idiom".

Among the band's biographers, opinions differ on which Beatle sings the low harmony part during the verses, below Lennon's lead vocal. MacDonald lists Harrison as the second vocalist on the track, while John Winn credits McCartney, saying that he sounds "deceptively like a second Lennon". According to musicologist Walter Everett, the harmony part is Lennon "self-duetting".

Reception

Cash Box described it as "a funky, country-bluesish teen-angled tear-jerker."[2]

Personnel

According to Walter Everett: except where noted

Rosanne Cash version

I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
Cover:idontwanttospoiltheparty.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Rosanne Cash
Album:Hits 1979-1989
B-Side:Look What Our Love Is Coming To
Released:1989
Genre:Country
Length:2:36
Label:Columbia
Producer:Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash
Prev Title:Runaway Train
Prev Year:1988
Next Title:Black and White
Next Year:1989

Rosanne Cash covered the song for her Hits 1979-1989 compilation. Her version went to number one on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart in 1989. It was also Cash's last number one hit to date, and is the only Lennon-McCartney song to top the country chart.

Year-end charts

Chart (1989)Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[5] 23
US Country Songs (Billboard)[6] 16

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Terence J. O'Grady. The Beatles, a musical evolution. registration. 1 May 1983. Twayne. 978-0-8057-9453-3. 58.
  2. CashBox Record Reviews . 13 February 1965 . 12 . 2022-01-12 . Cash Box.
  3. Web site: I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (Song) .
  4. Web site: The Beatles, "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" from 'Beatles for Sale' (1964): Deep Beatles . 14 February 2016 .
  5. Web site: RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1989. RPM. 23 December 1989. 28 August 2013.
  6. Best of 1989: Country Songs . Billboard . 1989. 28 August 2013.