Ticket to Ride

The authorship of "Ticket to Ride" is a point of debate among its creators. Lennon, in 1965, stated it was "three-quarters mine and Paul McCartney changed it a bit," suggesting the melody was modified by the latter. However, later, in 1980, Lennon downplayed McCartney's contribution, limiting it to how Ringo Starr played the drums. McCartney, for his part, in his 1997 biography, offers a more collaborative view, indicating they wrote it together during a three-hour session, giving Lennon 60% authorship. The song's structure is based on a variation of the AABA pop format, with a sustained A major chord creating a *drone* effect, reminiscent of Indian music, which MacDonald described as "similar to a raga". The song's ending, with its tempo change and repeated chorus, was one of Lennon's favorite passages. He himself claimed that "Ticket to Ride" was the first *heavy metal* record ever made, perhaps influenced by the more powerful sound and Lennon and George Harrison's possible first experience with LSD. The meaning of the title is a mystery: McCartney suggested it referred to a British train ticket to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, while Lennon associated it with health cards of female sex workers in Hamburg in the 1960s, where the band played in its early days and where "ride" was slang for having sex.