I'll Cry Instead
Encyclopedia
"I'll Cry Instead" is a John Lennon
composition credited to Lennon–McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles
for the soundtrack
to their film A Hard Day's Night
.
eventually decided he preferred the livelier "Can't Buy Me Love
" with its upbeat lyric, and that was used instead. When Walter Shenson re-released the film in 1981, "I'll Cry Instead" was included in a re-vamped opening sequence consisting of a "Swingin'" early to mid-60s
-style collage of photos of the Beatles in 1964 around the time they were shooting the film.
Although the song was not part of the original movie, the label of the American 45 lists the song as being "From the United Artists Picture, 'A Hard Day's Night'".
as a cry for help, saying "It reflects the frustration he [John Lennon] felt at that time. He was the idol of millions, but the freedom and fun of the early days had gone." John Lennon later said the line "A chip on my shoulder that's bigger than my feet" was an accurate indication of his feelings at the time.
"I'll Cry Instead" is rooted in country & western, a genre that the Beatles, and especially Ringo Starr
, enjoyed playing.
PMC 1230 (mono) & PCS 3058 (stereo) A Hard Day's Night (album) and the British EP
Extracts from the Album A Hard Day's Night Parlophone GEP 8920 (mono).
An extended version (2:09) was released in the US on the United Artists
soundtrack album A Hard Day's Night UAL-3366 (mono) and UAS-6366 (rechannelled stereo) since one of the verses from one of the unknown takes was repeated. This same version also appears on the US single and the mono version of Capitol
's Something New T-2108 (mono), but the 1:49 version appears on the Capitol stereo version of Something New ST-2018. This extended version appeared on The Capitol Albums, Volume 1
, and was not included in the Beatles' remastered albums, making it exclusive to the Capitol Albums set. However, a true stereo mix of the 2:09 extended version of the song appeared for the first time in 1979 in the U.S., on the Capitol promo LP, Casualties.
According to The Beatles: The Ultimate Recording Guide, the extended version was also used in the original A Hard Day's Night film print since it ran at a slower speed than the record version.
"I'll Cry Instead" reached No. 25, and was in the Billboard
Top 30 for two weeks and in the Top 100 for seven weeks.
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
composition credited to Lennon–McCartney, and recorded by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
for the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to their film A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
.
Background
Lennon wrote the song for the "break-out" sequence in the film. The song was recorded on 1 June 1964 in two sections, A and B, which could then be spliced together at a later date to achieve the required length to fit the film. However, director Richard LesterRichard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...
eventually decided he preferred the livelier "Can't Buy Me Love
Can't Buy Me Love
"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song composed by Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles on the A-side of their sixth British single, "Can't Buy Me Love"/"You Can't Do That".-Interpretation:...
" with its upbeat lyric, and that was used instead. When Walter Shenson re-released the film in 1981, "I'll Cry Instead" was included in a re-vamped opening sequence consisting of a "Swingin'" early to mid-60s
Swinging London
Swinging London is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene that flourished in London, in the 1960s.It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasised the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the...
-style collage of photos of the Beatles in 1964 around the time they were shooting the film.
Although the song was not part of the original movie, the label of the American 45 lists the song as being "From the United Artists Picture, 'A Hard Day's Night'".
Structure
"I'll Cry Instead" was described by Cynthia LennonCynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lillian Lennon is the former wife of musician John Lennon, and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of twelve, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the...
as a cry for help, saying "It reflects the frustration he [John Lennon] felt at that time. He was the idol of millions, but the freedom and fun of the early days had gone." John Lennon later said the line "A chip on my shoulder that's bigger than my feet" was an accurate indication of his feelings at the time.
"I'll Cry Instead" is rooted in country & western, a genre that the Beatles, and especially Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, enjoyed playing.
Personnel
- John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
– vocalLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, acousticAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all.... - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
– lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure... - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Personnel per Ian MacDonaldIan MacDonaldIan MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...
Releases
A short version (1:49) appeared in the UK on ParlophoneParlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
PMC 1230 (mono) & PCS 3058 (stereo) A Hard Day's Night (album) and the British EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Extracts from the Album A Hard Day's Night Parlophone GEP 8920 (mono).
An extended version (2:09) was released in the US on the United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
soundtrack album A Hard Day's Night UAL-3366 (mono) and UAS-6366 (rechannelled stereo) since one of the verses from one of the unknown takes was repeated. This same version also appears on the US single and the mono version of Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
's Something New T-2108 (mono), but the 1:49 version appears on the Capitol stereo version of Something New ST-2018. This extended version appeared on The Capitol Albums, Volume 1
The Capitol Albums, Volume 1
The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 is a box set compilation comprising The Beatles' 1964 American Capitol Records releases. The set, which features the official stereo versions of a number of tracks on compact disc, was released in late 2004...
, and was not included in the Beatles' remastered albums, making it exclusive to the Capitol Albums set. However, a true stereo mix of the 2:09 extended version of the song appeared for the first time in 1979 in the U.S., on the Capitol promo LP, Casualties.
According to The Beatles: The Ultimate Recording Guide, the extended version was also used in the original A Hard Day's Night film print since it ran at a slower speed than the record version.
"I'll Cry Instead" reached No. 25, and was in the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top 30 for two weeks and in the Top 100 for seven weeks.
Cover versions
- Joe CockerJoe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
covered this song in 1964. It was his first single. - Johnny RiversJohnny RiversJohnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
covered this song in 1965, on the album Meanwhile Back at the Whisky à Go GoMeanwhile Back at the Whisky à Go GoMeanwhile Back at the Whisky à Go Go was Johnny Rivers's fourth official album, and like all his prior albums it was recorded live at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles...
. - Billy JoelBilly JoelWilliam Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
did a live version, featured as the B-side to "An Innocent ManAn Innocent Man (song)"An Innocent Man" is a 1983 song performed by Billy Joel and the third single from his album An Innocent Man.The song, whose musical style is an homage to Ben E. King and The Drifters, reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the third consecutive top 10 single from the album...
" in 1983. - Rhett MillerRhett MillerStewart Ransom Miller II , better-known as Rhett Miller is the lead singer of the alternative country band Old 97's and a successful solo musician. He graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas, a private boys' school in Dallas in 1989 and briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College on a creative...
covered this song for his 2011 release The Interpreter (Live at Largo)The Interpreter (album)The Interpreter is a live album and a collection of cover songs, performed by Old 97's front man Rhett Miller at the Largo nightclub in Los Angeles, California. It was released in 2011, the recordings being from something of a farewell performance for the Largo before it closed its doors...
.