I'll Follow the Sun

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I'll Follow The Sun is a song off The Beatles' 1964 album Beatles for Sale. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney. The Beatles performed it live from 1960 to 1962.

Contents

Writing

The song was written in 1959 at Paul's family's home in Allerton, Liverpool. "I wrote that in my front parlour in Forthlin Road. I was about 16. I'll Follow The Sun was one of those very early ones. I seem to remember writing it just after I'd had the flu and I had that cigarette - I smoked when I was 16 - the cigarette that's the 'cotton wool' one. You don't smoke while you're ill but after you get better you have a cigarette and it's terrible, it tastes like cotton wool, horrible. I remember standing in the parlour, with my guitar, looking out through the lace curtains of the window, and writing that one." An early rehearsal of this song appears on bootleg. This version, recorded in Spring 1960, featured John, Paul, and George on acoustic guitars and Stuart Sutcliffe on bass. Paul bought the tape from Peter Hodgson in 1995. Paul recalled that it had been recorded on school holiday in April 1960. The arrangement on this early version is much different than the 1964 album version, with the verses being completely different, both in tune and lyrics. The 1960 version goes:

"Well don't leave me alone, my dear I'll hurry, and call on me my sweet"

Even though it never became a large part of their live set, Pete Best does recall Paul playing it solo on piano between sets at the Kaiserkeller. Paul recalled, "It wouldn't have been considered good enough [to be performed by the group]. I wouldn't have put it up. As I said before, we had this R&B image in Liverpool, a rock 'n' roll, R&B, hardish image with the leather. So I think that songs like I'll Follow The Sun, ballads like that, got pushed back to later." It was recorded during the sessions for Beatles for Sale in late 1964, when they were looking for enough songs to record for the final album. It was also released on Beatles '65 in the US. They recorded a version for the BBC program Top Gear on November 17, 1964. It was released on the Baby It's You single in 1995.

Recording

The song was first recorded on October 18, 1964, when eight takes were taped. The last take was the only one to feature electric guitar. Paul recalls, "On the record we got Ringo to tap his knees. We were thinking in terms of singles and the next one had to always be different. We didn't want to fall into the Supremes trap where they all sounded rather similar, so to that end, we were always keen on having varied instrumentation. Ringo couldn't keep changing his drum kit, but he could change his snare, tap a cardboard box or slap his knees." A session tape of this was discovered and auctioned off in July 2008. Also on the tape are versions of Don't Put Me Down Like This, I Feel Fine, She's A Woman, Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby, Honey Don't, I'm A Loser, Too Much Monkey Business, Nitty Gritty, Something's Gotta Hold Of Me and I Shall Not Be Moved.

Personnel

The Beatles

Production

Available Versions

Available On

Cover Versions

  • Brothers Four

Source

Retrieved from "http://www.beatleswiki.org/wiki/I%27ll_Follow_the_Sun"
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