However, the phrase has become so thoroughly lodged in the collective consciousness thanks to its use in the song, that it has proved irresistible to transport operators. John Lennon said it was simply a drugs song, with the trip of the title all to do with drugs and nothing to do with physical journeys. It drew nothing from the transport industry in terms of inspiration. ‘Day Tripper’ was released in Dec 1965 as a double A-side with ‘We Can Work It Out’, promoting the Rubber Soul album which was released at the same time. “One way ticket – yeah / It took me so long to find out” Once again, The Beatles popularised the phrase to the extent that it’s made its way back into the transport industry, for instance as the name of an Australian micro-hire car company. As McCartney suggests, it’s all very ambiguous. The character in the song might simply be offering a job as a chauffeur or it might be something a little less straightforward. McCartney recalled the song having a troubled genesis, but eventually cracking it with the lyric “drive my car” itself, which led on to ideas of Los Angeles (that great automobile city) and chauffeurs (The Beatles 2000, p194). The Beatles themselves don’t seem to be terribly clear on what – if anything – the song is really about. ‘Drive My Car’ was released in December 1965 on the Rubber Soul album, then later on a single as the B-side to ‘Michelle’. “I got no car and it’s breaking my heart / But I’ve found a driver and that’s a start / Baby, you can drive my car” Thanks to The Beatles, it’s become such a catchy title that it still gets reused by transport companies from time to time in promotional campaigns, or even as company names (see here, for instance). Hamburg had been a city where The Beatles played several gigs early in their career. John Lennon, on the other hand, had a much less salubrious explanation for the song’s title and meaning, which was that it referred to the dockets showing a clean bill of health given to sex workers in Hamburg – tickets to ride. A train in the town of Ryde, Isle of Wight, which might or might not have been the inspiration for ‘Ticket to Ride’. So far, so inoffensive except as a bad pun, of course. But no.Īccording to Paul McCartney, the song title was a pun based on the idea of a British Railways ticket to Ryde, a seaside town on the north coast of the Isle of Wight (Miles 1997, p193), where Paul had a cousin who worked in a pub. Born in Liverpool myself, I used to fondly imagine that ‘Ticket to Ride’ referred either to a Liverpool bus ticket (as a child I was always being taken places on the bus), or was perhaps a reference to travel on Liverpool’s lost and much-lamented Overhead Railway which resides to this day as a livid scar in the collective memory of Liverpudlians. The first transport song released by The Beatles was ‘Ticket to Ride’, released as a single in April 1965, and subsequently released on the Help album, having been used in the soundtrack to the film of the same name. From left to right, George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. Photo by Roger via this flickr page “She’s got a ticket to ride / But she don’t care” “There were so many great songs train songs like ‘Midnight Special’, ‘Wabash Cannonball’ and ‘Rock Island Line’,” he said (The Beatles 2000, p28). In particular, George Harrison recalled early skiffle bands performing in Liverpool. And before you think that this is all a terribly shaky premise on which to build a blog entry, The Beatles genuinely were inspired by transport. It was very much a two-way street (I’d ask you to pardon the pun, but I’ve been waiting for an excuse to use it for absolutely ages). Where better to look than at one of the biggest British pop groups of all time, The Beatles? What’s interesting is not just the influence of transport on The Beatles, but the influence of The Beatles on transport. After all, we’re talking about an industry that has created a dance sensation or two in its own right, including The Locomotion and trip-sharing-inspired The Hitch-Hiker. If you want another example of how transport has influenced culture (you do, don’t you? Go on…) then you could do worse than reflect on the fact that it keeps popping up in popular music.
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