[6] Lennon said he was "trying to do Smokey Robinson again,"[7] and Ian MacDonald compared it to "(You Can) Depend on Me" by the Miracles, both musically and lyrically.

[9] Beatles biographer Bob Spitz said the song is "restlessly dark and moody", and compared it to the Shirelles' "Baby It's You" (a song the Beatles previously covered) and early Drifters recordings.

[10] It was one of three songs Lennon was the principal writer for on With the Beatles, with "It Won't Be Long"[11] and "Not a Second Time".

[12] Lennon said that it was written specifically for the American market, because the idea of calling a girl on the telephone was unthinkable to a British youth in the early 1960s.

For instance, Lennon said in an interview regarding "No Reply": "I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the 'phone, although I have never called a girl on the 'phone in my life!