You’ll Be Mine: Introduction

“You’ll Be Mine” is a Beatles’ song that is on their “Anthology 1” album. Since the song dates back to 1960, the name of the band at the time was The Quarrymen. Indeed, it was an experimental home demo from Paul McCartney’s old home, 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool.

Also worthy of note is Stuart Sutcliffe on bass guitar. Obviously, Ringo Starr was not one of The Beatles yet.

Just to point out that “You’ll Be Mine” is the earliest Lennon-McCartney composition to have an official release. Although they released “That’ll Be The Day,” which dates back to 1958, that was a cover song. So were “Three Cool Cats,” etc. Therefore, this tune marks another milestone and is historically important!

In Detail

• Release Date: November 20, 1995
• Recorded: spring/summer 1960
• Studio/Location: 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool, home of Paul McCartney
• Genre: Rhythm and blues, experimental, and a touch of doo wop
• Track Duration: 1:38
• Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney

Performers And Instruments

• Paul McCartney: lead vocal, also the guitar
• John Lennon: backing and spoken vocals, as well as the guitar
• George Harrison: guitar
• Stuart Sutcliffe: bass guitar

Where To Find “You’ll Be Mine”

You can still buy this song as it is in the Anthology series. Click on the album to see the other songs it contains.

You’ll Be Mine: Background

Although they had the name Quarrymen at this time, the individual Beatles all had a sense of humour. Indeed, that shows on this experimental track, which is actually a parody of The Ink Spots and their vocal jazz. This is where the vocals in jazz singing are used like instruments.

It was sung in Paul McCartney’s bog (toilet) or bathroom at his family home; they used the room as their “acoustic chamber.” Watch his carpool karaoke video to see him explain this.

What we get is a doo-wop recording where Paul McCartney sings in a deep baritone while John Lennon sings with shrill falsetto backing vocals on each last word by Paul. However, John Lennon does come in half-way through with a mock-bass voice.

The song sees Paul determined to make a woman his, with John adding more weight to this. However, this early 1960 recording can be difficult to understand. This is because of the primitive recording equipment and the deep baritone voice, which drown out the lyrics.

The song ends with a crescendo of boisterousness and then laughter. But this is The Beatles in their infancy, a rare recording and well worth listening to.

Song Lyrics:

Well darling all the night, you’ll be mine and I know
You’ll be mine until you die, you’ll be mine

And so, (And so)
All the night, (All the night)
You’ll be mine, (You’ll be mine)
You’ll be mine
And the stars, (And the stars)
Always shine, (Always shine)
You’ll be mine

My darling, when you brought me
That toast the other morning
I, I looked into your eyes
And I could see a nice little healthy eyeball
And I loved you like I never done
Like I’ve never done before!

And the stars, (And the stars)
Always shine, (Always shine)
And you’ll be mine
[Incomprehensible] you’ll be mine

You’ll be mine
At the start, (At the start)
Oh yes, you’ll be

Take A Listen

Now, let us move on to the song in question so that we can hear what it is like. You have to imagine The Beatles, with very little money to buy instruments and experiment. They obviously knew they had to develop their talent. Once you hear it, let us know what it says to you in the comments below.