I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
{{Short description|1964 single by the Beatles}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox song
| name = I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
| cover = I dont want to spoil the party single.PNG
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = US picture sleeve (reverse)
| type = single
| artist = the Beatles
| A-side = Eight Days a Week
| released = *{{Start date|1964|12|04|df=y}} (UK Beatles for Sale album)
- 15 February 1965 (US single)
| recorded = 29 September 1964
| studio = EMI, London
| genre = Country rock,{{sfn|Kingsbury|McCall|Rumble|2012|p=106}} pop rock{{cite book|author=Terence J. O'Grady|title=The Beatles, a musical evolution|url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesmusicalev00ogra|url-access=registration|date=1 May 1983|publisher=Twayne|isbn=978-0-8057-9453-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/beatlesmusicalev00ogra/page/58 58]}}
| length = 2:33
| label = Capitol
| writer = Lennon–McCartney
| producer = George Martin
| chronology = The Beatles US
| prev_title = I Feel Fine
| prev_year = 1964
| title = 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.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=175}} 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.{{sfn|Ruhlmann|2009}} 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.{{sfn|Wallgren|1982|p=40}}
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".{{sfn|Ruhlmann|2009}} 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!{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=129}}
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.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=49}} George Harrison's guitar solo, played on his new Gretsch Tennessean in the style of Carl Perkins,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=129}} was enhanced by midrange resonance boost, giving it an especially bright sound.{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=258}} According to The Encyclopedia of Country Music, the song is an early example of country rock, anticipating the Byrds' work in that style.{{sfn|Kingsbury|McCall|Rumble|2012|p=106}} MacDonald describes it as the "most overt" country track on Beatles for Sale, an album that is "dominated by the idiom".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=129}}
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,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=129}} while John Winn credits McCartney, saying that he sounds "deceptively like a second Lennon".{{sfn|Winn|2008|p=273}} According to musicologist Walter Everett, the harmony part is Lennon "self-duetting".{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=258}}
Reception
Cash Box described it as "a funky, country-bluesish teen-angled tear-jerker."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=13 February 1965 |page=12 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1965/CB-1965-02-13.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}
Personnel
According to Walter Everett:{{sfn|Everett|2001|p=258}} except where noted
- John Lennon – lead vocals, harmony vocals (high octave for the verses, low octave for the chorus), acoustic rhythm guitar
- Paul McCartney – harmony vocals (low octave for the verses, high octave for the chorus), backing vocals, bass
- George Harrison – backing vocals, lead guitar{{cite web | url=https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/song/i-dont-want-to-spoil-the-party/ | title=I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (Song) }}{{cite web | url=https://somethingelsereviews.com/2016/02/14/the-beatles-i-dont-want-to-spoil-the-party-beatles-for-sale/ | title=The Beatles, "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" from 'Beatles for Sale' (1964): Deep Beatles | date=14 February 2016 }}
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
Chart positions
| class="wikitable sortable"
!style="width:16em"|Chart (1964) !align="center"|Peak |
| {{singlechart|Billboardhot100|39|artist=The Beatles}} |
Rosanne Cash version
{{Infobox song
| name = I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
| cover = idontwanttospoiltheparty.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Rosanne Cash
| album = Hits 1979-1989
| B-side = Look What Our Love Is Coming To
| released = 1989
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = Country
| length = 2:36
| label = Columbia
| writer = Lennon–McCartney
| 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 Billboard's 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.
=Chart positions=
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (1989) !align="center"|Peak |
| {{singlechart|Canadacountry|1|chartid=6373|publishdate=26 June 1989|access-date=28 August 2013}} |
| {{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|1|artist=Rosanne Cash}} |
=Year-end charts=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| scope="col"|Chart (1989)
!scope="col"|Position |
|---|
| Canada Country Tracks (RPM){{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.6640&type=1&interval=24|title=RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1989|work=RPM|date=23 December 1989|access-date=28 August 2013}}
| align="center" | 23 |
| US Country Songs (Billboard){{Cite magazine | url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1989/hot-country-songs| title=Best of 1989: Country Songs | magazine=Billboard | year=1989| access-date=28 August 2013}}
| align="center" | 16 |
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
{{Refbegin}}
- {{cite web
| publisher=AllMusic
| year=2009
| title=Hits 1979–1989 > Charts and Awards
| url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r91958/charts-awards/billboard-single|pure_url=yes}}
| access-date=18 November 2009
| ref={{SfnRef|AllMusic|2009}}
}}
- {{cite book| last=Everett| first=Walter| year=2001| title=The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=New York, NY| isbn=0-19-514105-9| url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesasmusicia00ever}}
- {{cite book|editor-last1=Kingsbury|editor-first1=Paul|editor-last2=McCall|editor-first2=Michael|editor-last3=Rumble|editor-first3=John W.|title=The Encyclopedia of Country Music (2nd edn)|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-539563-1}}
- {{cite book
| last=Lewisohn
| first=Mark
| year=1988
| author-link=Mark Lewisohn
| title=The Beatles Recording Sessions
| publisher=Harmony Books
| location=New York
| isbn=0-517-57066-1
}}
- {{cite book
| last=MacDonald
| first=Ian
| year=2005
| author-link=Ian MacDonald
| title=Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties
| publisher=Pimlico (Rand)
| location=London
| edition=Second Revised
| isbn=1-84413-828-3
}}
- {{cite book
| last=Miles
| first=Barry
| year=1997
| author-link=Barry Miles
| title=Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now
| publisher=Henry Holt and Company
| location=New York
| isbn=0-8050-5249-6
| url=https://archive.org/details/paulmccartneyman00mile
}}
- {{cite web
| last=Ruhlmann
| first=William
| year=2009
| title=Review of "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"
| publisher=AllMusic
}}
- {{cite book
| last=Wallgren
| first=Mark
| year=1982
| title=The Beatles on Record
| publisher=Simon & Schuster
| location=New York
| isbn=0-671-45682-2
}}
- {{cite book| last=Winn| first=John C.| year=2008| title=Way Beyond Compare: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume One, 1962–1965| publisher=Three Rivers Press|location=New York, NY| isbn=978-0-307-45239-9}}
{{Refend}}
External links
- {{Notes on|http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/idwtstp.shtml}}
{{Beatles for Sale}}
{{The Beatles singles}}
{{Rosanne Cash}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Song recordings produced by George Martin
Category:Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
Category:Capitol Records singles
Category:Songs published by Northern Songs
Category:Columbia Records singles