Timeline Albums, EPs & singles Songs Films Concerts Sessions People Interviews Articles

Monday, September 16, 1968

Recording "I Will", "Glass Onion"

For The Beatles

Last updated on September 24, 2021

Having spent the three past days recording “Glass Onion“, The Beatles moved on and started working on the next track, Paul McCartney’s ballad “I Will“. George Harrison didn’t take part in this recording and may not have been present at the session. As George Martin was on holiday for most of September 1968, Chris Thomas produced this session.

The three Beatles recorded 67 takes of the basic track, with Paul on vocals and acoustic guitar and Ringo Starr and John Lennon on percussions.

Without hearing the tapes, that high number might lead to a conclusion that recording Paul’s song was a laborious and frustrating process. Far from it. The audio on the tapes reveals this session to be extremely good-natured with many humorous moments, as on take 29, and several excursions into other songs, just for fun. As usual, the logged total of takes includes many false starts and breakdowns. […]

Ringo and John provide percussion. Ringo tapes out a rhythm with rim shots on a snare drum and uses cymbals, kick drum and tom toms sparingly. John alternates between shaking maracas and beating time on a kind of wood block called a skull. […]

From “The Beatles” Super Deluxe edition book (2018)

Take 1 was released on “Anthology 3” in 1996:

From the same session as the Step Inside Love and Los Paranoias jams, this is Take 1 of I Will, in which Paul sang and played acoustic guitar while John and Ringo added a percussive accompaniment. Paul would have realised quite early on – if not beforehand, indeed – that this performance would not be the master (which turned out to be Take 67) but as a first run-through it captures all the essential ingredients.

From the “Anthology 3” liner notes

Take 12 (a false-start which ended in laughter), Take 13 and Take 29 were released on The White Album’s 50th anniversary re-release in 2018. In take 29, Paul, as an ad-lib, sings “won’t” in place of “will” during the first verse before John Lennon replies, “Yes you will”. Paul chuckles after this ad-lib and then the song ends at this point.

The session turned into a jam on a few occasions. Take 19 was not “I Will“, but was identified as “Jam – Unidentified” on the tape box. It lasted two minutes and twenty-one seconds. Later referred to as “Can you take me back”, a 28-second segment of this ended up on side four of The Beatles, at the end of “Cry Baby Cry“.

Before take 28, Paul sang the oldie “Blue Moon“. Just after take 35, when reels were being changed, the Beatles played “Step Inside Love” – written by Paul in 1967 for Cilla Black. A Latin-inspired jam was named “Los Paranoias“. All those ad-lib songs were released on either “Anthology 3” in 1996, or on The White Album’s 50th anniversary re-release in 2018.

During a light-hearted recording session for I Will, Paul frequently slipped into “jamming” mode, sometimes at the behest of John and Ringo who were sitting close at hand providing the percussion that augmented his acoustic guitar track. On of the off-the-cuff pieces was Step Inside Love – written by Paul in 1967 expressly for Cilla Black to sing as the theme tune for her first TV series, Cilla, that began on the BBC on 30 January 1968. The Beatles never recorded a formal studio recording of the song, and this version, performed by the composer many months after Cilla’s recording, was simply an ad-lib re-acquaintance with the piece. Then, prompted by one of John’s comments, and preserving the frivolity of the moment, Paul led the other Beatles into a jam, Los Paranoias.

From Anthology 3 liner notes

Take 36 was another jam, named “The Way You Look Tonight“. Another short jam from this session was issued under the name “Down In Havana“.

Out of the 67 takes, take 65 was considered to be the best. The recording was then transferred to an eight-track tape and numbered take 68.

The work on “I Will” would continue the day after.


At the end of the session, they briefly returned to “Glass Onion” and added an overdub in the form of a brief phrase on recorders played by Paul McCartney and producer Chris Thomas. The final overdubs for “Glass Onion” would be recorded on October 10.


Session activities

  1. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

    AlbumOfficially released on Anthology 3

  2. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

  3. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

  4. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

  5. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

  6. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

  7. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

  8. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

  9. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 9

  10. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 10

  11. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 11

  12. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 12. False start.

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

  13. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 13

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

  14. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 14

  15. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 15

  16. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 16

  17. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 17

  18. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 18

  19. Can You Take Me Back

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1. Labelled as "I Will - Take 19"

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

  20. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 20

  21. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 21

  22. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 22

  23. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 23

  24. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 24

  25. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 25

  26. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 26

  27. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 27

  28. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 28

  29. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 29

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

  30. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 30

  31. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 31

  32. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 32

  33. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 33

  34. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 34

  35. Step Inside Love

    Written by Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison

    Recording • Labelled as "I Will - Take 35"

    AlbumOfficially released on Anthology 3

  36. The Way You Look Tonight

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording • Labelled as "I Will - Take 36"

  37. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 37

  38. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 38

  39. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 39

  40. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 40

  41. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 41

  42. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 42

  43. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 43

  44. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 44

  45. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 45

  46. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 46

  47. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 47

  48. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 48

  49. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 49

  50. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 50

  51. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 51

  52. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 52

  53. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 53

  54. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 54

  55. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 55

  56. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 56

  57. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 57

  58. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 58

  59. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 59

  60. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 60

  61. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 61

  62. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 62

  63. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 63

  64. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 64

  65. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 65

  66. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 66

  67. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 67

  68. I Will

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape copying of take 65 into take 68

  69. Glass Onion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • SI onto take 33

  70. Blue Moon

    Written by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart

    Recording

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

  71. Down In Havana

    Written by Paul McCartney

    Recording


Staff

Musicians on "Glass Onion"

Production staff


Going further

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn

The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.

We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!

Shop on Amazon

The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)

The fourth book of this critically acclaimed series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)" captures The Beatles as they take the lessons of Sgt. Pepper forward with an ambitious double-album that is equally innovative and progressive. From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time. Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.

Shop on Amazon

If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.

Read more on The Beatles Bible

Paul McCartney writing

Talk more talk, chat more chat

Notice any inaccuracies on this page? Have additional insights or ideas for new content? Or just want to share your thoughts? We value your feedback! Please use the form below to get in touch with us.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

2024 • Please note this site is strictly non-commercial. All pictures, videos & quoted texts remain the property of the respective copyright owner, and no implication of ownership by us is intended or should be inferred. Any copyright owner who wants something removed should contact us and we will do so immediately. Alternatively, we would be delighted to provide credits.