several mixing and editing sessions before completing the project on 4 November. Songs Original compositions "No Reply" "No Reply" is about a young man who is unable to contact his apparently unfaithful girlfriend, although he knows she is home. Beatles music publisher Dick James was pleased with the song, saying Lennon had provided "a complete story". Reviewer David Rowley said that its lyrics "read like a picture story from a girl's comic" and evoked a picture "of walking down a street and seeing a girl silhouetted in a window, not answering the telephone". Sequenced as the first track on Beatles for Sale, the song served as an uncharacteristic album opener, given its dramatic and resentful mood. MacDonald attributes effectiveness to the acoustic guitar backing and the treatment given to Martin's piano part, which is rendered as "a darkly reverbed presence" rather than a distinct instrument. The vocals on the song are "massively haloed in echo", contributing to a mid-section providing "among the most exciting thirty seconds" of all the Beatles' recordings. "I'm a Loser" Music critic Richie Unterberger singles out "I'm a Loser" as "one of the very first Beatles compositions with lyrics addressing more serious points than young love". Rowley considered it to be an "obvious copy of Bob Dylan", as when Lennon refers to the listener as a "friend", Dylan does the same on "Blowin' in the Wind". He also said its intention was to "openly subvert the simple true love themes of their earlier work". In Riley's view, "I'm a Loser" inaugurates a theme in Lennon's writing, in which his songs serve as "personal responses to fame". "Baby's in Black" As the third track on the album, "Baby's in Black" conveys the same sad and resentful outlook of the two preceding songs. Unterberger views it as "a love lament for a grieving girl that was perhaps more morose than any previous Beatles song". It was the first song recorded for the album and features a two-part harmony sung by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney recalled: "'Baby's in Black' we did because we liked waltz-time ... And I think also John and I wanted to do something bluesy, a bit darker, more grown-up, rather than just straight pop." Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn cites the band's dedication to achieving a discordant twanging sound for Harrison's lead guitar part, and Martin's objection to the song opening with this sound, as an