It refers to a single song of an album

versus an album with many compositions

Mike :)

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Note added at 2 mins (2003-08-07 10:54:34 GMT)
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One musical composition on a 45. When several were included together, they were place on a 33 (an album).

At http://www.iamthebeatles.com/article1142.html

you'll find

Eight Days A Week

Although considered another true Lennon-McCartney collaboration, John said that it was written by Paul, and Paul says he wrote with John's influence. In any event, it was written as a potential title track for their next movie, which turned out to be Help! But, the title of Help! actually never changed and was always Help. This was written as a sort of just in case title song. What happened was that The Beatles chose the name of "Help" for their second movie, but were told there were copyright problems in that another had registered this name. Because of this, The Beatles first though that they could call their next movie "Beatles II," then decided on "Eight Arms To Hold You." Then, they decided that "Eight Arms To Hold You," made no sense as this was impossible, they then came up with the idea of an explanation mark at the end of "Help" making it now "Help!" therefore removing any copyright problems. McCartney got the idea for this song from the phrase "eight day's a week," from Ringo, who said it describing their terrible work schedule. It is unique in that it was the first Beatles' song to contain a faded intro, and was recorded on October 6 and 18, 1964.

Eight Days a Week

Although considered another true Lennon-McCartney collaboration, John said that it was written by Paul, and Paul says he wrote with John's influence. In any event, it was written as a potential title track for their next movie, which turned out to be Help! But, the title of Help! actually never changed and was always Help. This was written as a sort of just in case title song. What happened was that The Beatles chose the name of "Help" for their second movie, but were told there were copyright problems in that another had registered this name. Because of this, The Beatles first though that they could call their next movie "Beatles II," then decided on "Eight Arms To Hold You." Then, they decided that "Eight Arms To Hold You," made no sense as this was impossible, they then came up with the idea of an explanation mark at the end of "Help" making it now "Help!" therefore removing any copyright problems. McCartney got the idea for this song from the phrase "eight day's a week," from Ringo, who said it describing their terrible work schedule. It is unique in that it was the first Beatles' song to contain a faded intro, and was recorded on October 6 and 18, 1964.


Not too sure, but it sounds like 8 arms to hold you became 8 days a week!
The confusion re: Help seems to be referring to the film title, not the title of the single.

Hope this is of some help!

single is/was a vinyl recording with one song on each side

Now they are thinking of doing it with music CDs

Record label unveils single plans
Robbie Williams is one of EMI's biggest-sellers
Music giant EMI is to introduce a new system of prices for CD singles in an attempt to revive sales.

Most singles will be available on two-track discs for £1.99 - but releases by the biggest names will be priced at £3.99.

The changes come as the UK music industry tries to recover from a sales drop that has seen almost 40% fewer singles sold so far this year compared with the same period in 2002.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3126041.stm

Is a variation of what some colleagues suggested earlier.

It is really a small 45 or 33 rpm
containing only one song on each side.