“IT WON’T BE LONG”

(John Lennon – Paul McCartney)

The pressure of songwriting can be tremendous when your intention is to extend a successful career. The list of "one hit wonders" of the '50s and '60s is long, and the list has grown to monumental proportions through later decades. Having a smash hit on the charts is a thrill, and is for most artists a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The trick then is to perpetuate a reputation as musicians or songwriters so that your latest release will be accepted by the masses with open arms even before it is heard. To reach that state, though, you need to prove yourself.

Within just a year's time, The Beatles had already proven themselves. They achieved their first British #1 (on most UK charts) with their second single “Please Please Me” in February of 1963. They followed this with “From Me To You,” which shot to #1 in Britain for an amazing seven weeks throughout May and June of that year. Then came their infectious pop anthem “She Loves You,” which also reached #1 but additionally broke all sales records in the UK by selling 1.3 million copies.

It was becoming quite apparent to the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team that having to continually "top" their last success was a daunting task. The pressure was on indeed! 

Songwriting History

In July of 1963, shortly after the group had recorded “She Loves You,” John’s wheels were turning as to what would be their follow up single. He came up with the chorus of a new song that utilized the repeating of the word “yeah” as “She Loves You” had done, figuring that fans would latch onto this gimmick after that single was released. Lennon's "sixth sense" was proven to be correct, their phrase “yeah, yeah, yeah” becoming the catchword phrase in the autumn of 1963.

Contained in the chorus of their new song was wordplay that John and Paul liked to throw in to their lyrics to shake things up. Their hit song "Please Please Me" contained the double use of the word “please,” using it as a request and then an action. In this case, Lennon utilized the phrase “be long” specifying an amount of time, with “belong” as to ownership. In Paul's 1997 book "Many Years From Now," he explained this interest in wordplay. “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. He was interested in that kind of thing.” Concerning this song, Paul continued “we both liked to try and get a bit of double meaning in. That was the high spot of writing that particular song...We'd spot the double meaning. I think everyone did, by the way, it was not just the genius of us!”

Lyrical double meanings appear frequently throughout the Lennon / McCartney catalog. In their song “You Won’t See Me,” that phrase meant that his girlfriend was too busy to give him any attention, but in the second verse it meant that if he would “turn away” she wouldn't have the ability to see him in a literal sense. In “Good Morning Good Morning,” a more subtle play on words can be detected in the similar sounding words of the verse “somebody needs to know the time; glad that I’m here.” These little tricks became a habit for them and created a fun exercise for Beatles fans to discover.

Despite John's insistance in an interview with David Sheff from Playboy magazine in 1980 that "'It Won't Be Long' was mine...my attempt at writing another single," it was at a songwriting session with Paul in July of 1963 that John debuted the newly written chorus of “It Won’t Be Long” to his collaborator with the specific intention of working it out with him. McCartney related, “John mainly sang it so I expect that it was his original idea but we both sat down and wrote it together.” With their intention of composing a follow-up single to the yet unreleased “She Loves You,” the team assembled an impressive package of verses and bridges in an unusual configuration with the already written chorus.

Another gimmick that was then introduced was their call-and-response presentation of the chorus which started out the song. The vocal juxtaposition of John and Paul’s “yeah”s became the attractive trademark of this chorus as well as the entire song. The twice repeated bridge, starting with the words “since you left me,” is particular evidence of their inventiveness in collaboration, with this descending chord pattern typical of Paul in contrast to the predominant single note melody line consistently found in John’s works (see "Help!" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" as examples) along with a counterpoint melody that all three vocalists sang on the recording. According to Rolling Stone magazine's "The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs" 2012 special edition, this descending chord sequence is pricisely what "Bob Dylan had in mind when he wrote The Beatles' chords were 'outrageous, just outrageous.'"

As history has revealed, “It Won’t Be Long” did not become The Beatles next single, nor was it released as a single at all in Britain or America. “It never really made it,” stated John concerning it not making the grade for becoming their next British single. Emphasis was being put on composing a song for their next single that would appeal particularly to record buyers in the US. When they tried again, they came up with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” which, as history shows, made the grade.

