Beatles, "I Should Have Known Better" (1964)

(listen)

It says on Wikipedia this is a result of the Beatles meeting Bob Dylan in 1964 ... something something about writing more meaningful lyrics. That's news to me in terms of the song, which I have known since I acquired the US version of the soundtrack product in approximately 1966 from a record club based out of Terre Haute, Indiana. It has always sounded like any other Beatles pop song of the time to me—confectionary, sweet, gorgeous, one of a kind, eminently singable, rockin' in place, and the kind of thing you want to hear again right away. So fucking good, to resort to the vernacular. Originally the B-side of "A Hard Day's Night," this is high Beatlemania we're talking about here, of course, 1964 bleeding into 1965, whose many terrific songs seem to vie for attention a lot, and often surprise. I keep forgetting how great they are until they are in my face again. (And, in honesty, I know there are a few I can do without, starting with "Can't Buy Me Love.") So I am probably writing about this now because at one point, fairly recently, shuffle brought it to my attention. But it's a good one, no worries on that score, friends. It has a valiant widescreen harmonica leading the attack, which lends it a railroad car texture that is likely its most distinguishing feature. It is otherwise the joyful high-spirited yelping, with harmonies, ladies and gentlemen (in stentorian Ed Sullivan tones always, of course), the Beatles. It's OK and explicitly recommended that you listen to it a few times at a go, not asking much at 2:44 or so.