1 Overlooked Gem Song From Every Beatles Album
11. I’ll Be Back - A Hard Day’s Night
A Hard Days Night finds John Lennon firing on all cylinders, providing the bulk of the material on the first Beatles album not to include any covers. The album’s closing track I’ll Be Back didn’t even make it into the movie this album soundtracked, but the song is an understated gem.
Borrowing and re-working the chords to Del Shannon’s Runaway, Lennon adds a lyric about heartbreak to end the album on a ballad. But never one to keep things straightforward, John’s song switches between major and minor keys and doesn’t bother with a chorus at all, instead including two different bridges.
The lack of a chorus, and therefore a familiar singalong refrain, means there’s no let up to the track’s dark mood. Instead of offering a musical comfort blanket the song feels unknowable and elusive. Musicologist Ian McDonald has described it as, “a surprisingly downbeat farewell[to the album] and a token of coming maturity".