"I'll Cry Instead" is a song 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 ...
(credited to
Lennon–McCartney
Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...
), and recorded 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 ...
for their third studio album, ''
A Hard Day's Night'' (1964), a part-studio and part-
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
album to their film
of the same name (1964). In the United States, the song originally appeared in the US version of ''
A Hard Day's Night'' before it was released as a single backed with "
I'm Happy Just to Dance with You
"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded in 1964 by the English rock band the Beatles for the film soundtrack to ''A Hard Day's Night''. Lead vocals are by George Harrison, whose perfor ...
" along with the US album ''
Something New''.
Background and composition
Both
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 ...
identified "I'll Cry Instead" as having been written entirely by Lennon. Lennon wrote the song for inclusion in
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 ...
' 1964 film, ''
A Hard Day's Night'', intended for use in the film's "break out" and open field sequence. However, director
Richard Lester
Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, mo ...
disliked the song and replaced it in the film with "
Can't Buy Me Love
"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side and B-side, A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The s ...
", so the band opted to wait on its recording.
Lyrics
Lennon later reflected that the lyrics of "I'll Cry Instead" represent his then newfound feelings of frustration with success and the sense that he had lost his freedom. Lennon's wife,
Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lennon (' Powell; 10 September 1939 – 1 April 2015) was a British artist and author, and the first wife of John Lennon.
Born in Blackpool and raised in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula, Powell attended the Liverpool College of Art, whe ...
, similarly described the lyrics as a cry for help, explaining that "
reflects the frustration he felt at that time", being "the idol of millions...
hile
Hile () is a hill town located in the Province of Nepal, 13 km north of the regional center of Dhankuta Bazar. At an elevation of 1948 meters, it is the main route to other hilly districts like Bhojpur and Sankhuwasabha.
The shops and re ...
the freedom and fun of the early days had gone." McCartney later suggested the song referred to difficulties in Lennon's marriage with Cynthia.
In contrast to the Beatles' earlier teenage love songs, the lyrics of "I'll Cry Instead" are comparatively darker. The song's singer explains that, while he is now crying over a lost love, he plans to seek vengeance and break the hearts of girls "around the world", thereby punishing anyone who had ever rejected him. Author and musician
John Kruth describes the song as one of Lennon's "stalker songs", alongside his other 1964 compositions "
You Can't Do That" and "
No Reply", dealing in themes of separation and uncontrollable jealousy. The singer makes reference to a
chip on his shoulder, something author Steve Turner suggests signals Lennon's entrance into a period of self-examination that lasted through the 1969–1970
break-up of the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active from 1960 until 1970. From 1962 onwards, the band's members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Their break-up is attributed to numerous factors, including the 1967 d ...
and his first solo albums.
Music
"I'll Cry Instead" is in 4/4 (
common time
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...
) and is in the key of
G major
G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...
, except the bridge, which modulates to
D major
D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...
. The song uses the three
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
chords I, IV and V. Structurally, it employs two bridges while avoiding instrumental solos and double verses between bridges.
Among musicologists and authors, several describe "I'll Cry Instead" as
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
, including
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 ...
, Jean-Michael Guesdon & Philippe Margotin,
Alan W. Pollack
Alan W. Pollack is an American musicologist best known for having analyzed every song released by the British band the Beatles. He started the task in 1989 and finished in 2000, with 187 original songs and 25 cover songs. The analyses have come t ...
,
Tim Riley and William Ruhlmann.
Jonathan Gould calls it "rockabilly-styled", and
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
describes it as "tough
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
".
Country music was popular in the Beatles' hometown of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
throughout the 1950s and Lennon listened to the genre regularly before he experienced
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
. Doggett writes the song is the first among several by the Beatles from 1964 and 1965 that were overtly country and rockabilly influenced, as does critic
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
, who compares the song to the Beatles' next studio album, ''
Beatles for Sale
''Beatles for Sale'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised ...
'', and McCartney's 1965 composition "
I've Just Seen a Face
"I've Just Seen a Face" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in August 1965 on their album ''Help!'', except in North America, where it appeared as the opening track on the December 1965 release ''Rubber Soul''. Writ ...
".
Doggett further comments that, even if it lacks the "pace or bite of
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...
or
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
at their peak", the influence is heard in the lead guitar work of
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 ...
, as well as Lennon's rhythm guitar playing and
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...
s.