This is not to say that “It Won’t Be Long” was viewed to be a disappointment, because their producer George Martin was always looking for a “pot-boiler” to start off a new Beatles album, and this excellent song fit the bill for "With The Beatles," their second UK album. It may have been relegated to the fourth track on the US “Meet The Beatles!” album but, however, the technical superiority of the fast-paced rocker made this a definite standout on the album.

"The Beatles were more intellectual, so they appealed on that level too," stated Lennon as quoted in David Sheff's book "All We Are Saying." "But the basic appeal of The Beatles was not their intelligence. It was the music. It was only after some guy in The London Times (William Mann) stated that there were aeolian cadences within 'It Won't Be Long' that middle classes started listening to it, because somebody put a tag on it." The writer William Mann, in his London Times article titled "What Songs The Beatles Sang" published on December 27th, 1963 actually referred to the song "Not A Second Time" as including "aeolian cadences," but John's point is still valid. 

Recording History

“It Won’t Be Long” happened to be their first original song recorded for their second album “With The Beatles.” Five cover songs were partially recorded or completed for the album before work started on what was then thought to be their next single.

The second day of recording sessions for the “With The Beatles” album was on July 30th, 1963 in EMI Studio Two. The first of the two recording sessions that day ran from 10 am to 1:30 pm, their first point of business being completely recording of a cover version of The Marvelettes’ hit “Please Mister Postman.” Next on the agenda, at approximately 11:30 am, The Beatles started recording “It Won’t Be Long.” Ten takes were made in this early session, which included two overdubs of the conclusion. Unfortunately, all of this was scrapped with the intention of starting again in the second recording session of that day.

After the group left for a rehearsal and recording session at The Playhouse Theatre for the BBC radio program “Saturday Club,” they returned to EMI Studio Two for their second session from 5 till 11 pm. After adding overdubs to the previous recording sessions for the track “Money (That’s What I Want),” doing a complete remake of their previously recorded “Till There Was You” and fully recording and completing another cover tune, Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” The Beatles finally returned to “It Won’t Be Long” approximately between 8 and 10 pm.

The group started from scratch, recording takes 11 through 17, "take 17" now being considered acceptable up until the end of the second verse. With this in mind, they proceeded to record just the second half of the song with the intention of this being edited together with "take 17" of the first half of the song. The Beatles made six attempts at this edit piece, these attempts being designated as takes 18 through 23. It was then decided that "take 21" was the best of their edit pieces. At this point, "take 17" of the first half of the song and "take 21" of the second half were both apparently individually transferred from the original two-track tape to a second two-track machine so that Lennon could simultaneously double-track his lead vocals onto each tape individually when they were being transferred. Since they wanted to move on to record "All My Loving" before the recording session was due to end at 11 pm, it was decided that the two halves of "It Won't Be Long" would be edited together at a later date. 

July 30th, 1963 proved to be a very productive day for the group. Five of the 14 songs that were required for their second British album “With The Beatles” were completed, as well as most of a sixth track. Ten of the songs on their first album "Please Please Me" may very well have been finished in one day, but not with the expanding technical advances and studio tricks of that time period, such as the increased amount of vocal overdubbing, that were used on "With The Beatles." By 11 pm, the very productive July 30th, 1963 session was finally complete.

August 21st, 1963 was the date designated for preparing mono mixes for eight of the tracks designated for "With The Beatles." Only producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick appear to have been present for these two mixing sessions in the control room of EMI Studio Three, which stretched from 10 am to 1 pm and then 2 to 5:30 pm.

Four of these songs first needed editing, "It Won't Be Long" being one of them. "Take 17" featuring the first half and "take 21" of the second half of the song were edited together, thus developing what Ian MacDonald described in his book "Revolution In The Head" as "a dreadful edit at 1:08, slicing off an impatient flourish from Lennon's Rickenbacker." A mono mix of this edit was then created, this being the official mono recording released in most countries.

