The First of Several Beatles Tunes

#10 I’ll Be Back – The Beatles 1964/65

It’s easy to predict that any Boomer’s list of favorite songs would include one or more
Beatles’ tunes. Yes, some people did not like the Beatles, but they’re probably aliens or communists or something, so never mind. However, most Beatles’ fans may not list “I’ll Be Back” as their top 10 Beatles tunes. You know, it’s hard to dance to. But the minute I heard it on the radio, I had to have it. The switch from minor or major through the song, the simple three acoustic notes then a chord at the beginning, apparently two different bridges but no chorus, a truncated last verse – all of it enchanted me.

 It was released in 1964 in the UK on the album A Hard Day’s Night but wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1965 on the Beatles ’65 album. This happened a lot back in the day – two separate releases and different albums with different songs in the U.S. So, let’s pause for a brief side note. 

 About six months before the release of Beatles ’65 in the U.S., I had become a pen pal with a woman in Canada (I don’t remember her name or where she was from) as a result of having an idea of mine published in a Sunday comic that featured drawn plays on words and puns. I could look up the name of the comic and all that, but this isn’t a master’s research project, it’s just a microblog, so you’ll have to take my word on it. This woman was impressed with my idea (something about a dad robin feeding a baby robin named “Crusoe,” so it was “Robin’s son, Crusoe”). Hey, I was thirteen; give me a break. So, she wrote to me, and I wrote back. I somehow learned that Beatles ’65 had been released in Canada first, so I begged her to send me the album, for which I would pay her back. 

 However, when it arrived, I had no idea how I would pay her, being completely unaware of how money orders worked, especially international money orders, and only a vague idea about how checks worked. Months passed, and I was so humiliated about not paying her back, I had stopped writing to her, and even playing the album made me feel guilty. So, I asked my dad how I could fix that. I don’t know how he did it, but he said he’d take care of it, and chewed me out for begging “foreigners” to send me stuff. The woman never wrote to me again. But at least I could listen to the album.

 The story of the tune is that, while all songs written either by John Lennon or Paul McCartney are credited as Lennon/McCartney tunes, “I’ll Be Back” is a Lennon tune, which he wrote by changing up the chords of a Del Shannon song, “Runaway,” which had been released in the UK in 1961. It’s a big contrast to the swagger in previous Lennon tunes like “When I Get Home” and “You Can’t Do That.” “I’ll Be Back,” is more emotional, more open, and is a look into the future that would produce the album Rubber Soul and other more confessional tunes. Lennon originally intended for it to be a waltz (6/8 time), but said it was too hard to sing, so they resorted to 4/4 time. You can hear the two versions on the Anthology 1 album.

 I loved the minor key, the change ups, and while I didn’t have anyone to go back to, I appreciated the emotional stubbornness of

 You know if you break my heart I'll go
But I'll be back again
Cos I told you once before goodbye
But I came back again

 Give it a listen and tell me what you think. Have any of you young’uns heard this before?

 Spotify: "I'll Be Back" -- The Beatles

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