It Won't Be Long

"It Won't Be Long" is a song by the English rock group the Beatles, released as the opening track on their second UK album With the Beatles (1963), and was the first original song recorded for it.[1] Although credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was primarily a composition by John Lennon, with Paul McCartney assisting with the lyrics and arrangement.[2]

This article is about the song by the Beatles. For other uses, see It Won't Be Long (disambiguation).
"It Won't Be Long"
The German single release of the song, backed with "Devil in Her Heart"
Song by the Beatles
from the album With the Beatles
PublishedNorthern Songs
Released22 November 1963 (UK)
20 January 1964 (US)
Recorded30 July 1963
StudioEMI, London
GenreRock
Length2:13
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin

Composition

John Lennon claimed this song in 1971 and 1980. In about 1995 Paul McCartney described the song as dominated by John, but written in collaboration. “John mainly sang it so I expect that it was his original idea but we both sat down and wrote it together."[2][3] The chorus is a play on the words "be long" and "belong".[4] The song features early Beatles trademarks such as call-and-response yeah-yeahs and scaling guitar riffs.[5] Typical also of this phase of Beatles songwriting is the melodramatic ending (similar to "She Loves You", which had just been recorded and was about to be released) where the music stops, allowing Lennon a brief solo vocal improvisation before the song finishes on a "barber shop" major seventh[4] ("She Loves You" ends on a major sixth). The middle eight uses chromatically descending chords over which Lennon, McCartney and Harrison sing in counterpoint.

John Lennon, in his final interview, told Playboy magazine that the song was the beginning of a wider audience for Beatles music than the youthful throngs that had fervently followed them from their Liverpool clubbing days. "It was only after a critic for the [London] Times said we put 'Aeolian cadences' in 'It Won't Be Long' that the middle classes started listening to us. ... To this day, I have no idea what 'Aeolian cadences' are. They sound like exotic birds."[6] In fact, the critic, William Mann, had written this about the song "Not a Second Time."[7] Rolling Stone stated that "It Won't Be Long" was "the kind of song Bob Dylan had in mind when he wrote that Beatles chords were 'outrageous, just outrageous.'"[8] With its composers not being versed in musical theory, the song incorporates chords it "shouldn't", being in the key of E but veering off into D, C and F#, and "a hybrid of D and Bm".[9]

Recording and release

The Beatles recorded this song on 30 July 1963 in two sessions. The first session was in the morning, where they recorded 10 takes. The second session was in the afternoon, where they recorded seven takes, misnumbered as takes 17–23. The final product was a combination of takes 17 and 21, put together on 21 August.[10]

The original release in the UK was on With the Beatles, 22 November 1963. In the US, "It Won't Be Long" first appeared on Meet the Beatles!, released 20 January 1964.[11]

The song was never performed live or at any of the group's BBC sessions, although they did lip-synch to the track on an edition of Ready Steady Go! in March 1964.

Personnel
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[5]

Covers

Notes
  1. Lewisohn 1988, p. 34.
  2. Miles 1998, p. 152.
  3. Compton 2017, p. 59.
  4. MacDonald 2005, p. 92.
  5. MacDonald 2005, p. 91.
  6. "John Lennon Interview: Playboy 1980 (Page 3)". Beatlesinterviews.org. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  7. "The Beatles - Not A Second Time - History and Information". Oldies.about.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  8. "53 - 'It Won't Be Long'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  9. Hertsgaard, Mark (1995). A Day In the Life: the Music and Artistry of the Beatles. New York: Delacorte Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-385-31377-2.
  10. The Beatles Bible 2009.
  11. Lewisohn 1988, pp. 200–201.

References
  • Compton, Todd (2017). Who Wrote the Beatle Songs? A History of Lennon-McCartney. Pahreah Press. ISBN 978-0-9988997-0-1.
  • "It Won't Be Long". The Beatles Bible. 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  • Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-55798-7.
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-84413-828-3.
  • Miles, Barry (1998). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. London: Vintage. ISBN 0-7493-8658-4.
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