from the album Beatles for Sale

"Eight Days a Week" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, which was recorded by The Beatles and released on their December 1964 album Beatles for Sale.

The inspiration of the song has been attributed to at least two different sources by Paul McCartney. In a 1984 interview with Playboy, he credited the title to Ringo Starr, who was noted for his malapropisms, which are credited as the source of other song titles (such as "A Hard Day's Night").

PAUL: Yeah, he said it as though he were an overworked chauffeur. (in heavy accent) 'Eight days a week.' (laughter) When we heard it, we said, 'Really? Bing! Got it!'

—Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, 1984 Playboy Interview

However, he has also credited the the title to an actualchauffeur who once drove him to Lennon's house in Weybridge.

—Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology

"Eight Days a Week" is the first song which the Beatles took into the studio unfinished to work on arrangement during the session, which would later become common. The song was mainly recorded in two recording sessions on 6 October devoted exclusively to this song, which lasted nearly seven hours with a fifteen-minute break in between. Lennon and McCartney tried several ideas for the intro and outro of the song. The first take featured a simple acoustic guitar introduction. The second take introduced an "oo"-ing vocal that was experimented with until the sixth take, when it was abandoned in favour of the final guitar intro. The final outro (along with unused intro takes) was recorded separately on 18 October. The final version of the song incorporated another Beatles first and pop music rarity: the song begins with a fade-in, as opposed to the common fade-out ending. The instrumentation includes acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass and overdubbed handclaps. The fade-in and coda both include more guitar overdubs.

The song, along with two others from the album ("Baby's in Black" and "No Reply") was planned as a single release. In the end, it was released as a single only in the US on 15 February 1965 becoming a number-one hit. Its B-side was "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party". The single release in the US was the result of DJs playing the song from imported copies of the Beatles for Salealbum as an exclusive since it was not included on the album's US counterpart Beatles '65. Later, it made a US album appearance on Beatles VI.

While not one of The Beatles' best known or most popular #1 songs, "Eight Days a Week" was a significant record-setter on the American singles chart. It became the second of six #1 songs in a row on the American charts - a record eventually equaled by The Bee Gees in the late 1970s, and surpassed by Mariah Carey in the early 1990s. In order they were "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out". Additionally, the song became the record-setting seventh #1 song in a 52-week period on the American charts. This list starts with the final week of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at number one, then "She Loves You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Love Me Do" (a somewhat out-of-place 1962 re-release), "I Feel Fine", and ending with "Eight Days a Week".

Although it was a huge American hit, the group didn't think highly of the song (Lennon called it "lousy"), and never performed it live.

The song has been covered by: