Skip to main content

TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney said he wrote a song for The Beatles’ The White Album with Donovan.
  • The track was originally about the moon but it turned into a song with simple lyrics.
  • Paul is a big fan of the song but it’s nothing compared to a Hollies song with a similar name.
The Beatles' Paul McCartney in a suit
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney | Bettmann / Contributor

Paul McCartney said one song from The Beatles’ The White Album has one of his best melodies. Notably, he said another rock star helped him write the song. Despite Paul’s feelings about the track, it’s nothing special.

Paul McCartney said he wrote a love song for The Beatles’ ‘The White Album’ with Donovan

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed The Beatles’ time in India. “I was doing a song, ‘I Will,’ that I had as a melody for quite a long time but I didn’t have lyrics to it,” he said.

“I remember sitting around with Donovan, and maybe a couple of other people,” he continued. “We were just sitting around one evening after our day of meditation and I played him this one and he liked it and we were trying to write some words.”

Paul and Donovan had difficulty writing words for “I Will.” “We kicked around a few lyrics, something about the moon, but they weren’t very satisfactory and I thought the melody was better than the words so I didn’t use them,” he said. “I kept searching for better words and I wrote my own set in the end; very simple words, straight love-song words really. I think they’re quite effective.”

The dull melody of The Beatles’ ‘I Will’ doesn’t elevate its generic lyrics

Paul had warm feelings toward “I Will” in retrospect. “It’s still one of my favorite melodies that I’ve written,” he revealed. “You just occasionally get lucky with a melody and it becomes rather complete and I think this is one of them; quite a complete tune.” Notably, in a 1980 interview from All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John Lennon said Paul made “I Will” without his help.

Paul might be proud of “I Will,” but it’s nothing special. The instrumentation is a lot of disposable guitar twanging. Paul knew how to write great love songs like “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face” but he did not bring his A-game for “I Will.” The lyrics are too generic for their own good and the track’s much-touted melody doesn’t elevate them.

Related

John Lennon Called 1 Song From The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ ‘a Piece of Garbage’

The Hollies made a great song with a similar title before ‘The White Album’ came out

Notably, The Hollies also released a similarly-titled love song called “Yes I Will” in 1965, three years before The Beatles released “I Will” on The White Album. The Hollies’ song has much better lyrics and a melody that’s actually memorable. Subsequently, The Monkees covered The Hollies’ “Yes I Will” under the name “I’ll Be True to You.” “Yes I Will” deserves to be a lot more famous than “I Will,” but “I Will” has the advantage of appearing on one of the most famous albums ever.

“I Will” isn’t great but at least it made Paul happy.

Best in Entertainment