john lennon and paul mccartney, who wrote most of the band's songs, had filled their earlier album, "a hard day's night", with original songs. the band began recording their next album only a week after finishing "a hard day's night", and they had little time to compose new music. the band filled the album with cover versions, of songs they had performed live in hamburg, germany and the cavern in liverpool, their hometown, before the beatles were famous. press agent derek taylor explained in the album's liner notes that all the recordings on "beatles for sale" were how the band played the music onstage.