The version I heard about "Ticket to Ride" was that it was originally "Ticket to Ryde" -- the town in the U.K. (Isle of Wight) but a manager or promoter said no one other than U.K. residents would get it. So, it was changed to "ride." From Beatles' History Website: "... on the Isle of Wight, on the south coast of Britain, there is a town by the name of Ryde. Paul’s cousin Bett and her husband Mike Robbins lived there and were the owners of a pub. Paul and John had hitch-hiked there for a visit back in 1960 (as well as a ferryboat trip in 1963) and it was something that Paul recalled later as inspiration for a title of a song, referring to a British railways ticket to the town of Ryde. “I remember talking about Ryde but it was John’s thing,” Paul remembers about the writing of the song."