Ticket to Ride

Album: Released as the a-side of a single; not included on an original Beatles album

Year: 1965

Written by: Lennon & McCartney

In the spring of 1965, The Beatles began working on their second film, a fun and silly comedy called Help! Director Richard Lester was given a larger budget to make the movie, so the boys traveled with him to Austria and the Bahamas to make their film adventures more exciting.

The video above is a scene from the movie showing John, Paul, George, and Ringo romping about and having fun learning how to ski in the Austrian Alps. It is often considered a prototype of the music video genre.

John sings a double-tracked lead vocal, with Paul joining him in the harmony. Ticket to Ride is a guitar-heavy song and is one of the rare instances in which Paul plays both bass and lead guitar. (He usually played just the bass, while George was the usual lead guitarist.) John and George both play rhythm guitar, with George probably using his iconic 12-string Rickenbacker.