Beatles – Any Time At All

I’m 8-9 years old again when I hear this song. It’s not a deep meaningful song but it’s just catchy and good. I heard it first in 1976 on the Beatles compilation album Rock and Roll Music. That was terrible packaging…not the albums but the packaging itself. It made the Beatles look like they were popular in the 1950s.

Beatles Rock and Roll Music InsideBeatles Rock and Roll Music Outside

Ringo Starr said: “It made us look cheap and we never were cheap. All that Coca-Cola and cars with big fins was the Fifties!” John Lennon told Capitol that the cover looked like a Monkees reject. He offered to design the cover but was declined. That doesn’t mean the album didn’t contain great music…a double album full of some great songs.

This song was on the UK version of A Hard Day’s Night album.  In America, it was on the Something New album. They were pressed for time and John finished the song off while on vacation and brought it to the studio. Lennon is believed to be the only writer of this song. This one was known then as an album track but it’s not like it doesn’t have a nice hook.

We know that Paul is very active in songwriting but on this album, John ended up writing 10 of the 13 songs. I had a book that measured each of them in the Lennon/McCartney songs and Lennon wrote a larger percentage, most of that because of the early days.

John later said it was an effort in re-writing It Won’t Be Long (my first favorite Beatle song) and it’s true. It’s also got some of All I’ve Got To Do theme in it.

On the albums in America. Something New peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada. The reason it peaked at #2? A Hard Day’s Night was released in America on June 26, 1964, and peaked at #1 in America and Canada. Something New was released less than a month later on July 20, 1964. A Hard Days Night held its sister album off. There were 6 Beatles albums released in America and 5 in Canada in 1964. In the UK there were 2 released in 1964. Capitol pulled songs from 1962-1963 and all of them came rolling out.

I’ve also included the song It Won’t Be Long. A very underrated Beatles early rocker which they never played live for some reason. When you are 8 years old…that guitar riff sounded so cool…wait a minute…it does now also!

John Lennon: “An effort in writing ‘It Won’t Be Long’ – same ilk. C to A minor, C to A minor with me shouting.”

George Harrison:  “Paul and John write a song, bring it into the studio and usually, nine times out of ten, Ringo and I haven’t heard the song before, and we get into the studio and try all different arrangements. We all stick little bits here and there, you know.”

My first favorite Beatles song It Won’t Be Long

Any Time At All

Any time at all, any time at all
Any time at all, all you gotta do is call
And I’ll be there

If you need somebody to love
Just look into my eyes
I’ll be there to make you feel right
If you’re feeling sorry and sad
I’d really sympathize
Don’t you be sad, just call me tonight

Any time at all, any time at all
Any time at all, all you gotta do is call
And I’ll be there

If the sun has faded away
I’ll try to make it shine
There is nothing I won’t do
When you need a shoulder to cry on
I hope it will be mine
Call me tonight and I’ll come to you

Any time at all, any time at all
Any time at all, all you gotta do is call
And I’ll be there

Any time at all, any time at all
Any time at all, all you gotta do is call
And I’ll be there
Any time at all, all you gotta do is call
And I’ll be there

…

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

33 thoughts on “Beatles – Any Time At All”

  1. I saw that album locked up in the collectibles cabinet at Half Price Books. Goodnight…, what horrible cover art, and they wanted $100 for it. One thing about George Harrisons guitar work, he always played his breaks with licks that fit the song, no noodling around like many of the guitarist at that time, Clapton and others come to mind for runaway fingers.

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  5. it speaks to their ability that this was basically a throw-away album cut, but for most other acts in that year it would have been their lead single and the highpoint of their career to then. Interesting that Lennon wrote more back then. Although a huge oversimplifcation, you could sort of say Lennon was the first star writer and he passed the torch to McCartney then he in turn over to Harrison at the end.

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    1. They analyzed who wrote more in the Beatles…and it ended up being the famous John, Paul., George, and Ringo order…
      It was close… One that I saw was 71 John, 68 Paul 22 by George and 2 of course by Ringo….plus covers.
      John out wrote Paul at first and it wasn’t even close but Paul caught up during the drug years.

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    1. Some people do…I know some that will only listen to the early….the late….and the middle. 3 different kinds of people.

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    1. I really like this period of him… I”m not sure about peak but yes… quanity and quality was really good. His lyrics started to come together after this.

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  10. From what George said, with he and Ringo coming in cold (sorta like session guys, if that’s not too harsh) their parts really helped steer the song along the right direction. In these two songs Ringo’s drumming is a highlight, listening to them now.

    The cover art is, to use some Scouse slang, “shite.”

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  12. “Any Time At All” and “It Won’t Be Long” are both great early Beatles songs. I didn’t realize there were 6 Beatles albums released in the U.S. in 1964. That’s kind of nuts!

    My first Beatles album was a 1979 career-spanning compilation titled “20 Golden Hits”. I loved it! I believe the next album I got was “Help!” I think this was followed by “Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962” and “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl”. None of them had the songs you highlighted.

    Eventually, I got “With the Beatles” and “A Hard Day’s Night” as part of a box-set, which included all of their UK studio albums and a “Rarities” compilation – one of the best Christmas presents ever! 🙂

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    1. Sorry…I went to sleep last night early!
      Yea With The Beatles is the first one I ever listened to and Hey Jude Again was the first I ever owned…then this one…Rock and Roll Music.
      I can’t believe Capital turned down a cover drawn by John…

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  14. Pingback: Beatles – Any Time At All – MobsterTiger

  16. I dunno… There’s something loveably crap about that album cover. I think ‘It Won’t Be Long’ is one of their great early album tracks, along with ‘Hold Me Tight’ from the same album.

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