I Call Your Name

The lyric takes in the motifs of sadness, loneliness and plea, and the words are confessional in manner. It reaches once for extrametrical rhyme ("take it / make"), a habit that peaked in 1963. The writing draws on Buddy Holly. For anyone keeping count, the line "I can't go on" turns up in 3 Beatles songs, among them 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' and 'We Can Work It Out'.

In E major at roughly 120 BPM, 'I Call Your Name' is a ska and rock song, with ska influences. The tune carries an ostinato, one figure repeating underneath (a lead-guitar figure through the bridge, close cousin to the one in Hold Me Tight), which also turns up in 'Hold Me Tight', six months earlier. Also, it has a guitar solo. Fun fact, the chords run E → C♯7 → F♯7 → B7, the same shape 'Good Day Sunshine' plays as A → F♯7 → B7 → E7.

Cut in seven takes at EMI Studio 2, with Harrison featuring his new Rickenbacker 360/12 electric twelve-string. Lennon reached for the Rickenbacker 325, his rhythm guitar on 1 March 1964, delivered new during the February visit to America, something they had reached for on 'Boys' a year earlier. They reached for the Ludwig Downbeat, Starr's own kit since 1963. Double tracked vocal shaped the finished record, as on 139 of their records. It shares its session day with two others, the 43rd to the 45th of their career.

The record was written and sung by Lennon.

This song was issued as the B-side of the US Capitol single You Can't Do That, which reached the Billboard top ten. In the UK it led the Long Tall Sally EP. The Beatles' Second Album gathered it up in America four weeks later, on Capitol, with leftover With The Beatles tracks plus singles and EP tracks not on Meet The Beatles!. The Beatles have 4 songs written by a Beatle for another artist to record, and they are 'I Wanna Be Your Man', 'Come Together', 'Something' and this one. This is their 38th record, and the 4th of the 35 they released in 1964.