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#interesting pete best remembers him playing it on piano in hamburg as instrumental interludes
get-back-homeward · 2 years
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I’ll Follow The Sun
[FULL LYRICS]
This is one of those underrated early Beatles songs I grew to love slowly over time. I don’t remember thinking much of it until randomly rediscovering it in college. It seems very simple at first glance. But I grew to like the balance between the forward-thinking sun imagery and the somber slightly wistful story, along with the resolute attitude of making a decision you believe in even if it results in loss. In the lyrics, I heard a singer who decides to lay it all on the line to a friend he loves and, whatever happens, feels secure in knowing he did all he could (”in the end you will know”). So even if they leave him, he’ll still have the sun, a metaphor for the resolve of being himself.
In the middle of my Get Back rabbit hole, it got stuck in my head. Something about that Jan 14 interview of John talking about relistening to their old songs and discovering new layers years later has taken up permanent residence in my brain. If you want a good cry, use that above take and listen to it again from a post-1969 McLennon perspective. The middle eight has this haunting quality I never heard before. I wondered whether Paul ever plays it live. So I went searching...
ORIGINS
What I didn’t know is that Paul originally writes this very early on (1958-1960), in his childhood home, before leaving Liverpool with the band. In Lewisohn’s The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Paul recalls the scene:
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.
Suddenly, I noticed the directional paths in the song. He’s staring out the window in his house (where tomorrow may rain) and talking wistfully about when he’s “gone” from the house. That makes “you” someone in his house, like his father who didn’t like John or want Paul to see him (see Tune In and I Don’t Know [Johnny, Johnny]).
This small detail flips the song inside out for me. Suddenly, it’s not a rainy day because of the decision Paul’s made. In fact, it’s because of the rain (tied to the listener, “you”) he’s making his decision. And his decision is in the title: to follow the sun.
So who’s the sun? Well, you can say it’s literal: the dream for a place that’s not Liverpool, that is a place that’s warm and sunny. You can also see it as a metaphor: the dream for the band’s success. But psychologically, Paul’s hitching his ride out of Liverpool with one person. The same person in conflict with his father, the person he’s addressing and planning to leave. What a window into the mind of 16 year old Paul McCartney.
The play with time and the tense is rather fun and made me wonder whether this was written in one sitting or developed over time. There’s three time phrases: (1) “one day”, (2) “some day”, and (3) “now”. So it starts as a thought or a dream, then a tentative but achievable goal, and finally the reality of the present, where the decision is being made.
TIMELINE/CONTEXT
Turns out, there are two (!) 1960 home recordings of this song [1] [2], recorded a couple months apart. Harsh sound quality aside, it sounds fairly different: a faster tempo in rockabilly style complete with impressive Carl Perkins-like guitar picking from 17 yo George. The barebones of the lyrics are there, both the “one day” and “some day” verses. The third part, the bridge or middle eight, is very hard to hear, but it’s clearly different from the final “now” verse in the 1964 Beatles For Sale version.
From 0:29 in the second clip, I vaguely hear “I don’t want to leave you alone...but I’m leaving to follow my dear”. BeatlesBible has another guess (”Well don’t leave me alone, my dear/I’ll hurry and call on me, my sweet”) that I don’t hear at all. A third guess from BeatlesBooks is closer to what I hear (“Well don’t leave me alone, I need you/Now hurry and follow me, my dear”) but seems kinda confusing (is the singer addressing a second person? does the singer POV change? the original singer is following the sun and the sun calls out to him?). Take a listen and let me know what you think.
The earliest home recording of the song (that we know of) is April 1960, which marks a pretty significant pre-Beatles time: where Paul finally leaves Liverpool. He jumps at a few chances. First, John and Paul literally hitchhike out of Liverpool for a weekend to perform as the Nerk Twins in April. In May, the band auditions and scores their first tour as a backing group across Scotland. By August, they’re off to Hamburg. That places this song recording at a really important time, where they take this dream of leaving Liverpool and start making it a reality, much to the disappointment of Paul’s father.
