The Beatles' Movie Medley (1982 single)
In 1982, Capitol Records released a Beatles compilation album called Reel Music, which assembled 14 songs which the Fab Four recorded for their five films: A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968), and Let It Be (1970). Reel Music was one of numerous compilations – following Rock ‘N’ Roll Music (1976) and Love Songs (1977) – which collected selections of Beatles songs and tied them together through common themes. Like those two earlier compilation albums, Reel Music is out of print, but all of its tracks are currently available on the proper Beatles albums. The LP is a nice collectible item to own, offering 14 classic tracks plus a 12-page booklet – titled The Beatles Souvenir Program – which contains pictures and commentary related to those five Beatles movies.
But the most interesting thing about Reel Music was the single which was released to promote the album. "The Beatles' Movie Medley" was a four-minute track (not included on the album) which strung together excerpts from seven of the songs which appeared on the LP, namely (in order) “Magical Mystery Tour”, “All You Need Is Love”, “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, “I Should Have Known Better”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Ticket To Ride”, and “Get Back”. That’s plenty of delightfulness packed into four fast-moving minutes. Although it is better to listen to those songs in their entirety – the Reel Music LP provides a convenient way to listen to all of them and more – "The Beatles' Movie Medley" certainly is a short-and-sweet pleasure for Beatles lovers. The single was a #12 hit in the United States, and a #10 hit in the U.K. It is the only Beatles single that has never been released on CD or digitally.
As timeless as its individual parts may be, the single’s medley format was born from an early-‘80’s fad. In 1981, a Dutch novelty act called Stars On 45 scored a #1 single with a track titled “Medley”, on which their medley mostly consisted of strung-together Beatles covers, sung by Holland-based singers who did imitations of John Lennon’s, Paul McCartney’s, and George Harrison's voices. The success of that single started a medley craze in the early ‘80’s, so it made perfect commercial sense for Capitol to capitalize on it by issuing a medley of real Beatles recordings. Other examples of hit medleys from that period: “Hooked On Classics” by Louis Clark and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a disco medley of famous classical compositions which charted in the Top 10; and “The Beach Boys Medley”, a medley of eight of that band’s ‘60’s hits which was also issued by Capitol, and which also became a #12 hit single.
Early promo copies of the "Beatles' Movie Medley" single contained an interesting non-album B-side titled “Fab Four On Film”, a six-minute recording of spoken-word commentary by the four Beatles from 1964. For the first four minutes or so, we hear the Liverpool lads talk about the film A Hard Day’s Night, and then we hear them discuss the Beatlemania phenomenon from their point of view. Unfortunately, this history moment was removed from the commercially released copies of the single for legal reasons, and was replaced by the song “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You” from A Hard Day’s Night (which also did not appear on Reel Music). That song was a Lennon/McCartney composition sung by George Harrison. It’s not one of the Fab Four’s best, but it gives Harrison the lead vocal representation that he was missing on Reel Music.
The Beatles “The Beatles’ Movie Medley” (Capitol single B-5107) 1982
Track Listing:
A. The Beatles' Movie Medley (Excerpts from the LP “Reel Music”)
-- a. Magical Mystery Tour
-- b. All You Need Is Love
-- c. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
-- d. I Should Have Known Better
-- e. A Hard Day’s Night
-- f. Ticket To Ride
-- g. Get Back
B. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
The Beatles “The Beatles’ Movie Medley” (Capitol promo single B-5100) 1982
Track Listing:
A. The Beatles' Movie Medley (Excerpts from LP “Reel Music”)
-- a. Magical Mystery Tour
-- b. All You Need Is Love
-- c. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
-- d. I Should Have Known Better
-- e. A Hard Day’s Night
-- f. Ticket To Ride
-- g. Get Back
B. Fab Four On Film (The Beatles talk about A Hard Day’s Night – 1964)
The Beatles “Reel Music” (Capitol SV-12199) 1982
Track Listing:
