I WILL AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

On September 16th, 1968, with just over three-and-a-half months already spent on recording the "White Album," Paul brought "I Will" into EMI Studio Two for the first time.  Paul, John, and Ringo arrived sometime after the usual designated time of 7 pm to begin the recording process, George not taking part in the recording or possibly not present at all on this day.

The lyrics may not have yet finalized, but Paul nonetheless proceeded to run through a grand total of 67 takes of a live performance of the song.  Ian MacDonald's book “Revolution In The Head” makes a keen observation regarding this days' session: “Needing precisely the right performance from an acoustic set-up which exposed the slightest error, it required a grueling sixty-seven takes.  The apparent casualness of the result is a tribute to The Beatles' concentration.”  Surprisingly, these takes were recorded on a four-track tape machine although an eight-track machine had already been in use in this studio for the past two weeks.

This “acoustic set-up” consisted of Paul on vocals and acoustic guitar and both Ringo and John on percussive instruments.  Upon listening, it appears that Ringo was tapping out a beat on bongos using sticks while he was sitting at his drum kit (since he is heard tapping on cymbals and momentarily moves to his tom-tom at the end of the final verse).   As for John, he is playing a faster paced percussive instrument that is best described by Mark Lewisohn in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” as “tapping out a beat with wood on metal.”

“Take one,” heard on “Anthology 3,” sounds as though John uses maracas at the beginning of the song but then plays his “wood on metal” from the second verse to end.  Ringo even slightly crashed a cymbal at the end of the extended final verse.  Lyrical differences include Paul singing “love you with all my heart” instead of “love you when we're apart” at the end of the bridge, and “endear me to you” instead of “endear you to me” in the last verse.

“Revolution In The Head” also states: “Few could have managed this feat without light relief and the session was regularly interrupted by ad-libs.”  These ad-libs included what appeared in 'take 19,' an off-the-cuff creation by Paul, uncopyrighted, which lasted two minutes and 21 seconds that included the repeated lyrics “Can you take me back where I came from?”  Paul felt enamored with this performance enough to have it preserved for one of their two 'odds and ends' tapes they compiled for posterity.  He liked this recording so much, in fact, that the final segment of this 'song,' twenty-eight seconds in length, was inserted at the end of the song “Cry Baby Cry” on the finished “White Album,” this acting as a link piece to John's “Revolution 9.”  John, incidentally, is playing maracas on this recording.

Another “light relief” ad-lib occurred at 'take 32,' this being an adaptation of the lyrics of “I Will” along with the melody line of the classic Fred Astaire song “The Way You Look Tonight,” this take lasting just over a minute with John simultaneously playing maracas and “wood on metal.”

Then, 'take 35' broke into a short impromptu version of “Step Inside Love,” which was a song Paul wrote especially for Cilla Black to use as the theme song for her first British TV series.  (Her studio recording of the song was released as a single earlier that year and peaked at #9 in the UK chart on April 10th, 1968).  As this wound down, Paul acted as radio disc jockey by announcing that song as performed by “Joe Pararis & The Parari Wallflowers,” which prompted John to announce the next song as being performed by “Los Paranoias,” a group name they had jokingly considered using in 1960 just before settling on the name "Beatles."  Paul then laughed and broke into yet another spontaneous ad-lib, including lyrics such as “Los Paranoias, come on, enjoy us...” while John repeatedly exclaims “I can't make it” while playing maracas and “wood on metal” simultaneously until abandoning the maracas a little later to concentrate on more rapid percussive “wood on metal” playing.  Ringo appears to have sat out this humorous interplay.

Finally, after 67 takes for “I Will” had performed attempts (not all of them complete), they spooled back to 'take 65' and decided that it was the best of the night.  This performance showed John playing his “wood on metal” percussion alone, the maracas to be added as an overdub later.  A tape copy was then made of this 'take' in order to transfer the recording over to their eight-track machine for future overdubs, which would take place at another session.  With the time now being approximately 2 am the following morning, a quick couple of overdubs were added to John's song “Glass Onion” and, by 3 am, the session was finally complete.

The next day, September 17th, 1968, brought the group back into EMI Studio Two sometime after the documented 7 pm to finalize “I Will.”  After a mono mix of “Helter Skelter” was performed, Paul added various overdubs onto “I Will,” a harmony vocal during the bridge and conclusion of the song, a second acoustic guitar which added some impressive riffs to the arrangement and, as the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” called it, “a clever baritone 'dum-dum-dum' impersonation of a bass guitar” by Paul.  Maracas were apparently added on this day as well, most probably by Ringo.  After a tape copy of John's “Cry Baby Cry” was made, this session was shown to end at 5 am the following morning.  Since not all that much occurred on this day, it's safe to assume that the group didn't actually show up in the studio until much later than 7 pm as documented, their habit at the time.