"It Won't Be Long" later received its only stereo mix on October 29th, 1963 utilizing the very same edited tape created on August 21st, 1963. This prepared the song for its stereo albums in their home country and in America. The same engineers were present in the studio with George Martin at this session, joined by a mysterious engineer known only by the initials "B.T." This stereo mix was used by Capitol Records to create a mono "Type B" mix for the mono edition of the "Meet The Beatles!" album in the US by combining both channels of this stereo mix, a process they used for most of this album instead of using George Martin's superior mono mix created on August 21st, 1963. 

Song Structure and Style

As stated earlier, the structure for “It Won’t Be Long” is somewhat unusual. The use of a chorus in Lennon / McCartney songs came to the fore a little bit later and became a common feature of their writing formula as their career progressed. Here, however, we witness the first time an actual “chorus” appears within a Lennon / McCartney composition. The format here consists of a chorus, three verses and a bridge repeated twice. The song structure was a confusing 'chorus/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus' (resulting in an abacbacba structure).

The song begins with the chorus which starts with a minor chord, although the song is in a major key. But the first thing we hear is Lennon’s overdubbed vocals because the lyric line actually begins three eighth notes before the first measure. Each chorus consists of the common eight measures.

We then go into the first verse of the song which, like all the verses, consists of an odd seven measures. Lennon, who habitually liked to omit or add measures (as well as beats per measure) to a song, introduces this here for the first time. (Notable examples are "Revolution," "Across The Universe," and early recordings of "Cry Baby Cry" and "Dig A Pony.") These verses could be evened out to eight measures in the obvious places by adding another measure between the first and second lyric line but this would elongate the verses, thus resulting in an awkward pause appearing. Wisely, and no doubt with George Martin’s influence, this idea was dismissed.

After the obligatory "Beatles break" in the last bar of the verse (although with George’s guitar line still in place and John’s vocal line introducing the chorus), another identical chorus follows. This time the chorus segues directly into an eight bar bridge featuring subdued drums and intricate background vocals, thus creating the textured backdrop to the reflective and then optimistic lyrics. This bridge, with its Miracles’ style of sophistication, serves to relieve the non-stop tension heard thus far in the song.

This bridge acted as a natural segue into another verse that is identical in structure, with just Lennon’s double-tracked vocals to the fore. This ends with another break leading into another identical chorus. They then repeat the same bridge/verse/chorus pattern another time, the only differences here being a new set of lyrics in the verse and an unexpected break in the sixth bar of the chorus. This song then resolves in a surprising fashion with its descending guitar chords as a backdrop to the held out final note of Lennon on the word “you.” This climaxes into "one of the group's favourite barber-shop major sevenths," as Ian MacDonald described it in his 1994 book "Revolution In The Head," utilizing the harmonies of Paul, George and (slipping into falsetto) Lennon. This melodramatic conclusion appears to be most appropriate considering their intention of this song being a potential follow up to the similarly concluded “She Loves You.”

All in all, it can be stated that the arrangement of "It Won't Be Long" grabs the attention of the listener and packs this track with non-stop guts and drive. The Beatles' intended philosophy in their early sessions was to incorporate as many changes and surprises as they could, this being especially the case when the song was slated to be their next single. This never-a-dull-moment attitude permeates “It Won’t Be Long,” leaving no doubt as to their intent of the song.

John is definitely in the forefront here with his razor-sharp rhythm guitar and commanding lead vocals. This is the first song with Lennon singing that featured double-tracked lead vocals. This was the perfect vehicle for this because John's vocals were not sung in unison with Paul as were many of their previous recordings. This added a deserved fullness to Lennon's vocal track, which resulted in a very confident and convincing vocal performance. “That’s when we discovered double-tracking,” John later stated. “When I discovered it, I double-tracked everything. I wouldn’t let him have anything single-tracked from then on.” Although this was an exaggeration, listeners can't help but notice how prominent their double-tracking of vocals and lead guitar lines were to become throughout the next couple of years.

