"I'll Be Back" is a John Lennon composition credited to Lennon/McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles for the soundtrack LP to their film "A Hard Day's Night".
Lennon ostensibly created the song around the chords (but not the melody) of Del Shannon's "Runaway" which had been a UK hit in April 1961. Author Bill Harry wrote: "He [Lennon] just reworked the chords of the Shannon number and came up with a completely different song".
With its heart-rending lyric and flamenco style acoustic guitars, "I'll Be Back" has a tragic air. The song oscillates between major and minor keys, appears to have two different bridges (transition themes) and does not have a chorus. The fade-out ending is unexpectedly sudden, seeming to arrive half a verse prematurely. Music journalist Robert Sandall wrote in Mojo Magazine: "'I'll Be Back' was the early Beatles at their most prophetic. This grasp of how to colour.
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