Day Tripper

Lennon/McCartney

Lyrics:
Got a good reason
for taking the easy way out
Got a good reason
for taking the easy way out now
She was a day tripper
One way ticket, yeah
It took me so long to find out
and I found out

She's a big teaser
She took me half the way there
She's a big teaser
She took me half the way there, now
She was a day tripper
One way ticket, yeah
It took me so long to find out
and I found out
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

Tried to please her
She only played one night stand
Tried to please her
She only played one night stand, now
She was a day tripper
One way ticket, yeah
It took me so long to find out
and I found out

Day tripper, day tripper, yeah

Availability:

Past Masters Volume Two
1962-1966 (Red Album)
The Beatles 1
"Yesterday"...And Today

Lead Singer: John

Recording: 10/16/65
Mixing: 10/25/65, 11/10/66
Length: 2:47
Take: 3

What Goes On? Anomalies

0:05 *
Click

1:40 *
The note progression that starts at 1:21 in the left channel guitar) seems to cut off very abruptly at 1:40

1:50, 1:55, 2:32
There are two extremely noticeable dropouts near the end of the song. This is not on any earlier mixes of the same take, so it is quite likely that it happened during the mastering stage. Other mixes show a sound at 1:50 that was likely the reason for the dropout, and John's misplaced "yeah" at 2:32, but one has to wonder if the cure wasn't worse than the illness. This is particularly true in the 2:32 case, since one can STILL hear the "yeah." The drop outs at 1:50,1:55 punch the 1st and 6th notes of the riff clean out.

2:06
1st voice: "She was a daaay tripper, Sun-day driver yeh"
2nd voice: "She was a daaay tripper, One-day driver yeh"
John is still thinking "one-way ticket yeh" and half-sings it!

Notes:

Recorded on October 16, 1965, “Day Tripper,” broke the rule that one could tell which Beatle wrote what song by who sang the lead. A total Lennon composition, it was Paul who sang the lead, while Lennon sang the chorus.

During the summer of 1965, John Lennon and George Harrison had been introduced to LSD by a London dentist. It seems that the dentist slipped some into their tea after dinner one evening. In August, while in the United States, they again gave LSD a try, after which Lennon said that “he ate it all the time.”

Lennon used the title of “Day Tripper,” as a play on words, in an attempt to reflect the then influence of drugs into a Beatles’ song. In his way, Lennon was saying that people like him could not afford the luxury of being high all the time, so he opted to be a “weekend hippie,” or Day Tripper, versus lets say an “all the time tripper.”

By definition, this song is about a girl who leads the singer on, a sort of tease, as in “she’s a big teaser.” This phrase meaning a girl who encourages sexual arousal with no intention of having sex.

By style, it was similar to “I Feel Fine,“ and “Ticket To Ride,“ built around rock-solid guitar riffs, like The Rolling Stones used at the time.

“Day Tripper,” reached number one in the United Kingdom on December 3, 1965, remaining there for five weeks. In the United States, it only reached number five. This song was one that was released as a double A-side single, with “We Can Work It Out.”