Production
Recording
The Beatles recorded "I'll Cry Instead" on 1 June 1964, during an afternoon session in which they also recorded covers of "
Matchbox
A matchbox is a container or case for matches, made of paperboard, cardboard, thin wood, or metal, generally in the form of a box with a separate drawer sliding inside the cover. Matchboxes generally measure 5 x 3.5 x 1.5 cm, and commonly have ...
" and "
Slow Down". Recording took place in
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
's Studio Two, with
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...
producing the session, assisted by
balance engineer Norman Smith. Rather than recording the song straight through, the Beatles split it into two parts designated "Section A" and "Section B", something author John C. Winn suggests would allow for greater versatility in editing the track into the film.
Six takes of "Section A" were recorded followed by two takes of "Section B", with the latter takes marked seven and eight. Both sections consist of four tracks, with electric guitar, bass and drums on the first track; Lennon's vocal on the second; his acoustic guitar on the third; and
overdubs onto the fourth, including a tambourine from
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 ...
and a second vocal from Lennon to
double-track
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
Overview
In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...
his original. On the third line of each verse ("show you what your lovin' man can do"), McCartney adds a bass break which Riley suggests anticipates those heard on the Beatles' 1966 songs "
Rain
Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
" and "
I'm Only Sleeping
"I'm Only Sleeping" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 studio album ''Revolver''. In the United States and Canada, it was one of the three tracks that Capitol Records cut from the album and instead included on '' Yes ...
".
Mixing
On 4 June 1964, Martin and Smith mixed several songs, including "I'll Cry Instead". They mixed each section for
mono
Mono may refer to:
Biology
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell)
* Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos
Technology and computing
* Mono (audio), single-c ...
, then edited takes six and eight together; take six consists of the first two verses, the bridge and the third verse, while take eight begins at 1:09, containing the fourth verse, a repeating bridge and a fifth verse. The completed mono mix lasts 2:04. On 9 June, Martin and Smith copied this mix, sending it to the US record labels
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
and
Capitol.
On 22 June 1964, Martin and Smith finished production on the rest of the ''
A Hard Day's Night'' LP, including mixing "I'll Cry Instead" for
stereo
Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...
. Like the mono version, they edited together takes six and eight, but joined the takes at a different place. After an edit at 1:08, the song cuts to the second bridge, omitting the fourth verse and resulting in a length of 1:43, 21 seconds shorter than the US mono mix. To make the mono and stereo version match, they roughly trimmed the mono version, bringing it down to 1:44, though this fix was only made to the UK mono releases, the longer mono version having already been sent for printing in the US.
Release
EMI's
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 ...
label released the ''A Hard Day's Night'' LP in the UK on 10 July 1964. "I'll Cry Instead" appears on the album's second side, sequenced alongside the other tracks that do not appear in the film. Despite the song's absence from the film,
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
kept the song on the
North American version of ''A Hard Day's Night'', released in the US on 26 June 1964.
Capitol retained the rights to the same songs, so long as they were not marketed as a film soundtrack, and began issuing songs from the United Artists soundtrack as singles in the US. The label released "I'll Cry Instead" as a single in the US on 20 July 1964,
backed with
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
"
I'm Happy Just to Dance with You
"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded in 1964 by the English rock band the Beatles for the film soundtrack to ''A Hard Day's Night''. Lead vocals are by George Harrison, whose perfor ...
". The song reached on the
''Cash Box'' Top 100 and on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 record charts,
additionally achieving in Canada.
Capitol collected the released singles on the North American LP ''
Something New'', also released on 20 July 1964, sequencing "I'll Cry Instead" as the album's opening track.
[; .]
When
Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
and
Walter Shenson
Walter Shenson (June 22, 1919 – October 17, 2000) was an American film producer, director and writer, best known for producing the Beatles' films '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) and ''Help!'' (1965), as well as the 1959 comedy '' The Mouse That ...
re-released ''A Hard Day's Night'' in cinemas in 1982, "I'll Cry Instead" was included in an opening sequence as a tribute to Lennon, consisting of a
"Swingin'" early to mid-1960s-style collage of photos of the Beatles in 1964.
Personnel
According to
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 ...
:
*
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 ...
double-tracked
Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...
vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar
*
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 ...
bass
*
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 ...
lead guitar
*
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, tambourine
Chart performance
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
{{authority control
1964 songs
1964 singles
The Beatles songs
Song recordings produced by George Martin
Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
Chet Atkins songs
Billy Joel songs
1964 debut singles
Joe Cocker songs
Capitol Records singles
Songs written for films
Songs published by Northern Songs
British country music songs
British folk rock songs
Rockabilly songs