Any early Beatles fan can remember falling in love with the group the minute that they saw A Hard Day’s Night. The Fab Four had been lovable goofballs whenever they took to the stage, but it was easy to see them as equally charming actors onscreen, even if it was a little bit close to who they really were. Everything was still carefully choreographed behind the scenes, and while director Dick Lester usually deferred to what the lads wanted, he did insist on axing ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ from the movie.
Even for a movie that has an entire album as its soundtrack, though, there are shockingly few songs from A Hard Day’s Night that actually appear in the film. Most of the A-side remains intact onscreen, but some of the moodier cuts, like ‘I’ll Be Back’ and ‘Things We Said Today,’ were justifiably cut not to make the film that much of a downer.
After all, this movie showed them as the kind of lads that anyone could hang out with, so hearing another breakup song or minor-key ballad was going to do nothing to get kids out on the dance floor. But if there was one song that did have that pep in its step, it should have been ‘I’ll Cry Instead’.
Yes, it was far from their rock and roll signature tunes, but it still had that uptempo flair that Lennon was used to at the time. There had been moments where they had flirted with other genres throughout their career, and hearing them try their hand at a country-leaning tune was exactly what could have shaken everything up during their breakout scene running through a field.
While the song’s energy fits the scene a lot better, Lennon remembered that Lester never wanted it in the film, saying, “I wrote that for A Hard Day’s Night, but Dick Lester didn’t even want it. He resurrected ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ for that sequence instead. I like the middle eight to that song, though – that’s about all I can say about it.”
‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the context of the scene, but the energy behind it is absolutely electric. Since most of the movie is just random scenarios of them having fun, hearing McCartney’s take on rockabilly as they tear through an open field without a care in the world was the perfect antidote for scenes of them being shuffled around everywhere.
Still, there could have been a few more songs that could have been replaced with ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ in the context of the film. ‘All My Loving’ from With the Beatles had the energy for a film montage, but although it might have helped Harrison feel included, ‘Don’t Bother Me’ was far from the kind of uptempo material that the rest of the scenes have.
A Hard Day’s Night was bound to be a hit regardless of what the director picked for the track listing, but ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ is still one of the most overlooked songs in their catalogue that missed out on the chance to be in the biggest scene in Beatles cinema. It’s far from their best track, but it’s an interesting look into what they would sound like if they had looked up to George Jones a bit more than Little Richard.
