I’ll Cry Instead, and its incredible recording process.

With filming for "A Hard Day's Night" complete on April 24th, and after a well-deserved month-long vacation, The Beatles returned to EMI Studio Two on June 1st, 1964 to record songs to complete the second side of their British soundtrack album for the movie. Initial approach on the agenda was to record the song John intended for the "escape" sequence in the movie, when Ringo yells “We’re Out! Then the lads hightail it down the stairs and mess about on the field.

The first of two sessions that day ran from 2:30 to 5:30 pm, which started with recording "Matchbox," a song sung by Ringo which ended up on the British EP "Long Tall Sally." The reason this was recorded first was that George Harrison's hero, Carl Perkins, was in town on tour and was invited to the studio on this day. After choosing to record one of his songs while he was present, they jumped right into tackling what they came there for, which was the recording of "I'll Cry Instead."

For some unknown reason, The Beatles chose to record the song in two sections for editing together later. Since the arrangement wasn't unusually difficult, it can be assumed that after six takes it was determined that it was too short for its intended film sequence. They then did two more takes (7 and 8) of the bridge and final verse for later editing. All takes featured The Beatles playing their usual instruments while Lennon sang lead vocal. Afterward, overdubs of tambourine and double-tracking of John's vocals were recorded onto both sections of the song.

On June 4th, 1964, producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Richard Langham gathered in the control room of EMI Studio Two to create the mono mix of "I'll Cry Instead." Actually, two separate mono mixes of the song were created on this day; the first was of the first section of the song (from take 6) and then of the second section (from take 8). These two mono mixes were edited together to form the mono mix that was released in the US.

There is a bit of ambiguity regarding this mix that needs to be cleared up. Beatles fans in America are quick to notice that the mono version of the song that was originally released in that country had an additional verse that is not included in the stereo mix. Although this third verse is a lyrical repeat of the first verse, there are certain different nuances in John's vocal performance that indicate that this additional verse had to have been taken from another of the six takes that the group had performed of the first section of the song on June 1st of that year. Therefore, when the EMI staff was preparing this mono mix on June 4th, they had to have also edited in this portion of a previous 'take' in order to lengthen the song yet a little more for inclusion in the film sequence. If you listen closely to this mono mix, you can clearly hear two edits after the third verse and then one edit just before the second bridge.

Since the second section of the song that The Beatles recorded only contained the bridge and the last verse, they had to have used what The Beatles recorded in one of the first five takes of the first section. Mark Lewisohn's book "The Beatles Recording Sessions" fails to mention this inclusion, but since this was the only mono mix made before the song's US release, it had to have also been done on June 4th, 1964.

On June 9th, George Martin, Norman Smith and engineer Ken Scott assembled in the control room of EMI Studio Three for mono tape copying of the songs that would be included on both US releases of the "A Hard Day's Night" songs. Since it was still thought at this point that "I'll Cry Instead" would be appearing in the film, it was included in the list of 'soundtrack songs' and was dutifully sent to United Artists Records for inclusion on the US soundtrack album. Capitol Records received the other tape prepared on this day, which they used on their "Something New" album as well as the single release of "I'll Cry Instead."

June 22nd, 1964, was the date that George Martin, Norman Smith and engineer Geoff Emerick prepared stereo mixes of all the songs that were to appear on the British "A Hard Day's Night" album. This marathon session in the control room of EMI Studio One included going through the same procedure for "I'll Cry Instead" that they went through for the mono mix. Almost, that is. They made separate stereo mixes of each section of the song and then edited them together to create the final stereo version. What they didn't do this time was include the extra verse, the movie's production team only requiring a mono mix. This resulted in the stereo version of the song being 20 seconds shorter than the mono version created on June 4th.

George Martin apparently decided that the mono version intended for the British "A Hard Day's Night" album should be the same length as the stereo version, so a 'fold-down' mono mix was made by combining the left and right channels of the stereo mix into one mono channel.  This became the mono version on the British album. Consequently, the mono version released in the US with the extra verse was not released in Britain at all and, subsequently, was not included on the Mono "A Hard Day's Night" compact disc as released in the 80's.

