“It Won't Be Long” by The Beatles*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by douglas mcclenaghan, Jun 11, 2021.

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  1. douglas mcclenaghan

    douglas mcclenaghan Forum Resident Thread Starter

    One of my favourite Beatles tracks. This video is another whack in the back of the head for any doofus who still thinks early Beatles are simple or unsophisticated.
     
    mikee, bluemooze, cmcintyre and 46 others like this.
  2. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    This song has a lot going on...especially coming from a Pop/Rock group in 1963. Vocally, the chords and melody...one of my top ten Beatle songs of all time.
     
  3. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    One of the nicest 'deep cuts' by The Beatles; full of energy, a great performance by John and those FANTASTIC backing vocals by Macca!
     
  4. jpgrbtalls

    jpgrbtalls Forum Resident

    One of the great Beatlemania era songs. Has it all with a great performance by the lads. A major head boppin' favourite. Should have been a single.
     
  5. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Txs for the video Dougie! :righton:
     
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  6. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    It would have made a great single. It's got a lot of energy, a good melody and it's full of hooks.
     
  7. Vinyl Socks

    Vinyl Socks The Buzz Driver

    Location:
    DuBois, PA
    Been playing since 1987. Can't even touch many of these early Beatles rockers. It's...just...too...much. I do know a dude who plays them note-for-note (and sounds a lot like John, vocally) on his 2 signature Lennon Ricks through an AC30.
     
  8. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Certainly among my top 5 early Beatles songs. So much energy, great Ringo drumming and interesting chord changes throughout.

    No one else in rock in 1963 was doing anything like this.

    Although it's a lip-synch, this is worth it just to see an album cut "performed" in a way that few others were in the early days. Of course, John typically doesn't take the whole thing too seriously!

     
    joy stinson, lobo, scousette and 21 others like this.
  9. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    So George doesn't figure in your equation? He's doing them every step of the way as well.
     
  10. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing

    I love it..Ringo playing air drums...an all time fave Fab song indeed.
     
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  11. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    "Every night,
    when everybody has fun.
    Here am I,
    sitting all on my own.";
    Totally relatable to the 'teen-age' me!
     
    ajsmith, joy stinson, Suncola and 4 others like this.
  12. Avenging Robot

    Avenging Robot Senior Member

    I can only imagine the excitement of being a kid in the UK in 1963, bringing this album home, putting this on your record player and this is the first song you hear. Talk about fulfilling all of your expectations and then some.
     
  13. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    I was gonna mention this! I always feel sorry for drummers miming to tracks who have to do the bit where they stop just short of hitting the snare or the cymbals. It can't be easy to do.
     
  14. Duncan Day

    Duncan Day Middle Aged Savage

    Location:
    U.K. Chippenham
    Yes. When I first heard it I was really surprised to find it wasn’t a single !!! Great track.
     
  15. Schoolmaster Bones

    Schoolmaster Bones Poe's Lawyer

    Location:
    ‎The Midwest
  16. Brewmeister

    Brewmeister Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore
    I always felt this song was a standout among their early stuff from the first time I heard it.
     
  17. 6stringer

    6stringer ...because it's the music that matters.

    It says a great deal about what they were producing then when a track like that sits as album only in the UK (and US) when most other bands would kill to get hold of it.

    It did make it on to some European 45's but not even an EP in the UK. That honour went to All My Loving from the same LP.
     
  18. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Just performed (guitar and lead vocals) a note for note cover of this song last night as the 2nd tune in our 28 song Beagles Do Beatles show (we started out playing I Saw Her Standing There, It Won't Be Long, and She Loves You with pauses only long enough for drummer to tap in new tempo for each tune). As we rehearsed I commented to the band that it is crazy this tune wasn't a single.

    It was quite a bit of effort working this one up (and that video helped us). The backing vocals are very intricate, with 5 vocal parts on the last note. And the lead vocal is quite demanding as it rocks so hard on the chorus and is so soft on the bridge. As far as I know they never did this live, and working it up for performance helped me understand why.

    We also did the somewhat harmonically similar track that follows this on the album: All I've Gotta Do.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2021
  19. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    My first time hearing "It Won't Be Long" was on a mono copy of Meet the Beatles that someone gave me and it was only the third disc in my growing Beatle LP collection. The song had a big skip near the end when John kind of stretches out one of the "looongs." To this day whenever I hear the song I expect the skip.
     
  20. Sgt. Abbey Road

    Sgt. Abbey Road Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graz, Austria
    I think that „It Won’t Be Long“ and „All My Loving“ would have been a great Double-A-Sided-Single. Most artists are not able to write a song with that quality in their whole career, Lennon & McCartney recorded both songs at the beginning of their career. That’s insane:)
     
  21. Robber Soul

    Robber Soul Forum Resident

    Great track. Definitely one of my early favs. I find it and I'll Get You to be severely underrated.
     
  22. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    One of their best tracks. I hadn't heard it (or thought about it) in years when I saw Richard Thompson perform it in the early 2000's at one of his "1,000 Years of Popular Music" shows. It totally opened my ears, and TBH, that one performance was probably responsible -- as much as anything -- for rekindling my love of the Beatlemania era, which I hadn't listened to regularly since I was a little kid.

    As others have noted, it's a sophisticated composition for a 60s pop song, like many of the early Beatles songs. Those boys figured out what they were doing early on, undoubtedly as a result of the years they spent learning pop/vocal/Broadway songs when they were starting out.
     
  23. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    They had "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and, possibly they might have wanted to avoid another single with the "Yeah! Yeah!" hook.
     
  24. Plano

    Plano If you like moderation you’ll love excess

    Location:
    Half Moon Bay, CA
    I had somewhat forgotten about it until Richard Thompson played it in a solo concert a few years ago; that reminded me what a great song it is.
     
  25. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    I'd think the one of the hardest things about it live would be to get that sharp, concise feel between John's "yeah's" and the callbacks by Paul and George.
     
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