It Won't Be Long

The words touch on the motifs of happiness, plea and relationship. The writing reaches for wordplay ('Be long' / 'belong' pun), a habit that peaked in 1968. The title is phrased in the negative, and nothing earlier in the catalogue was like it. The language is built on a limited vocabulary. A small coincidence, but the line "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" turns up in one other Beatles song, 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'.

'It Won't Be Long' is a merseybeat and rock and roll piece that moves at about 140 BPM, in E major. The tune carries call and response, the lead singer answered by the backing vocals (lead 'yeah' answered by backing 'yeah'), and 1963 is the year the Beatles reached for it most. It has a defining riff, and you can hear yeah vocals. Also, the chords bring in maj7, a first for them. Worth a footnote, the chords run E → C♯m → E → C♯m → A → B, the same move 'When I Get Home' makes as C → Am → C → Am → F9 → G.

Cut in seven takes at EMI Studio 2 over a single afternoon, with edit pieces overdubbed the same day. McCartney reached for the Hofner 500/1, his bass. The session was set up with the Ludwig Downbeat, heard on 17 songs that year. It was made with double tracked vocal, most at home in their 1964 writing. Four songs were recorded the day this one was, the 23rd to the 26th of their career.

The words and the music are both Lennon's. It has everybody in their usual roles, with Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on lead guitar and Starr on drums, and 1963 is the year they reached for it most.

This track reached the public on November 22, 1963, with With The Beatles, and was never a single. On the record it starts the album. America got it eight weeks later, on Meet The Beatles!, put out by Capitol. This is their 19th record, and the 17th of the 32 they released in that year.