Title:	Not A Second Time
Credits:	John Lennon - Paul McCartney
Recorded:	11 September, 1963
Producer:	George Martin
Engineer:	Norman Smith
Location:	With The Beatles - track 13 Meet The Beatles - track 12

Paul has said that the musical inspiration behind 'Not A Second Time' was Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, whereas the main writing honors were were claimed by John. It was another example of John allowing his feelings, in this case of being wounded, to wash all over his work. After having been let down and made to cry the writer's response in to shut down his emotions because he can't face the possibility of being hurt all over again.

It was one of the first of the Beatles' songs to be subjected to critical analysis by a quality newspaper. William Mann, then music critic of The Times (London), compared part of it to Gustav Mahler's 'Song Of The Earth'. John would later say that this review was responsible for "starting the whole intellectual bit about the Beatles".

"Harmonic interest is typical of their quicker songs too," Mann wrote, "and one gets the impression that they think simultaneously of harmony and melody, so firmly are the major tonic sevenths and ninths built into their tunes, and the flat-submediant key-switches, so natural is the Aeolian cadence at the end of 'Not A Second Time' ... "John's comment on this was, "I didn't know what the hell it was all about". Another time he said that he thought Aeolian cadences sounded like exotic birds.