"I'll Be Back"

Last night I figured out some of the brass parts for the Buckinghams' cover of "I'll Be Back."  This morning I was still thinking about the song, and I realized something that also applies to the Beatles' original.  "Surprise" in the line "But I got a big surprise" is sung with a melisma (D C# B), and that extra note helps musically represent the "big[ness]" of that surprise.

"I'll Be Back"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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After listening to A Hard Day's Night on Thursday, I figured out (at least an approximation) of the bass part for "I'll Be Back."  I might have some of the rhythms wrong, and I might even be missing some notes, but it's at least pretty close.  One thing I discovered while learning it is that McCartney includes an extra note at the beginning of the first verse.  In all the other verses, there's just a descending line starting with an A note, but in that first verse, he drops down to an E before going back to the A and then doing that descent.  The part before that just alternates between A and E, so I think he just got stuck doing that and missed his cue.

I referenced The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook for the chords, although I didn't play them exactly the way the book has them listed.  I think it sort of combines the other parts to get chords.  So if the rhythm guitar plays a B minor chord over which the lead guitar plays an A note, the book just combines those two things and says, "Play a B minor 7th."

I tried to figure out the lead guitar part for this a few weeks ago and didn't get anywhere, but then I got the whole thing this afternoon before I recorded this.

"I'll Be Back"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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While transcribing "I'll Be Back" last Thursday, I noticed the effect of the melisma on "so" in "I love you so."  Just by itself, it indicates the degree of that love by drawing it out.

But it also differentiates "I love you so" with "I wanna go."  Those lyrics are above the same musical phrase but because "so" has a melisma and "go" doesn't, it illustrates that the singer/speaker doesn't want to dwell on going.  Going doesn't receive the same emphasis that loving does.  The next line confirms this:  "I wanna go / But I hate to leave you."