I'll Be Back (song)

Song infobox
Name = I'll Be Back
Artist = The Beatles
Album = A Hard Day's Night
Released = 10 July 1964
track_no = 13
Recorded = Abbey Road Studios 1 June 1964
Genre = Rock
Length = 02:20
Writer = Lennon/McCartney
Label = Apple Records
Producer = George Martin
misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = A Hard Day's Night
Type = studio
Tracks = ;Side one
# "A Hard Day's Night"
# "I Should Have Known Better"
# "If I Fell"
# "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"
# "And I Love Her"
# "Tell Me Why"
# "Can't Buy Me Love";Side two
# "Any Time at All"
# "I'll Cry Instead"
# "Things We Said Today"
# "When I Get Home"
# "You Can't Do That"
# "I'll Be Back"

"I'll Be Back" is a John Lennon composition [Bill Harry "The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia" p.321] [Ian MacDonald "Revolution In The Head" p.106] credited to Lennon & McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles for the soundtrack LP to their film "A Hard Day's Night".

Lennon ostensibly created the song around the chords (but not the melody) of Del Shannon's "Runaway" [Ian MacDonald "Revolution in the Head" p.106] which had been a UK hit in April 1961. Author Bill Harry wrote: "He [Lennon] just reworked the chords of the Shannon number and came up with a completely different song". [Bill Harry "The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia" p.321]

With its heart-rending lyric and flamenco style acoustic guitars, "I'll Be Back" has a tragic air. The song oscillates between major and minor keys, appears to have two different bridges (transition themes) and does not have a chorus. The fade-out ending is unexpectedly sudden, seeming to arrive half a verse prematurely. [Ian MacDonald "Revolution in the Head" p.106 ] Music journalist Robert Sandall wrote in "Mojo Magazine": "'I'll Be Back' was the early Beatles at their most prophetic. This grasp of how to colour arrangements in darker or more muted tones foreshadowed an inner journey they eventually undertook in three albums' time, on "Rubber Soul". [Mojo Special Limited Edition "1000 days of Beatlemania" p.113]

Producer George Martin preferred to open and close Beatles albums (and sides) using dominant material. He wrote: "Another principle of mine when assembling an album was always to go out on a side strongly, placing the weaker material towards the end but then going out with a bang". [George Martin "Summer Of Love" p.149] With this in mind, "I'll Be Back", with its subdued perspective, could be considered an unexpected choice as the album closer. As author Ian MacDonald points out: "Fading away in tonal ambiguity at the end of "A Hard Day’s Night", it was a surprisingly downbeat farewell and a token of coming maturity". [Ian MacDonald "Revolution in the Head" p.106]

The "Anthology 1" CD includes an early take of the song in 6/8 time, before John Lennon fumbles over the words in the bridge, complaining on the take that "it's too hard to sing." A subsequent take, also included on "Anthology", is performed in the 4/4 time used in the final take.

Credits

*John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
*Paul McCartney – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, bass guitar
*George Harrison – backing vocals, acoustic guitar
*Ringo Starr – drums

Cover Versions

The Canadian band Peter Randall and the Raindogs performed what critics called "a letter perfect rendition" on their 1994 self-titled debut.

References