The somewhat better lyrics of the Lennon-McCartney songs on The Beatles’ third album, “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964)

The lyrics John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote for The Beatles' third album, "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), show some improvement compared to the consistently flat and clichéd lyrics on their first two albums. The title song has its paradoxical title, and "Can't Buy Me Love" has some clear thematic development. On "I'll Cry Instead" and "You Can't Do That", Lennon livens up his songs with some anger. And McCartney's "Things We Said Today" (with its lovely and surprising B-flat chord at the end of the bridge), whose lyrics are still mostly vague and generic, at least has the nice variation of "Someday when I'm lonely" to "Someday when I'm dreaming". (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 24 June 2024)