[6] On 3 June, after the Beatles had completed the recording for their album A Hard Day's Night,[8] they taped a demo of the track at EMI Studios.

[12] Winn writes that the line-up on the demo was most likely Lennon on guitar, McCartney playing drums in place of Starr, and Harrison on bass.

[11] The demo was then passed on to Tommy Quickly,[11][13] a singer who was signed to NEMS, the agency owned by Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

In addition to handclaps by all four members of the group, the overdubs included a piano part by their producer, George Martin, and electric guitar played by Harrison.

However, his voice had deteriorated due to excessive use, forcing McCartney to sing the part, and relegating Lennon to the lower harmony line.

[24] In his book, Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald comments that the "double-tracked vocals generate a stunning power" in the song's "climactic middle sixteen", which is among the most exciting 30 seconds in the Beatles' catalogue.

In his commentary on the track, Chris Hillman, a founding member of the American folk-rock band the Byrds, admired the imagery of the lyrics and the "funky, out of left-field" rhythms played by Lennon and Harrison.