It’s hard to imagine any band ever working harder than the Beatles did during the first half of 1964. When they weren’t playing concerts, they were recording; when they weren’t recording, they were filming their movie debut, A Hard Day’s Night. Beyond that, the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team had no time to hit the brakes on crafting hits, and the soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night became the first and only album in the Beatles’ catalog to boast nothing but the duo’s compositions.
Of course, with such a stressful schedule, it was inevitable that a few weaker songs would slip out during this period. But even with that in mind, John and Paul were on a hot streak and virtually incapable of crafting anything short of totally catchy. So while “When I Get Home” is pretty unremarkable overall, it’s still a solid earworm. Its biggest offense is the line in the middle eight, “I’m gonna love her ’til the cows come home.” At a time when John had graduated to writing introspective, poetic songs like “If I Fell” and “I’ll Be Back,” there was no excuse for such cliches. But that was 53 years ago; I suppose there’s no use crying over spilled milk.
Anthony Cusumano 