61 Years Ago Today, the Beatles Released the No. 1 Soundtrack That Included History’s Most-Covered Pop Song

On August 11, 1965, Help!—the Beatles’ second feature film after the previous year’s A Hard Day’s Night—hit U.S. theaters. By this time, the Hollywood shine had worn off for the Fab Four, with John Lennon complaining that they felt like extras in their own movie. Their disinterest showed in the final cut, and Help! received mixed reviews at the time.

However, the soundtrack of the same name—released on this day (August 6) in 1965—was a different story. Help! the album topped charts in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Beyond sheer sales, however, the album marked a fairly significant shift in the Beatles’ career from the shiny happy pop music of Beatlemania to the more experimental, introspective material that set the Fab Four apart as one of the best in the game. On Help!, we saw John Lennon get vulnerable; George Harrison come into his own as a songwriter; and Paul McCartney introducing a track that has since been covered more than any other pop song in history.

Yes, the Beatles Were on Drugs Before, After, and During ‘Help’

Help! scored an Album of the Year nod at the 1966 Grammy Awards. This marked the first time a rock band had been recognized in that category.

So, what was the Beatles’ secret ingredient? Well, if you ask pop culture journalist Alexis Petridis—drugs.

Bob Dylan had introduced the Liverpool quartet to marijuana the previous year, and they first experimented with LSD in early 1965.

“We were smoking marijuana for breakfast during that period,” Lennon later recalled of the Beatles’ time filming Help! “Nobody could communicate with us, it was all glazed eyes and giggling all the time.”

Reaching New Heights in Songwriting

According to Petridis, the Beatles’ drug experimentation helped them take their songwriting to “new emotional depths” on tracks such as “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “Ticket to Ride”.

Lennon wrote and sang the former—an intensely reflective ballad that was essentially “just basically John doing Dylan,” Paul McCartney said.

Lennon agreed, saying, “That’s me in my Dylan period again. I am like a chameleon, influenced by whatever is going on. If Elvis can do it, I can do it. If the Everly Brothers can do it, me and Paul can. Same with Dylan.” 

George Harrison also contributed two tracks: “I Need You” and “You Like Me Too Much”. The former marked his first original composition since 1963’s “Don’t Bother Me”.

This Song Came to Paul McCartney in a Dream

As the story goes, Paul McCartney quite literally dreamed up the melody to “Yesterday” at the home of his then-girlfriend.

At first, he was nervous he had subconsciously plagiarized someone else’s work. Once he was sure he hadn’t, McCartney began adding the lyrics to a song he temporarily titled “Scrambled Eggs”.

[RELATED: 3 Iconic Beatles Songs That Had Weird Working Titles]

Reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, “Yesterday” is now one of the most-covered songs in the history of popular music.

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