No Reply (song)

"No Reply"
Picture sleeve for the German single release of the song, backed with "Eight Days a Week"
Song by the Beatles
from the album Beatles for Sale
Released	4 December 1964
Recorded	30 September 1964 EMI Studios, London
Genre	Folk rock
Length	2:15
Label	Parlophone
Songwriter(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)	George Martin

"No Reply" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1964 album Beatles for Sale. In North America, it was issued on Capitol Records' variant on the British release, Beatles '65. The song was written mainly by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Lennon originally gave the song to another artist managed by Brian Epstein, Tommy Quickly, in June 1964, but Quickly decided not to use it. The Beatles recorded the track in London soon after returning from their first full tour of the United States. The lyrics typify Lennon's more introspective and mature songwriting on the Beatles for Sale album.

John Lennon began writing "No Reply" in May 1964 while in Tahiti, where he was on holiday with his Beatles bandmate George Harrison and their respective partners, Cynthia Lennon and Pattie Boyd. Once back in London, Lennon finished writing the song with some assistance from Paul McCartney. On 3 June, after the Beatles had completed the recording for their album A Hard Day's Night, they taped a demo of the track at EMI Studios. In the description of author John Winn, the performance was lighthearted, with Lennon and McCartney joking as they sang.Ringo Starr had been hospitalised earlier that day and was therefore absent for the recording. 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.

The demo was then passed on to Tommy Quickly, a singer who was signed to NEMS, the agency owned by Beatles manager Brian Epstein. By late September, Lennon and McCartney were stuck for new material for the Beatles' new album. Since Quickly had not issued a recording of the song, the Beatles decided to reclaim "No Reply" and record it themselves.