‘It Won’t Be Long’ kicked off The Beatles’ second UK album, With The Beatles. It heavily featured the band’s distinctive “Yeah, yeah” signature established with ‘She Loves You’, this time in a call-and-response style between John Lennon on lead vocals, and Paul McCartney and George Harrison doing harmonies.
The song was written mainly by Lennon, with help from McCartney. They were especially proud of the juxtaposition of ‘be long’ and ‘belong’, which McCartney compared to the wordplay that influenced ‘Please Please Me’.
I was doing literature at school, so I was interested in plays on words and onomatopoeia. John didn’t do literature but he was quite well read, so he was interested in that kind of thing. Like the double meaning of ‘please’ in a line like ‘Please, lend a little ear to my pleas’ that we used in ‘Please Please Me’. We’d spot the double meaning. I think everyone did, by the way, it was not just the genius of us! In ‘It won’t be long till I belong to you’ it was that same trip. We both liked to try and get a bit of double meaning in, so that was the high spot of writing that particular song. John mainly sang it so I expect that it was his original idea but we both sat down and wrote it together.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
‘It Won’t Be Long’ wasn’t The Beatles’ most polished studio performance; nor was it a fixture of their live set. It was, however, an attention-grabbing start to With The Beatles, proving to listeners that Please Please Me and ‘She Loves You’ had been no flash in the pan.
The Beatles were more intellectual, so they appealed on that level, too. But the basic appeal of the Beatles was not their intelligence. It was their music. It was only after some guy in the London Times said there were aeolian cadences in ‘It Won’t Be Long’ that the middle classes started listening to it – because somebody put a tag on it.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
In actual fact, in his article What Songs The Beatles Sang, The Times’ music critic William Mann mentioned aeolian cadences in ‘Not A Second Time’, rather than in ‘It Won’t Be Long’. Lennon, however, mentioned it once more in his 1980 interview with Playboy‘s David Sheff.
‘It Won’t Be Long’ is mine. It was my attempt at writing another single. It never quite made it. That was the one where the guy in the London Times wrote about the “Aeolian cadences of the chords” – which started the whole intellectual bit about The Beatles.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
In the studio
The song was completed during the second day’s recording for With The Beatles. On 30 July 1963 they did two sessions, bisected by a BBC recording and rehearsal for the Saturday Club show.
In the morning The Beatles recorded 10 takes of ‘It Won’t Be Long’, and a further seven in the afternoon. They then recorded five edit pieces, numbered 18-23; the final song was a combination of 17 and 21, spliced together on 21 August 1963.
Just listened to Anthology DVD in such a fantastic stereo mix: it destroys both mono and stereo 2009 cd remasters, where is this taken from?
From the same mix. Only that is rechanneled and remixed with the masters of that takes and not of the masters final mix. What i mean they maybe took the masters of Take 17 and 21 instead the combination on Anthology.
It could be. But i think is a tie for both.
does anyone else notice how selfish John Lennon is? He always has to make a point of saying a song is his with no recognition for Paul.
In “Many Years From Now”, Paul claims he was the producer, the arranger, the musical director; he made statements abouts his contribution to every song in this planet. If it was for him, he created the whole universe.
I believe Morgatron was being sarcastic.
I find it bizarre how defensive Team Lennon gets. I get it, he’s your guy, but how can you not take into consideration Beatles history and John’s personality? Paul didn’t talk about the Beatles in the 70’s, and even though John hated them, they’re mostly what he talked about… not to mention his Playboy interview detailing all Beatles songs was released posthumously in ’81. So now John’s words are set in stone and Paul can’t so much as say he helped John write a song (during a period in which they wrote together all the time) without Lennon acolytes freaking out. John was undoubtedly egocentric and disliked Paul for much of his post-Beatle career so here’s the real question… if Paul did in fact help him write this song (or any song that was mostly John’s for that matter) do you actually think he would unsolicitedly offer that information? I don’t think he would and I think that history proves that he rarely did.
Yikes. McCartney fans are a bizarrely insecure bunch lol
You didn’t acknowledge any of his points. It’s easy to call names while contributing nothing new.
John has been dead since 1980.
Therefore, only Paul’s version of the song writing story is the last word on the subject.
Paul died in 1966. The new guy was a pain and that explains all the animosity.
Certainly some Paul died in 1966. But not Paul McCartney.
THAT’S IT! Everyone (JohanC. !) hates “Faul”, not Paul!
I feel so much better now……
“[D]oes anyone else notice how selfish John Lennon is? He always has to make a point of saying a song is his with no recognition for Paul.”
I wouldn’t say ‘always’, but I notice it as well occasionally.
But it’s not unusual for two people to have disparate recollections of the same events.
John probably remembers it was his original idea, which, usually, is enough for him put his own stamp on it.
The Wikipedia-article about this song interprets Paul’s comments about ‘It Won’t Be Long’ as him pursuing the role of an arranger rather than an actual co-writer.
Sometimes it’s hard to determine where the line between writer/arranger goes, especially on John Lennon songs where Paul helped out — and maybe even finished the song.
John didn’t mention Paul’s input in any of the interviews I know[Hit Parader 1972, Playboy 1980], while Paul’s comments may lead you to believe the song was about 60/40 in John’s favour.
I’m perfectly happy to go with 80/20.
For people like me, who are into numbers, twenty percent for McCartney is sufficient for him to be acknowledged as co-writer of this excellent Lennon/McCartney song.
What’s the matter with you? In the Paul vs. John (silly) debate, you aren’t supposed to be rational! 😉
It is fairly easy to tell which Beatle wrote what. Their individual personalities are clearly reflected in the individual tunes. For instance “You’ve Got To hide Your Love Avay” vs.”Here There and Everywhere”. Not always crystal clear but a pretty good educated guess. Love them all, it was a magical alliance!
