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.

Composition

John Lennon explained "I'll Be on My Way" "was early Paul."Template:Sfn Credited to Lennon–McCartney, Paul McCartney wrote the song in the first half of 1959.Template:Sfn Author Todd Compton attributes it to "McCartney–Lennon."Template:Sfn McCartney wrote the song on his first guitar, a Framus Zenith acoustic guitar.Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn When first written, the song had little beyond its melody.Template:Sfn The song was fleshed out years later after the Beatles added it to their live repertoire.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

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'.)"Template:Sfn Everett agrees, writing the song "has strong Holly ties, especially in the duet refrain,"Template:Sfn as does Lewisohn who calls the song "Hollyesque."Template:Sfn The rising and falling chromatic line of the guitar intro comes from the Crickets' cover of "Don't Ever Change",Template:Sfn especially the augmented E chord.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

Though Lennon sang the lead vocal as a harmony duet with McCartney, he never liked the song.Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn

Recording

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

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.Template:Sfn Everett writes that George Harrison's guitar solo features "the clash of bent unison double-stops",Template:Sfn similar to those of Scotty Moore in Elvis Presley's "Just Because" and "Jailhouse Rock" and in Jerry Lee Lewis's "Livin' Lovin' Wreck".Template:Sfn

Release and reception

Everett suggests the Beatles recorded a rendition of the song only to help promote Kramer's record.Template:Sfn The Beatles released their version on the 1994 album Live at the BBC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is the only non-cover song on the album that was previously unreleased.Template:Sfn

MacDonald describes the lyrics and music as "almost derisively naive".Template:Sfn Lewisohn singles out the lyric "When the June light turns to moonlight" as the kind Lennon and McCartney "usually spurned" in others.Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn He concludes that the chord transitions are ultimately uninteresting.Template:Sfn

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald:Template:Sfn

• John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
• Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass
• George Harrison – lead guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums

The Billy J. Kramer version

Kramer and the Dakotas recorded "I'll Be On My Way" on 14 and 21 March 1963.Template:Sfn

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"Template:Sfn on 26 April 1963.Template:Sfn The record held at #2 nationally in the U.K., second to the Beatles' "From Me To You".Template:Sfn This version of the song is included on the 1979 EMI album The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away.Template:Sfn