The mono mix was created on September 26th, 1968, in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of Chris Thomas, Ken Scott, and Mike Sheady.  Two attempts arose, undoubtedly the second one deemed the keeper. ADT (“Artificial Double Tracking”) was applied to Paul's vocals to thicken up the sound on the finished master.  Paul's “bass vocal” begins in the second verse on this mono mix.

The stereo mix was created on October 14th, 1968, also in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith, only one attempt needed.  ADT was once again applied to Paul's vocal while his “bass vocal” is heard right from the beginning of the song this time around.

Sometime in 1996, producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick returned to 'take one' of the master tape of “I Will” to create a mix for inclusion on the compilation album “Anthology 3.” As mentioned above, they also created a mix of 'take 35' including bits of their ad-libs “Step Inside Love” and “Los Paranoias” for inclusion on the same album.

Although not strictly a part of the song “I Will,” the “Can you take me back?” ad-lib recording from 'take 19' was included in a mash-up of the track “Come Together/Dear Prudence” as included on the compilation album “Love.”  This mix was created by George Martin and his son Giles Martin sometime between 2004 and 2006.

Resorting back to the tried-and-true format of the early Beatle years, Paul structures "I Will" as 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' (or aaba), identical to John's "Please Please Me" of six years prior.

One would almost want to flesh out the song with a solo and a repeat of the bridge and final verse as was the habit of the 1963 Beatles in order to stretch the length out beyond the two-minute mark.  Undoubtedly, if George Martin were present for the recording, he would have suggested it.  But since Chris Thomas was the producer on this day, this wasn't suggested; not that it would have been suggested anyway since the days were gone when the group listened to what their producer had to say.  In any event, a simple half reprisal of the bridge was tacked on at the end of the song which acted as a conclusion.

The first verse is nine measures in length and begins with Paul's voice as a lead-in with his lyric “Who knows.”  On the downbeat, Paul's acoustic guitar and Ringo's bongos and cymbal tapping appear as accompaniment to the lead vocals, along with Paul's vocalized bass (stereo version only).  These elements are added to in the seventh and eighth measures by Paul's overdubbed acoustic guitar fills.  The second verse is identical to the first regarding elements heard, the only differences being a new set of lyrics and a stripping away of the final measure, a truncated guitar fill passage leading into the bridge that follows.

The bridge is also eight measures long and features some more added elements.  John's “wood on metal” playing appears here for the first time along with Ringo's maracas.  Paul's harmony vocals also kick in throughout this bridge as well as his acoustic guitar overdub playing strategically placed guitar lines all the way through.

The third verse then appears which is extended to fifteen measures this time around to build the composition to a climactic finish.  The intensity of the first five measures is scaled down a bit, however, Paul's acoustic guitar overdub disappearing temporarily.  The rhythm track of acoustic guitar, bongos, tapping cymbals and vocals are still present, as are John's percussion and Ringo's maracas.  Paul's vocals are now double-tracked, however, for the entire verse.

Starting at measure five, Paul repeats the lyrical melody line three times, the first two times followed by three descending notes that are accented by the other elements in the recording, including the reemergence of the acoustic guitar overdub.  The third melody line is extended (“endear you to me”) which this time sounds accentuated by four chordal intonations as a backdrop which skillfully winds up like the other verses, ending with the phrase “I will.”  However, at this point, a surprising chord is heard which signals all the elements to up their intensity once again, John's percussion galloping like a wild stallion, Ringo's maracas kicking into high gear, and Paul's acoustic guitar overdub plodding away similar to what is heard at the close of the previous verses.  This continues for the fourteenth and fifteenth measures as Paul repeats “I will” once again in a higher register as the expected chord is now heard.  Ringo ends the verse with his only drum fill of the song.

A four-measure conclusion is then heard which is strikingly similar to the first four measures of the bridge.  All of the elements are still present while Paul hums in harmony with himself the first two measures and sings “da, da, da, da, da, da, da” in an ascending melody line in the final two measures to end the song.  John then adds three additional percussive beats after everyone has stopped playing, Lennon always has to make his presence felt, getting in the last word!

The lyric appears to be describing the act of visualization, Paul imagining his 'true love' for as far back as he can remember.  He may have met his true love at some time in his life but he “didn't catch” her name.  But it “doesn't really matter” anyway because destiny would eventually bring his soul-mate to him.  And then, when he “at last” recognizes her, her “song will fill the air” and they will be together “forever and forever.”  How romantic!

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