Throughout the early 1960s The Beatles’ primary songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney were penning tracks for all kinds of musicians and artists.
They not only wrote songs for The Rolling Stones and Peter & Gordon even later on Ringo Starr (for his solo project).
But in 1962, one of McCartney’s songs was rejected by Lennon when he showed it to him. As a result, he let his boss, Brian Epstein, know he had a new song to sell.
Eventually, Epstein decided to gift the track to another one of the artists he managed: Billy J Kramer.
Kramer went on to record the song with the Fab Four’s producer, George Martin, and later released the track on April 26, 1963
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Kramer’s version of I’ll Be On My Way was a smash hit. It hit the UK Singles Chart powerfully and instantly broke into the top 10.
By the time it reached pole position, there was only one way the songwriting prowess of Lennon-McCartney could be beaten: By The Beatles themselves.
Kramer’s I’ll Be On My Way peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart, but couldn’t beat the Fab Four’s incredible number one hit From Me To You.
Looking back mockingly on McCartney’s song, Lennon told David Sheff: “That’s Paul, through and through. Doesn’t it sound like him? ‘Tra la la la la’ [laughs]. Yeah, that’s Paul on the voids of driving through the country.”
Years later, McCartney later looked back dismissively at the song, as well.
“It’s a little bit too June-moon for me,” he told Barry Miles for his book ‘Many Years From Now’. “But these were very early songs and they worked out quite good.”
The Beatles never recorded their own version of I’ll Be On My Way, but they did perform it for the BBC at the Live at the BBC Compilation.
This version of the track was eventually released in 1994 on the anthology compilation from the BBC.
The song’s performance was heavily inspired by Buddy Holly, and Lennon reportedly made faces while singing it because he disliked it so much.
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