McCartney’s bass work is slightly pedestrian in comparison with many of his other elaborate contributions for the earlier Beatles catalog, but with everything else going on, intricate bass lines would surely distract from the busy arrangement found in this song. Other than mimicking George’s guitar phrase at the end of each verse, Paul pretty much plays the signature chords of the song throughout its entirety. His energetic “yeah” answer harmonies with Harrison in syncopation with John on the choruses, as well as his harmony phrases during the bridges, are Paul’s true highlights in the song.

Harrison cooperatively added his repetitive guitar phrases every time that a lull in the proceedings occurred, which ended up being twice at the end of almost every chorus and three times for every verse. This calls to mind the original arrangement of “Please Please Me,” where George kept hitting the same guitar passage repetitively, which caused producer Ron Richards to complain: "For Christ's sake, George, just play in the gaps!" On that day, the guitarist apparently learned a valuable trick that he then incorporated into his performance on “It Won’t Be Long.” His harmony work with McCartney in the choruses and bridges of the song stand out for George as a highlight, as well as the classy guitar flourishes that give him the true spotlight at the songs finale.

Ringo recaptures the "swing-beat" style of their trademark sound, such as we hear on “I Saw Her Standing There” but at a little slower pace. This allows for their intricate ‘gimmick word-play’ of the choruses to not be at a frantic unintelligible speed. He is afforded the opportunity to put in a few simple drum fills, such as at the end of most choruses and bridges, while a tight staccato drum fill acts as a "band fill" with Lennon’s 16th note guitar chops at the end of each verse before the break. Ringo makes sure he closes up his usually open hi-hat during each bridge to ease the tension of the song, which creates a subtle “Miracles” style smoothness. With his backbeat holding this track together, “It Won’t Be Long” becomes a tightly wound arrangement with hardly a flaw.

On the surface, this song's lyrics portray a fairly standard story concerning anticipation for the vocalist's girlfriend to return to him. Although McCartney did indeed help somewhat with the words, it can easily be determined that John Lennon’s pen was doing most of the lyric writing in this case. The predominance of sorrow is depicted in the usual Lennon style with lines like “tears come down from my eyes,” “sitting all on my own” and “I’ve done nothing but cry.” In addition, he imagines that “everybody has fun” while he sits alone in anguish.

Most writers conclude that Lennon's anguish was the result of his tragic upbringing, losing both his father (by abandonment) and his mother (by death) early in his life. He actually felt this loss three times because of his mother handing him over to be raised by his Aunt Mimi at a young age and then by her actual death many years later. “I lost my mother twice,” Lennon had said, “Once as a child of five and then again at 17.”

Thelma Pickles (later McGough) who dated John shortly after his mother’s death, was once quoted as explaining that “rejection and betrayal were his experience of life...(his) life was very isolated. He lived with Mimi who looked after him extremely well but there was no closeness.” Although John's rough and sarcastic exterior was what was viewed by most people who knew him, this inner turmoil from his life experience came through in his lyrics throughout his songwriting career. That being the case, even in this optimistic song about a returning love, the predominant focus of the lyrics is on the sadness he was experiencing while she was gone.

One subtle fault can be isolated in the aforementioned lines appearing in the verse, while the identical melody line and chord structure of the final verse depicts joy, thus featuring lines like “we’ll be happy I know.” A more common and acceptable practice would have a chord pattern and melody line with a reflective, moody minor key for portraying sad lyrics and an excited major key for the optimistic positive lyrics. While this conveys a slightly unconvincing message as is, it does not spoil the overall effect of the song. This is especially the case with Lennon's dynamically jubilant final phrase “till I belong to you” which is sung with great emphasis and glee, making us all want to high-five John in congratulations.

