"Cry for a Shadow" is an

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...

piece recorded by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

on 22 June 1961. They recorded the song at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle within the gymnasium,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

while they were performing as

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

backing band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

for a few tracks, under the moniker the Beat Brothers. It was written by George Harrison with

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, as a pastiche of

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

' styleMacDonald, Ian. ''

Revolution in the Head ''Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties'' is a book by British music critic and author Ian MacDonald, discussing the music of the Beatles and the band's relationship to the social and cultural changes of the 1960s. The fir ...

''. 2007, Chicago Review Press, , p. 48 (the Shadows, who backed

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, were the biggest British instrumental rock & roll group at the time of the recording). It is the only Beatles track to be credited to Lennon and Harrison alone. "Cry for a Shadow"'s original title was "Beatle Bop". It was intended to be released as the B-side of " Why", another Sheridan song with the Beatles, but the record company Polydor chose to release another song instead. This instrumental is the Beatles' first recording of an original song commercially released when, in January 1962, it was included on Tony Sheridan's French EP entitled " Mister Twist". In mid-1963, as the Beatles were gaining popularity, Polydor decided to rerelease this EP in Germany as "Tony Sheridan With The Beatles", and in early 1964, "Cry for a Shadow" was released in Britain, Germany and Australia (where it reached number 32) as a single with "Why" changed to the B-side, while in North America, Sheridan's song was designated as the A-side. This song is one of only two officially released Beatles singles to feature

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...

on drums. The other is "

Ain't She Sweet "Ain't She Sweet" is a song composed by Milton Ager, with lyrics by Jack Yellen. It was published in 1927 by Ager, Yellen & Bornstein, Inc. It became popular in the first half of the 20th century and typified the Roaring Twenties. Like ''Happy ...

". It is also featured on ''

The Beatles' First ''The Beatles' First!'' (subtitled ''Recorded in Hamburg 1961 - Featuring Tony Sheridan and Guests'') is a German compilation album of songs recorded in Hamburg in 1961 and 1962 by Tony Sheridan with the Beatles as his backing group. It was or ...

'' and as part of the ''

Anthology 1 ''Anthology 1'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, including song ...

'' compilation in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Cover versions

"Cry for a Shadow" is one of the songs included on

the Smithereens The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio (vocals & guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar & vocals), Mike Mesaros (bass guitar & vocals), and Dennis Diken (drum ...

' collection of Beatles covers, '' B-Sides The Beatles'' (2008). San Francisco new wave group

Translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

released a cover version of this song as a B-side to their song "Break Down Barriers" in 1983. The little-known recording was included as a bonus track on the 2008 CD re-release of their album ''

No Time Like Now ''No Time Like Now'' is the second album from Translator, released in August 1983 on 415 Records and distributed by Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Co ...

'' on Wounded Bird Records.

Personnel

* George Harrison –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

– rhythm guitar *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

– bass, yell *

– drums

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cry for A Shadow 1961 songs The Beatles with Tony Sheridan songs Rock instrumentals Songs written by George Harrison Songs written by John Lennon Polydor Records singles MGM Records singles 1960s instrumentals 1964 singles