A Hard Day's Rut

A Hard Day's Rut is the third Rutles album. Having conquered hearts in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, The Rutles set their sights on the world in 1964. They started it with concerts in Rutland and Paris, before making history by conquering America in February, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show before an estimated 73 million viewers.

The Rutles followed up their Stateside triumph with a world tour, numerous interviews, television appearances and new recordings, and starred in their debut feature film. And despite their whirlwind schedule of touring and studio sessions, the soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Rut turned out to be one of The Rutles’ strongest long-players.

The album was recorded over nine non-consecutive days, between January and June 1964. In between the sporadic sessions The Rutles fulfilled their touring and filming commitments, with Ron Nasty and Dirk McQuickly writing some of their strongest songs to date.

What’s more, The Rutles refused to take the easy option and delve into their Cavern Club-era songbook, selecting some of the numerous cover versions in their repertoire to pad out the original compositions. A Hard Day’s Rut became their first album to consist solely of original material, and was The Rutles’ only release to consist solely of songs written by Nasty-McQuickly.