History Music / Help

''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by Music/TheBeatles, released in 1965. Like their earlier album ''Music/AHardDaysNight'' it served as a sort of soundtrack to [[Film/{{Help}} the movie of the same name.]] It would also be their final studio album until ''Music/LetItBe'' to feature any covers.

Interestingly, the album cover with the Beatles using flag semaphore to spell "HELP" is inaccurate. It instead spells "NUJV". According to cover photographer Robert Freeman, this inaccuracy was intentional as it turned out that the "HELP" arrangement didn't look good enough. On the US version of the album, it was changed to "NVUJ."

It would spawn hits such as "Help!", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", "Ticket to Ride", and "Yesterday", one of the most recorded songs of all time.[[note]]Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords once claimed it to be the single most recorded song, with upwards of 2,000 versions, but Website/{{Wikipedia}} points out that there are at least 20,000 known versions of [[Theatre/PorgyAndBess "Summertime"]], and no doubt there are other Tin Pan Alley standards that meet or exceed that number. [[Music/MerryChristmas "White Christmas"]] is probably a strong contender for the title[[/note]]

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* ExcitedShowTitle: "Help!" for both the album and the title track, as well as [[Film/{{Help}} the film]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cd1094_5831.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The alternate album cover for ''Help!'', used in the US.]]

* Music/GeorgeHarrison - guitar, backing and lead vocals
* Music/JohnLennon - lead vocals, guitar, piano
* Music/PaulMcCartney - lead vocals, bass, guitar, piano, güiro
* Music/RingoStarr - drums, percussion, lead vocals, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, bongos, claves, brushed snare

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Music/PaulMcCartney dreamt the melody of "Yesterday" during his sleep. When he woke up he asked everyone whether they could remember who wrote it. As it turned out he had invented it himself and so he recorded it as a solo piece, without the rest of the band. It would become the most often covered song in history.

It would spawn hits such as "Help!", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", "Ticket to Ride", and "Yesterday", one of the most recorded songs of all time.[[note]]Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords once claimed it to be the single most recorded song, with upwards of 2,000 versions, but Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} points out that there are at least 20,000 known versions of [[Theatre/PorgyAndBess "Summertime"]], and no doubt there are other Tin Pan Alley standards that meet or exceed that number. [[Music/MerryChristmas "White Christmas"]] is probably a strong contender for the title[[/note]]

* CutAndPasteTranslation: As shown by the difference in track listing between the standard version and the US version.

* NewSoundAlbum: To an extent. There's the country-rock "Act Naturally", and the proto-metal (to some people) "Ticket To Ride".

* AbsenteeActor: "Yesterday" has Paul singing and playing by himself. Paul would go on to do this several times throughout the Beatles' career.

"Help!"