The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night

Despite having been famous for only two years, the Beatles were already an institution. Acclaimed by millions of teenagers on the brink of a countercultural revolution and hated by traditional and classically inclined fifty-year-olds (those who went wild for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole), the four Liverpool lads had climbed the charts worldwide as quickly as they had overwhelmingly. Only in the East did they not achieve immediate success, but that's understandable.

It was 1964, the golden age of long-haired youths and the older generation, of the economic boom and beach holidays for everyone, it was the era of Mary Poppins and Andreotti, of the Political Tribune and Doctor Zhivago. Something in the air was changing, there was a desire for novelty and transgression, but people like Frank Zappa and Jim Morrison were still to come. Therefore, the height of mass transgression were the light-hearted films that the Beatles made between 1963 and 1967, among which "A Hard Day's Night" stands out, which is not, as it might seem, a pop retelling of "The Three Musketeers" but a funny little film that unabashedly tells, in a beat manner, the adventures of Ringo, George, Paul, and John dealing with some clingy and intrusive fans. In the film, a little bit of everything happens (Ringo even gets lost among the beauties of London), but what counts the most is the colorful soundtrack: "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love" are the powerful standout tracks. From this film (a great success in Britain and America) the Beatles draw inspiration to record one of their most carefree and entertaining albums: "A Hard Day's Night".

This is not a masterpiece (at least in the strict sense), but it is nevertheless a noteworthy album and undoubtedly of at least historical importance. The Beatles, still with their bowl-cut hair and narrow black ties, while maintaining the same basic musical settings (beat music, lasting just over three minutes), try to tackle, in a light manner, the first social themes of a certain level. We are not yet in the realm of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," and everything resolves in a somewhat adolescent manner, but John Lennon begins to take an interest in the social problems of youth ("Can't Buy Me Love," you can't buy love, is an example), while Paul McCartney prefers to often turn towards simpler and more sugary sentimental themes. But the lyrics, often condensed in the middle of killer choruses that had a hard time not leaving indelible marks, are often curious and interesting (at least for the time): "A Hard Day's Night," talks about an individual who kills himself working to support the family and comes home, in the evening, tired and destroyed. A piece by John Lennon, naturally. Musically simple (the experimentation of "Revolver" and the perfection of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" are still far off), the Beatles still prove excellent in constructing, around four simple chords, choruses as perfect as they are memorable.

And among the album's tracks worth mentioning, alongside "Can't Buy Me Love" and the title track, are "I Should Have Known Better," "If I Feel," "Tell Me Why," and "Any Time at All." There's also some filler, to be clear, but it's nothing compared to the freshness of most of the tracks. After this album, there will be a small disappointment with "Beatles for Sale," but then, starting with "Help!" the Beatles will record only masterpieces, and will move, seamlessly, from the experimentation of "Revolver" to the psychedelia of "Sgt. Pepper's," from the auteur fragmentation of "The White Album" to the pure pop of "Abbey Road."

Here begin five fantastic, revolutionary, epochal years, in short, in one word, legendary.