Another Girl

"Another Girl" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album Help! and included in the film of the same title. The song was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. [Wikipedia]

Another Girl is a song by The Beatles, written by McCartney and led on vocal by Paul McCartney. McCartney plays the lead guitar himself. McCartney's second song contribution to Help! displays his romantic comedy gift, cast as a light romantic rebuff in the film's narrative. Recorded during an evening session, 'Another Girl' balances intricate melodic work with the film's comedic tone, establishing Paul's role as the album's primary contributor of uptempo pop confections (Lewisohn 1988, p. 54). The Help! sessions marked an unprecedented shift in instrumental responsibilities within the band, with McCartney performing not only bass but also lead guitar on the very first song taped, 'Ticket to Ride.' For 'Another Girl,' recorded the same day, Harrison initially played the lead guitar, though McCartney later dubbed a new lead guitar line to replace it. (Kozinn 1995, p. 119)

The session work falls within the band's Folk-Rock & Maturity (1965) period, recorded 15 Feb 1965 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. George Martin produced; Norman Smith engineered. For session-by-session detail, see Mark Lewisohn's account on p.54 of The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (excerpt below). The track captured take 5 as the master in a single day's session, marking relatively quick capture for a Paul McCartney composition. The arrangement featured prominent electric guitar and standard four-piece rhythm-section setup, avoiding the session-musician complexity deployed on 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' the very next day (Lewisohn 1988, p. 54–56).

The track showcases the characteristic arrangement details of the Help! sessions, with Paul McCartney handling the principal vocal and bass parts. (MacDonald 1994, p. 65)

In the canonical discography it appears on the LP Help!. Mono and stereo histories vary by era — see the dedicated section below. A minor but efficient pop confection, 'Another Girl' ranks in the mid-range of Lewisohn documentation (not highly detailed) and represents McCartney's approach to film-friendly pop. Its modest duration and conventional structure place it in the bottom quartile of the Help! era by thematic complexity, though its melodic construction and vocal performance have earned retrospective appreciation as exemplary mid-1960s craft pop (Lewisohn 1988, p. 62). The master tape was recorded in 4-track format on 15-16 February 1965, with both basic and additional recording sessions conducted on consecutive days. The track was released on the original UK mono Help! album in 1965.

Other recordings sharing era, vocalist, writer, key, studio, or producer with this one. Higher scores indicate stronger overlap on documented attributes.

• I've Just Seen a Face (score 13)
• You Won't See Me (score 13)
• I'm Looking Through You (score 11)
• The Night Before (score 11)
• Yesterday (score 11)
• Oh! Darling (score 9)
• She Came in Through the Bathroom Window (score 9)
• She's a Woman (score 9)