“I’ll Be Back” (1964) – The Beatles * Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney * Produced by George Martin * LP: A Hard Day’s Night (UK), Beatles ’65 (US)
“I’ll Be Back” is one of three minor-key flamenco-flavored tracks, along with “And I Love Her” and “Things We Said Today,” that give the Beatles’ Hard Day’s Night album a dusky flavor and, seeing how it contrasted with the cheerful image their debut film reinforced, a sense of maturity. Ian MacDonald, in his Revolution in the Head, reports John Lennon crediting Del Shannon’s “Runaway” as an inspiration, but the Shadows too, who the Beatles alternately loved and loathed, had been making moody Latin sounds on British hit radio with “Apache,” “Man of Mystery” and others. Forging invention from imitation was one of the Beatles’ many gifts, and “I’ll Be Back” is a good example of this. Recognizable building blocks end up sounding quintessentially Beatle-esque. A good part of the mystique in this track (and “Things We Said Today”) is the minor key shifting to major and back again. It’s a touch of sophistication that San Francisco’s Beau Brummels would adopt for their first two singles, “Laugh Laugh and “Just a Little”—distinctive albeit clearly inspired by you-know-who. The version American listeners heard on Beatles ’65 had some of the echo added on by Capitol producer Dave Dexter Jr., an infamous move that did, however, give the track even more atmosphere. It was missing noticeably when the UK version of the Hard Day’s Night album greeted US listeners as a CD in 1987.