"I'll Get You" is a song by the English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, written by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, and released by the Beatles as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of their 1963 single "

She Loves You "She Loves You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released as a single in the United Kingdom on 23 August 1963. The single set and surpassed several sales records in the United Kingdom c ...

". The song was initially titled "Get You in the End".

Structure

Typical of the Beatles' vocal style of that period,

and

sing in unison for the majority of the track, allowing the few occasions when they do harmonise to stand out. However, unlike most Beatles songs of the time, there was no lead guitar break; the lead guitar was virtually reduced to a second rhythm guitar. The most prominent instruments in the track are McCartney's "plumply rounded bass" and Lennon's harmonica, which was overdubbed in a rush as session time ran out. McCartney credits the song as a 50 / 50 collaboration. He recalls using Lennon's

Menlove Avenue ''Menlove Ave.'' is a 1986 compilation album by English rock musician John Lennon. It is the second posthumous release of Lennon's music (after ''Milk and Honey''), having been recorded during the sessions for his albums '' Walls and Bridges' ...

home as the writing base for the song. That was rare because Lennon's Aunt Mimi, whom Lennon still lived with at the time, disapproved of the Beatles. The song's opening line, "Imagine I'm in love with you," was innovative, drawing the listener immediately into the story. McCartney would cite it as an early example of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's influence on Lennon's lyrics—a ploy explored again in later compositions such as "

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Len ...

", "

Strawberry Fields Forever "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". It represented ...

" and Lennon's solo " Imagine". Reiterating its A-side's catchphrase ("Yeah"), and assuming the heavy

scouse Scouse ( ), more formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English, is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside. The Scouse accent is h ...

accents conspicuous on their early records, Lennon and McCartney "drawl their way through a mock-naïve love lyric". McCartney later singled out the chord change underneath "It's not like me to ''pretend''" as unusual (moving from a D major to A minor), and crediting the

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

rendition of the folk song " All My Trials" as inspiration. "I lsoliked that slightly faggy way we sang: 'Oh yeah, oh yeah', which was very distinctive, very Beatley." Looking back in 1967, Lennon said: "Ever heard anyone from Liverpool singing 'yes'? It’s ''yeah!''".

Release

The song was initially released as the B-side of

on two occasions, firstly on 28 August 1963 in the United Kingdom, and then on 16 September in the United States. It was also released in the US only on 21 May 1964 as the B-side of " Sie liebt dich", a German language recording of the previous A-side. Both were released on the

Swan Records Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States–based record label, founded in 1957 and based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records. History Swan Records had enjoyed chart success with several U.S. ar ...

label in the United States—the only Beatles releases on that label (the British release was on

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

). The song was also released in the US on 10 April 1964 on the

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

album ''

The Beatles' Second Album ''The Beatles' Second Album'' is the second Capitol Records album by the English rock band the Beatles, and their third album released in the United States including '' Introducing... The Beatles'', which was issued three months earlier by Vee-Ja ...

''. It was not released on album in the UK until the '' Rarities'' release as part of the set ''

The Beatles Collection ''The Beatles Collection'' is a box set of the Beatles' vinyl albums released in the United States in November 1978 and the following month in the United Kingdom. It contains the official catalogue of the Beatles in stereo, and a new compilatio ...

''. A live version of the song, recorded at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

on 13 October 1963, is included on ''

Anthology 1 ''Anthology 1'' is a compilation album of music by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, inclu ...

''. A version was also recorded at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Paris studios in London on 16 July 1963 for airing on programme nine of the "Pop Go The Beatles" radio series and has currently not been made officially available. Another BBC performance, recorded on 7 September 1963, was officially issued in 2013 on ''

On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 ''On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2'' is a 2013 live/compilation album featuring 40 previously unreleased tracks from the Beatles' 1963–1964 BBC Radio broadcasts (accompanied by 23 interview tracks from the associated broadcasts). It was ...

''. The song is available on compact disc in the first volume of the two-disc ''

Past Masters ''Past Masters'' is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The album contai ...

'' compilation.

Missing master tape

No original master tapes of "I'll Get You" are known to exist. Standard procedure at Abbey Road Studios at the time was to erase the original two-track session tape for singles once they had been "mixed down" to the (usually

monaural Monaural sound or monophonic sound (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce so ...

)

master tape Master recordings, or simply masters, are the original recordings—including Mastering (audio), post-recording mixes and Record production, production edits—of audio performances, from which all analog and digital copies of the audio are derived ...

used to press records. This was the fate of two Beatles singles (four songs): "

Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by " P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States i ...

"/" P.S. I Love You" and "

"/"I'll Get You".

Personnel

lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica *

lead vocals, bass guitar *

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

electric guitar, harmony vocals *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

drums :Personnel per

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{authority control The Beatles songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Parlophone singles Capitol Records singles Swan Records singles 1963 singles Songs published by Northern Songs 1963 songs