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In January 1964, the Beatkes went
to Paris for 18 daysof concerts at the Olympia Theatre. They
stayed at the five star George V hotel, just off the Champs
Élysées, and a grand piano was moved into one
of their suites so that songwriting could continue. It was
here that John and Paul wrote 'One And One Is Two' for Billy
J Kramer and Paul came up with 'Can't Buy Me
Love'.
With a new single due in March, and
the news that 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' had rocketed to the
top of the American charts, there was no time to waste.
George Martin, who had come to the Pathé Marconi
Studios in Paris to record the newly-written song, made the
suggestion of starting it with the chorus. Although 'She
Loves You', 'I Wanna Be your Man', 'Don't Bother Me' and
'All My Loving' were all used in A Hard Day's Night, 'Can't
Buy Me Love' was the only previously-released song to be
included on the soundtrack album. This was it was pulled
into the film at a late stage to replace 'I'll Cry Instead',
which director Dick Lester didn't think was wright for the
scene in question.
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'Can't Buy Me Love' was used in the
film as the group ran down a fire escape at the back of the
theatre (actually the Odeon in Hammersmith, London) and
fooled around on some open ground (partly playing fields in
Isleworth). It was the group's first experience of freedom
in the film after having been locked for days in cars,
trains, dressing rooms and hotels. Screenwriter Alun Owen
remembers: "My stage direction at this point was very
simple. It read: 'The boys come down the fire escape. It is
the first time that they have been free. They run about and
play silly buggers'."
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John in A Hard Day's Night
film
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