Many of Lennon’s comments as to particular Beatle songs were pulled from the same interview, in which he was asked to provide a little background as to who was the primary writer. When read as a whole, he seems to give equal credit to both Paul and himself. The interviewer chose the songs and Lennon commented from the top of his head. He gives equal praise and equal criticism as to what he thought good and bad in the bands catalog.
Magical middle 8 here – showing the creativity and genius of the songwriting.
A nice chromatic run down in a major key (E) – playing off the standard run down in a minor key (e.g. Michelle, Cry Baby Cry). Gorgeous. And the excitement in the singing matches it perfectly.
I was so impressed to see George was smiling with a bird on his hand with this song on Anthology video. He was so adorable! I wonder what kind of bird it was? A sea gull? I have no idea. If anyone knows it, please kindly answer me. Thank you!
Can anybody tell what George and Paul sing in the back exactly? I mean the part: youuu left me here on my owwwn… Now you’re coming on hooome… Yes… ???
Paul and George sing:
You left me here on my oooooown
Now you’re coming on hooooome, I should, coming on hooooome
At least that’s what I hear! I looked it up on other Beatles forums, etc., and they say the same thing. I hope I helped! 🙂
You left me here on my oooooown
Now you’re comin’ on hooooome,
Yes, you should, be coming on hooooome
Hello,i heard a great soulful/Tamla Motown style cover version to ‘it won’t be long’ by the The Beatles,does anyone out there know who did this great cover version?
What’s impressive here is just how much they can fit into a two-minute song. It’s a stunning composition, one of Lennon’s best early ones.
Love this song. Especially on the Canadian: “Beatlemania! With The Beatles” mono LP. It is so much louder than the UK version LP and I rarely like to give Capitol records credit for anything!
Although there is a video of the Beatles playing it in some tv program, they were only dubbing, and never really perfomed it live.
It´s annoying because it´s the first song on the album and it´s commercially strong, and an interesting composition in the harmonic aspect , starting on the relative chord of the key, with occasional minor key borrowed chord ( C in E major) , and the marvelous chromatic descent on the bridge, which is actually more complicated than in Micchelle, Cry Baby Cry and even Fixing a Hole, because is the chromatic descent of two notes, in four chords in sequence, rather than just only one.
The energy and the cleverness of the lyrics makes it even more interesting, and it´s as powerful as I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You.
My second favorite song on the with the beatles lp. The next track, all I’ve got to do is my favorite.
I have exactly the same reaction. It Won’t Be Long, such a firecracker; All I’ve Got To Do, so brooding and exquisite. What a one-two punch to open the album!
My second favorite too, but after Not A Second Time
wow i never would have thought that was anyones favorite from the album. easily in the top 10 weirdest beatles songs.
Yes, Gustavo and Joseph Bruch. One has to differ c o m p o s i t i o n from a r r a n g e m e n t. During the years 1963-1965, or before Yesterday, Lennon was the dominant composer, and that embarrasses McCartney enormously. Therefor, when Lennon was the composer of a song, and McCartney had added something, McCartney claims “it was co-written”. And all musicwriters believe he meant a ” co-composition”. It´s obvius that McCartney highly admires Lennon´s compositions, and perhaps is afraid that his own songs cannot age as well as Lennon´s.
” It´s obvius that McCartney highly admires Lennon´s compositions, and perhaps is afraid that his own songs cannot age as well as Lennon´s.”
And yet it is clearly the case that they do. Odd.
BTW, love this song. It is the song that brought me back to the Beatles 5 years ago.
Johan is too biased for a forum. He should write a book and learn how to spell obvious. Mccartney wrote Yesterday before 1965 and was a major player in the early songs. If you listen to outtakes of “I want to hold your hand” you can tell who was giving orders.
He is labeled as a music historian on other music/song websites. Either he fancies himself as one or he is really a music history revisionist is up to the reader’s opinion.
I can only laugh at Johan’s presumption (repeated throughout these comment sections) that he knows what was / is inside McCartney’s head (“…that embarrases McCartney enormously.”)
It’s obvious that he is too biased to offer a useful opinion on any Beatle-related matter, particularly songs and songwriting credits.
John Lennon in the David Sheff interview says how it was his attempt to write a single and like so many of their songs,(not released in that format), it would have made a great single. A collaboration, but mainly Lennon’s. It was a great way to kick start “With the Beatles”. I instantly loved this song when I first obtained this album.
wow i never would have thought that was anyones favorite from the album. easily in the top 10 weirdest beatles songs.
And Jon’s comment is easily one of the top 10 weirdest on this thread!
I was replying to a commenter who said Not A Second Time was his favorite track on the LP. Wasn’t talking about It Won’t Be Long.
Not A Second Time is a rather good song, as well. Your comment is still weird.
It won’t be long has to be one of the most underrated Beatle gems. I’ve never understood why it was not a single. It’s a riveting raucous performance from start to finish. The chord changes are unusual and harmonically sophisticated throughout particularly in the middle eight descending chord sequence. Lennon’s vocal is brilliant
as well as the Background vocals. I’ve always preferred this song to I wanna hold your hand she loves you and all my loving .
It literally explodes out of the speakers.
As to all the chatter about what McCartney’s contribution was or if there was one at all, I don’t doubt he had something to do with this song. It’s obvious that it was mainly Johns idea but the sophistication of the chords sound like he had a hand in it. Paul was far more musically advanced than John. And that’s taking nothing away from John Lennon who was as musically inspired as Paul in his own way. As George Martin said, there’s not a cigarette paper‘s difference in their talent.
I like the energy and the melody, a good starter for the Album not as good as “I saw her standing there”
but still good, not the best lyrics but who cares still a good song from the early days