An interesting side note concerning this track is the obvious influence of Arthur Alexander, which can easily be detected in Lennon’s singing style for this song. The line “you won’t leave me no mo,” which is also witnessed in their version of Arthur Alexander’s “Anna” on their first album, is a result of a flattering imitation of one of Lennon’s favorite singers of that time. Direct evidence that the lyric was written into the song with that pronunciation in mind can be seen in that the line rhymes with “we’ll be happy I know.” Lennon purposely wanted to imitate Arthur Alexander in this song!  

American Releases

The official release of “It Won’t Be Long” in the US was on January 20th, 1964 on their historic album “Meet The Beatles!” This LP was later released on compact disc on January 21st, 2014, both the stereo and mono mixes being contained on a single disc. A mono edition on opaque blue vinyl was released on November 22nd, 2024 for sale exclusively at Target stores. Since "It Won't Be Long" was never released as a single in the UK or the US and received minimal exposure by the group themselves, it forever remained an essential but often forgotten album track. Therefore it never appeared on any compilation or "greatest hits" package through the years. Nonetheless, this song did wind up in the homes of millions of Americans as The Beatles had hoped, although this was as a cut on their first Capitol album.

There were actually three other releases of this song in the early months of 1964, all of these being quite the collector's items today. The first one came out in January of 1964, this being a Compact 33 EP Disc (#SXA 2047) as intended for jukebox play. This EP, entitled “Meet The Beatles,” came with the standard album cover but in the size of a 7” record. The cover was intended for display in the jukebox window. The EP contained non-single tracks from the LP because the jukebox undoubtedly contained the latest Beatles singles anyway. “It Won’t Be Long” was put in the flattering position of first song on side one.

Then, in February of 1964, Capitol issued and sent out to American disc jockeys the first of two interview discs as part of their promotional campaign for the group. Side one of this disc, which they entitled “The Beatles Open-End Interview” (#PRO 2549), contained recorded statements by the band with gaps of silence in which the disc jockey could read the questions that were printed on the back of the record sleeve. When done correctly, the illusion of a personal interview with The Beatles was created. After the "interview" was completed, the disc would next play their latest single “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” In order to promote more tracks from their album, side two contained two songs Capitol felt would work well on the radio. The second of these was “It Won’t Be Long.”

Also, in February of 1964, Capitol released a promotional album entitled “Great New Releases From The Sound Capitol Of The World.” This disc, which was made up of assorted Capitol artists, was also sent out to radio stations in an effort to have them play a complete side of the LP on the radio. “It Won’t Be Long” was featured on side two of the album, which also featured pop singer Wayne Newton, Wanda Jackson and comedians Len Weinrib and Joyce Jameson. Although it is quite unlikely that radio stations would have programmed this entire side on the air at one time, this album nonetheless constitutes a release of the song on disc.

Sometime in 1967, Capitol released Beatles music on a brand new but short-lived format called "Playtapes." The cartridges didn't have the capacity to include entire albums, so two four-song "Playtapes" of "Meet The Beatles" were released to the public, the song "It Won't Be Long" being featured on one of these. These "Playtapes" are quite hard to find these days and are highly collectable.

The first time the original "With The Beatles" album was released in America was the "Original Master Recording" vinyl edition which was made available from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in January of 1987. This album, which included "It Won't Be Long," was made utilizing half-speed mastering technology from the original master tape on loan from EMI. This title had a very limited production, reportedly because of a damaged metal part that was required for pressing the vinyl. Therefore, this LP is said to be the rarest and most valuable Beatles' album in the “Original Master Recording” series.

On February 26th, 1987, the first four UK Beatles albums, including "With The Beatles" that opened with the song "It Won't Be Long," were first released in America on CD, a vinyl edition being released on July 21st, 1987. The album was only made available in mono up until September 9th, 2009 when the remastered stereo CD version was released, their stereo vinyl edition being released on November 13th, 2012.

The CD box set called “The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1,” this featuring the original "Meet The Beatles!" LP in stereo and "Type B" foldover mono as this originally did, came out on November 26th, 2004. 

