I Will

I Will was a song on the album called The Beatles (or The White Album). Paul McCartney was the composer, and he sings lead vocal on the track. He also plays guitar and contributes a "vocal bass." McCartney was engaged to marry Linda Eastman, and wrote I Will for her. In the recording session on September 16, 1968 the group had trouble with the song, requiring 67 takes! Some of them were just jam sessions. Take 19 is a short fragment called Can You Take Me Back. It became the ending for Cry Baby Cry on the album. Another piece (take 35) was dubbed Los Paranoias and preserved for posterity on Anthology 3. The Anthology 3 version of I Will is from take one. During their trip to Rishikesh, India, the band rehearsed the number several times. The music was not tricky, but the lyrics kept requiring additional work and were not completed until the group was in the studio. This was one apparent cause of the high number of takes. George Harrison did not participate in the recording at all and John Lennon contributed only "percussion." Take 65 was considered best for recording, and so the next day Paul added backing vocals, bass, a second acoustic guitar and the vocal bass.