Ticket to Ride by the Beatles

This song was a game-changer. It transformed the Beatles from a popular band to a cultural phenomena. The sharp break from the past can be heard in the use of the A-string as a "drone" note throughout the song, especially at the end where the refrain "my baby don't care" takes on the air of a Hindu raga. The record was released in February 1965 -- this is just about the same time that George Harrison was developing an interest in Indian music. He purchased a sitar in April 1965. The words for the song come from John Lennon and the music from Paul McCartney -- with George Harrison contributing the A-note drone using both his 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and a newly acquired Fender Stratocaster. There is a lot of controversy about the title of the song with Lennon at one point claiming that it was a slang reference to the medical card carried by prostitutes in Hamburg, Germany -- a place the Beatles had performed between 1960 and 1962.