Song Structure and Style

"I'll Cry Instead" was written with an intentional Country & Western flavor in the standard verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse format (or aaba). No instrumental or solo section was included, so a repeat of the first verse was added (in the longer mono version) as well as a repeat of the bridge and third verse. Therefore, we hear almost the entire structure of the song twice in just over two minutes.

We start out with a one measure introduction which amounts to the rhythm guitar parts and tambourine of the first three measures of the verse, minus the bass and drums. We quickly go into the first verse, which is eight measures long and ends appropriately with the title of the song as the hook-line of the song. Although C&W is the rule of the song, the fifth and sixth measure show the blues influence appear in the chord used as well as the vocal melody line. Their obsession with blues scales in 1964, as heard in "Can't Buy Me Love," "You Can't Do That" and "A Hard Day's Night," was becoming so ingrained that it even appears in this country song.

After a structurally identical second verse, we enter into a four-measure bridge which quickens the lyrical pace while staying strictly country in format with a slight nod to Buddy Holly on the word "away-ee-hee-hay." John then continues his line of thought right into the third verse, which is also eight measures long. The only difference here is the sixth measure which shows all rhythm guitars and drums disappear to highlight Paul's walking bass line and the sneering lyric "I'll show you what your loving man can do." The guitars and drums then kick back in for the final two measures and the final hook-line of the pattern. After a repeat of the final two (or three) sections of the song, it then resolves nicely and satisfyingly.

John's vocal delivery is very convincing in relation to the emotional subject matter. His acoustic rhythm guitar work, while somewhat rudimentary, is also suitable to the arrangement. Paul's bass lines are well-crafted and well-rehearsed, especially during his spotlight in the third and then final verse. 

Ringo's drums are nearly inaudible but played straight without any fills, sufficient to the task. More to the forefront is Ringo's tambourine overdub, which creates the perfect percussive rhythm for the song. Interestingly, Ringo chooses to accent the '1-and' of every measure of the verses, while he accents every 'and' beat in the bridge, as the snare would during a swing-country song (witness "Act Naturally").

Especially in top form is George Harrison's lead guitar playing. His Carl Perkins flavored fills give the song an extraordinary rockabilly touch, while his delivery is spot-on for accuracy. His juxtaposition against Lennon's acoustic rhythm guitar within the confines of the swing-country beat creates a perfect atmosphere for the song.

John Lennon's lyrics as of 1964 were still, as he put it, "projecting myself into a situation and writing a nice story about it." He hadn't reached the point of writing strictly autobiographical songs as of yet but, being acquainted with so much of his life as the world now is, we see him candidly including touches of his true emotional state at the time. For instance, Lennon admitted that the lyric "I got a chip on my shoulder that's bigger than my feet" was an accurate indication of his feelings at the time.

He may not have been expressing his inner-self fully in his songs yet, but we see that he's come a long way from the cliché-heavy romanticism of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in a short six months. 

The lyrics of "I'll Cry Instead" accurately convey the full range of emotions one would have when losing in love. We first see anger ("I've got every reason on earth to be mad"), inadequacy ("I can't talk to people that I meet"), isolation ("I'm gonna hide myself away"), carrying a grudge ("chip on my shoulder"), revenge ("If I could see you now, I'd try to make you sad somehow"), and even macho over-compensation ("you better hide all the girls, 'cause I'm gonna break their hearts all around the world"). But the overriding element that he always comes back to is that, although he'd like to express himself in all these ways, he'll just "cry instead."

Although the subject of 'crying' is permeated throughout the Lennon songbook, "I'll Cry Instead" is arguably the second most telling example within The Beatles catalog of how deeply wounded he had become, "Help!" being the first. The loss of his mother and estrangement from his father, as well as the death of his closest of friends Stu Sutcliffe, had left their mark. While it was much later, such as with 1970's solo track "Mother," that he came more fully to terms with these losses, it can easily be traced back to the early Beatles cannon, as in this song.

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