#59: I'll Follow The Sun

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: December 4, 1964
Appears on: Beatles For Sale
Lead vocal: Paul

I've always thought of "I'll Follow The Sun" as a dry run for "Yesterday". Although the song is hardly a solo track (John is featured prominently on backup vocals) the acoustic, somber nature of the track definitely allows itself to be compared to Paul's later masterpiece.

"I'll Follow The Sun" is Paul's first spotlight on the LP and shows The Beatles' growing desire to let their emotions hang out for all to see. However, Paul first wrote the song four years earlier (and a recording can actually be found on bootlegs and here). As you can probably hear in that recording, when The Quarrymen recorded it, they probably thought of the song as just another little 'rock thing', but when Paul resurrected it for Beatles For Sale, it became the quiet, delicate ballad that we all love today.

Like the majority of Beatles For Sale, it landed on the US LP Beatles '65 and (also like practically all of Beatles For Sale) has never appeared elsewhere. It's a shame, because if you could ever call a Beatles song 'underrated', "I'll Follow The Sun" is one of them.