I Will
After that long "Say It Ain't So" post, I felt like digging up this shorter analysis of the Beatles' "I Will" that I wrote some months ago.
I've always sort of thought of this song as a nice little romantic song. I think I once said that if the tempo was a bit slower I might consider it as a wedding-type song. I really love this song. But I've been thinking about the lyrics for a really long time now, and just reading them over now I realize that it's not a real love song; it's more of a "lust" song.
First of all, the speaker in the song has barely even met or talked to the object of his affection, if at all, as shown in the lyrics "For if I ever saw you / I didn't catch your name."
I think the first verse shows a sort of stalker-ish side to the speaker now knowing this information. "Who knows how long I've loved you / You know I love you still / Will I wait a lonely lifetime / If you want me to, I will." This guy doesn't even know the person he loves, but apparently he's admired them for a long period of time. He's also kind of crazy, offering to wait a lifetime without anyone else just for this idealistic image of the perfect mate.
I always thought the chorus was very subtly sexual, especially in the lines, "Love you whenever we're together / Love you when we're apart." The differentiation between "whenever" and "when" has always made me look (maybe too much) into these lines. "Whenever" has the connotation of a more specific and not so much an ongoing period of time, whereas "when" seems just a more general and constant period. I always saw the first line as sexual for this reason, as in "Whenever we're together, we make love" and the second as "I love you even when we're apart." I also saw this second line as maybe some sort of connection to that "ideal" image of the mate, like the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder." It could just as easily been "Miss you when we're apart." That would make it seem like the "real" relationship would be full of turmoil, while being separated from the significant other might be better, hence "Love."
Finally, in the last verse, the line "Make it easy to be near you" seems to go along with this idea of turmoil when the couple is together.
In summary, I think "I Will" is about the ideal of love and how it's so unattainable. From the stalker idea to the realization of the relationship and the disappointment that follows, "I Will" is more about the mishaps of love than the beauty of it.
I've always sort of thought of this song as a nice little romantic song. I think I once said that if the tempo was a bit slower I might consider it as a wedding-type song. I really love this song. But I've been thinking about the lyrics for a really long time now, and just reading them over now I realize that it's not a real love song; it's more of a "lust" song.
First of all, the speaker in the song has barely even met or talked to the object of his affection, if at all, as shown in the lyrics "For if I ever saw you / I didn't catch your name."
I think the first verse shows a sort of stalker-ish side to the speaker now knowing this information. "Who knows how long I've loved you / You know I love you still / Will I wait a lonely lifetime / If you want me to, I will." This guy doesn't even know the person he loves, but apparently he's admired them for a long period of time. He's also kind of crazy, offering to wait a lifetime without anyone else just for this idealistic image of the perfect mate.
I always thought the chorus was very subtly sexual, especially in the lines, "Love you whenever we're together / Love you when we're apart." The differentiation between "whenever" and "when" has always made me look (maybe too much) into these lines. "Whenever" has the connotation of a more specific and not so much an ongoing period of time, whereas "when" seems just a more general and constant period. I always saw the first line as sexual for this reason, as in "Whenever we're together, we make love" and the second as "I love you even when we're apart." I also saw this second line as maybe some sort of connection to that "ideal" image of the mate, like the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder." It could just as easily been "Miss you when we're apart." That would make it seem like the "real" relationship would be full of turmoil, while being separated from the significant other might be better, hence "Love."
Finally, in the last verse, the line "Make it easy to be near you" seems to go along with this idea of turmoil when the couple is together.
In summary, I think "I Will" is about the ideal of love and how it's so unattainable. From the stalker idea to the realization of the relationship and the disappointment that follows, "I Will" is more about the mishaps of love than the beauty of it.
posted by Kevin A. Doran at 12:45 PM
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