1. A Hard Day’s Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. Can’t Buy Me Love
4. And I Love Her
5. Help!
6. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
7. Ticket To Ride
8. Magical Mystery Tour
9. I Am The Walrus
10. Yellow Submarine
11. All You Need Is Love
12. Let It Be
13. Get Back
14. The Long And Winding Road
But the most interesting thing about Reel Music was the single which was released to promote the album. "The Beatles' Movie Medley" was a four-minute track (not included on the album) which strung together excerpts from seven of the songs which appeared on the LP, namely (in order) “Magical Mystery Tour”, “All You Need Is Love”, “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, “I Should Have Known Better”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Ticket To Ride”, and “Get Back”. That’s plenty of delightfulness packed into four fast-moving minutes. Although it is better to listen to those songs in their entirety – the Reel Music LP provides a convenient way to listen to all of them and more – "The Beatles' Movie Medley" certainly is a short-and-sweet pleasure for Beatles lovers. The single was a #12 hit in the United States, and a #10 hit in the U.K. It is the only Beatles single that has never been released on CD or digitally.
As timeless as its individual parts may be, the single’s medley format was born from an early-‘80’s fad. In 1981, a Dutch novelty act called Stars On 45 scored a #1 single with a track titled “Medley”, on which their medley mostly consisted of strung-together Beatles covers, sung by Holland-based singers who did imitations of John Lennon’s, Paul McCartney’s, and George Harrison's voices. The success of that single started a medley craze in the early ‘80’s, so it made perfect commercial sense for Capitol to capitalize on it by issuing a medley of real Beatles recordings. Other examples of hit medleys from that period: “Hooked On Classics” by Louis Clark and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a disco medley of famous classical compositions which charted in the Top 10; and “The Beach Boys Medley”, a medley of eight of that band’s ‘60’s hits which was also issued by Capitol, and which also became a #12 hit single.
Early promo copies of the "Beatles' Movie Medley" single contained an interesting non-album B-side titled “Fab Four On Film”, a six-minute recording of spoken-word commentary by the four Beatles from 1964. For the first four minutes or so, we hear the Liverpool lads talk about the film A Hard Day’s Night, and then we hear them discuss the Beatlemania phenomenon from their point of view. Unfortunately, this history moment was removed from the commercially released copies of the single for legal reasons, and was replaced by the song “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You” from A Hard Day’s Night (which also did not appear on Reel Music). That song was a Lennon/McCartney composition sung by George Harrison. It’s not one of the Fab Four’s best, but it gives Harrison the lead vocal representation that he was missing on Reel Music.
The Beatles “The Beatles’ Movie Medley” (Capitol single B-5107) 1982
Track Listing:
A. The Beatles' Movie Medley (Excerpts from the LP “Reel Music”)
-- a. Magical Mystery Tour
-- b. All You Need Is Love
-- c. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
-- d. I Should Have Known Better
-- e. A Hard Day’s Night
-- f. Ticket To Ride
-- g. Get Back
B. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
The Beatles “The Beatles’ Movie Medley” (Capitol promo single B-5100) 1982
Track Listing:
A. The Beatles' Movie Medley (Excerpts from LP “Reel Music”)
-- a. Magical Mystery Tour
-- b. All You Need Is Love
-- c. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
-- d. I Should Have Known Better
-- e. A Hard Day’s Night
-- f. Ticket To Ride
-- g. Get Back
B. Fab Four On Film (The Beatles talk about A Hard Day’s Night – 1964)
The Beatles “Reel Music” (Capitol SV-12199) 1982
Track Listing:
1. A Hard Day’s Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. Can’t Buy Me Love
4. And I Love Her
5. Help!
6. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
7. Ticket To Ride
8. Magical Mystery Tour
9. I Am The Walrus
10. Yellow Submarine
11. All You Need Is Love
12. Let It Be
13. Get Back
14. The Long And Winding Road
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