Lennon's anguished self-exposure in 'Help!, opining that the song's "pseudo-hysterics" began as a joke. Riley similarly describes the song as partially parodic, singling out the backing vocals' response of "I'm down". Recording The Beatles recorded "I'm Down" on 14 June 1965 during a session for their fifth album, Help!, in which they also recorded McCartney's songs "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Yesterday". Recording in EMI's Studio Two, George Martin produced the session, assisted by balance engineer Norman Smith. The song's basic track features McCartney singing and playing bass, George Harrison on electric guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. On the band's first take, the song did not yet have a definitive ending, McCartney telling Harrison and Starr after the last chorus to "keeping going". The final attempt – take seven – was marked "best". The band overdubbed several parts onto take seven. Lennon and Harrison provided backing vocals, with Lennon singing in a low register, dropping to G during the choruses. Starr added further percussion with bongos while Harrison added a new guitar solo. Lennon added an organ solo with a Vox Continental electric organ – the first Beatles recording to feature the instrument – playing glissandos with his elbow in the style of American musician Jerry Lee Lewis. On 18 June, Martin and Scott returned to Studio Two to remix the track, along with the rest of the Help! album, for mono and stereo. The mixes are slightly different, with the stereo fading out two seconds earlier than the mono. On the stereo version, another overdubbed guitar solo is slightly audible, likely due to audio leakage from other microphones. Release and reception Capitol issued "I'm Down" in the US as the B-side of "Help!" on 19 July 1965, with EMI's Parlophone label releasing the same single in the UK four days later. While "Help!" reached number one in both countries, "I'm Down" did not chart, but did appear at number 101 on Billboard magazine's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. "I'm Down" remained relatively elusive among Beatles songs after its initial release, with critics and fans criticising Apple Records manager Allen Klein for omitting it from the 1973 compilation album 1962–1966. Capitol first included the song on an LP in June 1976, appearing on the double album compilation Rock 'n' Roll Music. While authors Nicholas Schaffner and Robert Rodriguez are each generally critical of the compilation, they count the