I'll Be on My Way

"I'll Be on My Way" is a song written by Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon–McCartney, first released on 26 April 1963 by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas as the B-side of their hit debut single "Do You Want to Know a Secret", a song also written by Lennon–McCartney. The single reached number two in the UK charts while "From Me to You" by the Beatles occupied the number 1 position. The Beatles recorded a version of the song on 4 April 1963 for BBC radio, first released on the 1994 compilation album Live at the BBC.

"I'll Be on My Way"
Single by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas
A-side"Do You Want to Know a Secret (UK) From A Window (US)"
Released26 April 1963
Recorded14, 21 March 1963
Length1:40
LabelParlophone (UK)
Imperial (US)
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin
"I'll Be on My Way"
Song by the Beatles
from the album Live at the BBC
Released
  • 30 November 1994 (UK)
  • 5 December 1994 (US)
Recorded4 April 1963
StudioBBC Paris Theatre, London
GenrePop
Length1:58
LabelApple Records
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)Bryant Marriott, George Martin (Executive Producer)

Composition

John Lennon explained "I'll Be on My Way" "was early Paul."[1] Credited to Lennon–McCartney, Paul McCartney wrote the song in the first half of 1959.[2] Author Todd Compton attributes it to "McCartney–Lennon."[3] McCartney wrote the song on his first guitar, a Framus Zenith acoustic guitar.[4] In The Beatles Anthology, McCartney recalls, "All my first songs... were written on the Zenith; songs like 'Michelle' and 'I Saw Her Standing There'. It was on this guitar that I learnt 'Twenty Flight Rock', the song that later got me into the group The Quarry Men."[5] When first written, the song had little beyond its melody.[6] The song was fleshed out years later after the Beatles added it to their live repertoire.[6][nb 1]

The song is heavily inspired by Buddy Holly. Musicologist and writer Ian MacDonald writes, "Played a little faster, the song reveals its debt to Buddy Holly's simple three-chords schemes. (Imagine each chorus finishing 'I'll be on my way ah-hey-hey'.)"[8] Everett agrees, writing the song "has strong Holly ties, especially in the duet refrain,"[9] as does Lewisohn who calls the song "Hollyesque."[6] The rising and falling chromatic line of the guitar intro comes from the Crickets' cover of "Don't Ever Change",[10] especially the augmented E chord.[6] After measure 11, McCartney's vocal part moves to a descant in parallel thirds above Lennon's, a technique derivative of Holly's normal double-tracked vocal patterns.[10]

Though Lennon sang the lead vocal as a harmony duet with McCartney, he never liked the song.[6] Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes that while performing it, "when they got to the line 'this way will I go'—[Lennon] pulled a crip face and hunched himself Quasimodo-like around the microphone. Paul had no choice but to ride the laughter."[11]

Recording

McCartney made a demo of the song prior to Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas recording it.[10] Dakotas guitarist Mike Maxwell claims that he still owns the acetate and that all of the Beatles play on it, though this claim has never been substantiated.[12]

The Beatles recorded the song on 4 April 1963 at the BBC Paris Theatre, London, and broadcast on the BBC radio show Side by Side on 24 June 1963.[8] Everett writes that George Harrison's guitar solo features "the clash of bent unison double-stops",[13] similar to those of Scotty Moore in Elvis Presley's "Just Because" and "Jailhouse Rock" and in Jerry Lee Lewis's "Livin' Lovin' Wreck".[14]

Release and reception

Everett suggests the Beatles recorded a rendition of the song only to help promote the Kramer's record.[10] The Beatles released their version on the 1994 album Live at the BBC.[8][15] It is the only song on the album that was previously unreleased.[16]

MacDonald describes the lyrics and music as "almost derisively naive".[8] Lewisohn singles out the lyric "When the June light turns to moonlight" as the kind Lennon and McCartney "usually spurned" in others.[17] McCartney reflected on the work in his official biography, Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, saying "It’s a little bit too June-moon for me, but these were very early songs and they worked out quite well."[18] In 1980, John Lennon said of the song, "That’s Paul, through and through. Doesn’t it sound like him? Tra la la la la [laughs]. Yeah, that’s Paul on the voids (joys) of driving through the country."[19] Everett writes the "this way I will go" lyrics, "are too closely related, in an innocent way, to those of "I'll Follow the Sun."[10] He concludes that the chord transitions are ultimately uninteresting.[10]

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald:[8]

The Billy J. Kramer version

Kramer and the Dakotas recorded "I'll Be On My Way" on 14 and 21 March 1963.[20]

Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas released their cover of the song as the B-side of their hit debut single, "Do You Want to Know a Secret"[8] on 26 April 1963.[21] The record held at #2 nationally in the U.K., second to the Beatles' "From Me To You".[22] This version of the song is included on the 1979 EMI album The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away.[23]

References

Footnotes
  1. Walter Everett writes the song was added to the Beatles' repertoire in "the last months of 1961",[7] while Lewisohn writes it was not until September 1962.[6]

Citations
  1. Cadogan 2008.
  2. Lewisohn 2013, p. 214–215.
  3. Compton 2017, pp. 48-49.
  4. Lewisohn 2013, p. 215, 705.
  5. The Beatles 2000, p. 20.
  6. Lewisohn 2013, p. 705.
  7. Everett 2001, p. 101.
  8. MacDonald 2005, p. 82.
  9. Everett 2001, p. 52.
  10. Everett 2001, p. 169.
  11. Lewisohn 2013, p. 706.
  12. Everett 2001, p. 388n190.
  13. Everett 2001, pp. 134–135.
  14. Everett 2001, p. 135.
  15. Everett 2001, p. 160.
  16. Goodden 2008.
  17. Lewisohn 2013, p. 215.
  18. Miles 1998.
  19. Sheff 2000, p. 170.
  20. Everett 2001, p. 167.
  21. Everett 2001, p. 387n182.
  22. Everett 2001, p. 167–168.
  23. Calkin 2002.

Sources
  • The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-2684-6. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  • Cadogan, Patrick (2008). The Revolutionary Artist: John Lennon's Radical Years. Lulu. ISBN 978-1-4357-1863-0.
  • Calkin, Graham (2002). "Collaborations: The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away". JPGR. Retrieved 29 October 2006.
  • Compton, Todd (2017). Who Wrote the Beatle Songs? A History of Lennon-McCartney. Pahreah Press. ISBN 978-0-9988997-0-1.
  • Everett, Walter (2001). The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  • Goodden, Joe (2008). "I'll Be On My Way". The Beatles Bible. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  • Lewisohn, Mark (2013). The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In. Crown Archetype. ISBN 978-1-4000-8305-3.
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (2nd revised ed.). London: Pimlico. ISBN 978-1-84413-828-9.
  • Miles, Barry (1998). Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. London: Secker & Warburg. ISBN 978-0-436-28022-1.
  • Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. St Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
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