the B-side to "A Hard Day's Night" in the UK on 10 July 1964. On the same day, they released the album A Hard Day's Night, with "Things We Said Today" sequenced as the tenth track, between "I'll Cry Instead" and "When I Get Home". The single remained number one for four weeks, while the album held the spot for 21 weeks. In the US – where Capitol Records altered the Beatles' albums track listings, reducing the number of songs and using single A- and B-sides to create further album releases – the song was instead released on the North American album Something New. Released on 20 July 1964, "Things We Said Today" is sequenced as the second track, between "I'll Cry Instead" and "Any Time At All". The album was number two for nine weeks, behind the Beatles' soundtrack album A Hard Day's Night. Both McCartney and Lennon were particularly fond of "Things We Said Today", with McCartney calling it "a sophisticated little tune". Lennon dominated the songwriting of A Hard Day's Night; "Things We Said Today" is one of only three McCartney compositions on the album, the other two being "And I Love Her" and "Can't Buy Me Love". Journalist Mark Hertsgaard contends that, despite this disparity, McCartney's three compositions are equal to Lennon's best contributions. He considers "Things We Said Today" one of the five "masterworks" of the album, and that it "[comes] close to outshining" its A-side, "A Hard Day's Night". Music critic Wilfrid Mellers calls the song the Beatles' deepest and most beautiful song to that point. In particular, he writes that the lyric "Deep in love / Not a lot to say" is "precisely that the love experience is too deep for words. [And the music] acts this out, creating an experience no longer just happy but full of awe". Author Jonathan Gould calls "Things We Said Today" a "darkly beautiful love song", writing that McCartney "holding out the ends of his lines" suggests his hope to "prolong the happiness of the present moment". Author Chris Ingham calls the song "skillful" and "haunting", displaying the same "minor-major ambivalence" heard on Lennon's "I'll Be Back". Howard Kramer of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also compares it to "I'll Be Back", saying they both "ring slightly of melancholy" and anticipate the style of songs heard eighteen months later on Rubber Soul. Writing for AllMusic,