So why didn’t it get recorded earlier? Paul offers this excuse in Lewisohn’s book:
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.
But I don’t really buy it. It’s not really a ballad in 1960, and clearly they did tons of sappier love songs in the years after.
According to BeatlesBooks, Pete Best recalls Paul playing this number often in Hamburg between sets and introducing it to the crowd rather proudly (“I’ve written a song”). I wonder if it was the first original that he played in public?
They perform the song onstage several times throughout 1961 before shelving it for other more recent originals. It’s entirely possible it didn’t fit with their other numbers, wasn’t received well in this form, or wasn’t liked by the rest of the band (though George’s part sure sounded fun!). It’s also possible Paul just wasn’t satisfied with it. Or it hit to close to home.
FINISHING TOUCHES
In September 1964, the band is in a jam. They’re coming to the end of their first US summer tour: nonstop, 35 cities, chaotic scenes in each one (i mean utterly bonkers). But they need enough new songs to release a new album in time for the holidays. They arrive back in London September 21 and are back in the studio by Sept 29. So as Paul recalls, they turn to some old songs they already have on hand:
"There were certain songs I had from way back that I didn't really finish up, but they were in the back of my mind...'I'll Follow The Sun' was one of those."
That he didn’t consider it “finished” makes more sense in explaining why it was shelved and wasn’t recorded previously.
In 1964 when the song hits the airwaves, Paul said this about it to Disc:
John and I wrote this one some while ago, but we changed the middle eight bars before we actually recorded it.
At this time, their description of their songwriting process reflects a common pattern: One would write a couple verses and the other would help finish it, often by adding or fixing up the middle eight. The “we” here is distinct from Paul’s later recollections. I think it’s very possible John contributed to it at some point even though it’s mostly Paul’s POV. Paul could have been more generous about giving credit in 1964 than he was later on. Or just asserting their songwriting partnership image at the time. (In 1980, John denied having any involvement with it.🤷‍♀️)
This new middle eight is the “now” verse that holds the final decision:
Now the time has come...I must go
And the sucker punch:
In the end, you will know
So, million dollar question: Is this still the same song Paul started with?
With the sunker punch in the 1960 POV, I’m left asking what does Paul deciding to leave home with the band/John *tell* his father?
But by October 1964, the POV would be from a completely different place: seeing the result of the decision and the fame that came with it from the other side. Does that change or color the original meaning? Other than the bridge, other small changes are made, seeming to address the listener as “my love” and “a friend”.
Now the time has come
And so my love, I must go
And though I lose a friend
In the end, you will know
One day, you’ll find
That I have gone
But tomorrow may rain so
I’ll follow the sun
EMI RECORDING
George’s lead guitar comes in first, with John’s acoustic behind. Ringo taps his knees for a muffled beat. John sings harmony with Paul on alternating bars, starting with the opening lines (One day, you’ll look to see I’ve gone). Paul sings alone on the main lines: For tomorrow may rain so I’ll follow the sun. His vocals are doubletracked, similar to the effect in Blackbird.
In the middle eight, the J&P duet dominates, with John singing a descending counter harmony.
According to sound engineer Geoff Emerick (whose recollections have been sometimes questionable), John originally had the lead guitar part in this, but George fought for it:
He wasn't even supposed to play that solo: for the first few takes, John did it, on acoustic guitar. Despite the overall good vibe of the day, George Harrison seemed annoyed, perhaps because he hadn't been given much to do. At one point he marched into the control room and complained loudly, 'You know, I'd like to do the solo on this one. I am supposed to be the lead guitarist in this band, after all.’
So they gave George one take for his solo to overdub. He wanted another go but George Martin refused. :(
They only play this version live once, November 17 for BBC in promo for the album.
Paul only starts adding it to his live concert sets in 2004.
-01/30/22
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