September 9th, 2009 was the release date for their CD box set “The Beatles In Mono” that featured a remastered mono mix of “It Won’t Be Long” on its “With The Beatles” disc. The vinyl edition of this box set first came out on September 9th, 2014. 

Live Performances

Since the song did not get a single release in Britain or the US, The Beatles apparently viewed this as somewhat of a failure at the time and gave focus to their recent hits and favorite album tracks for their live concerts. Therefore, “It Won’t Be Long” wasn't ever in their live set lists. Nor was it ever performed for any BBC radio performances.

The intricate arrangement used on the song may have been a deterrent to them playing this song live, as can be witnessed during their lip-synced performance of this song on the popular British TV show "Ready Steady Go" on the episode of March 20th, 1964. They flub their way through the song as if they hadn't rehearsed it since they had recorded it eight months earlier in July of the previous year. Especially embarrassing (and entertaining) is John’s inability to remember the lyrics, as well as his not being able to get the 'call and response' vocals right at the beginning of the song. With all this and his goofy dance steps at the end of the song, it leaves the cameramen scrambling to focus on the other Beatles as well as the dancers surrounding the stage. 

Conclusion

It was becoming apparent with the first two American album releases that John Lennon was asserting himself as the more predominant lead singer of the group. This trend would only increase as the following four album releases of 1964 would show. Whether as a lead singer or as a songwriter, John was determined to make his mark as the undisputed and natural leader of the group. Even the other members of The Beatles would testify at this time that John was their leader.

“It Won’t Be Long” was one of many evidences of this fact, being that Lennon was the predominant writer and singer of most songs on Capitol's “Meet The Beatles!” album. Paul’s secondary role within the group appeared to continue until late 1965 when the confidence builder “Yesterday” became an entry on his resume. It appeared that Lennon then gradually lost interest in persuing the ego-driven dominance he once sought, handing over the reins to McCartney as the chief songwriter and, one can argue, even as the unstated "leader" of the group.

Both John and Paul have referred to their earlier compositions with such negative phrases such as “knock off” or “work job” in comparison to their later efforts. And as Lennon lost a degree of interest in asserting himself as songwriter in later periods of the group's career (in quantity but not in quality), a clear conclusion can be drawn that his most prolific years were with those “work job” songs of the 1963-65 period.

That being said, time has told us that Beatles' music of those early years have indeed become the most enduring and heart-warming memories of their career. “It Won’t Be Long,” for example, never fails to light up the faces in the audience at Beatles tribute band shows. All of these "work job" songs were written with audiences in mind, which became less and less of a priority as their career progressed, due to their discontinuing their touring days.

In conclusion, it can be stated as fact that the Lennon dominated output of the Lennon / McCartney partnership made the Beatlemania of 1964 what it became. John’s assertiveness laid the benchmark and then he passed it on to Paul McCartney in later years, which solidified their genius. The overwhelming charm found in “It Won’t Be Long” is but a small piece of the big picture that began the chain of events that moved the world to fall in love with the music of The Beatles.

Song Summary

"It Won’t Be Long”

Written by:  John Lennon / Paul McCartney

• Song Written: July 1963
• Song Recorded: July 30, 1963
• First US Release Date: January 20, 1964
• First US Album Release: Capitol #ST-2047 “Meet The Beatles!”
• US Single Release: Capitol #SXA 2047 (Meet The Beatles Jukebox EP)
• Highest Chart Position: n/a
• British Album Release: Parlophone #PCS 3045 “With The Beatles”
• Length: 2:13
• Key: E major
• Producer: George Martin
• Engineers:  Norman Smith, Richard Langham

Instrumentation (most likely):

• John Lennon – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar (1958 Rickenbacker 325)
• Paul McCartney - Bass Guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1), Harmony Vocals
• George Harrison – Lead Guitar (1962 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman), Harmony Vocals
• Ringo Starr – Drums (1963 Ludwig Downbeat Black Oyster Pearl)

Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski

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