33: I’ll Be Back

Posted on | July 26, 2009 | 1 Comment

The final track on A Hard Day’s Night, I’ll Be Back is a lovely little song, and a neglected one. (Actually, I think there are several neglected songs on that album. Several craps ones, too, but you know how it is.)

This song originally started out slower, at a waltz tempo. It was changed for the sole reason that John thought — and I quote from where he messed up and ended the take — “it’s too hard to sing!” And I guess that at that pace, the “I thought that you would realize . . .” part would indeed be rather difficult. In any case, rather than work at the vocal to get it right, the Beatles being Beatles just decided to make the song easier to sing by speeding it up, and had it sounding great the next take (though I think it took them a couple more to perfect it. Sorry folks, I’m not pulling out the Mark Lewisohn book to check.)

Having heard both the original attempt (it’s on the Anthology) and the final version, I enjoy both but like the official release better. It’s more Beatle-y.

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