"I'll Be on My Way" is a Lennon–McCartney song, which was first released on 26 April 1963 by Billy J. Kramer

Billy J. Kramer

Billy J. Kramer is a British Invasion/Merseybeat singer. In the 1960s he was managed by Brian Epstein, who also managed The Beatles, and he recorded several original Lennon and McCartney compositions.-Early life and career:He grew up as the youngest of seven siblings and attended the St George of...

 with The Dakotas as the b-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 of their single "Do You Want to Know a Secret", a song also written by Lennon–McCartney. The single reached number two in the UK charts while "From Me to You

From Me to You

"From Me to You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a single in 1963. The single was the Beatles' first number one in some of the United Kingdom charts, second in others, but failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial...

" by The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 was occupying the number 1 position. According to John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

, the song was written by Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

: "This was early Paul."

Background

In 1980 Lennon said "that's Paul on the voids of driving through the country."

"I'll Be on My Way" is considered to be the first song that Lennon and McCartney "gave away", and the Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas' version of the song is included on the EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 album The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away

The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away

The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away was a conceptual compilation album containing the original artist recordings of songs composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the 1960s that they had elected not to release as Beatles songs...

.

In 1963, the Beatles and Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas were both acts managed by Brian Epstein

Brian Epstein

Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...

, with George Martin

George Martin

Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...

 as their producer.

The song may have been influenced by the musical and lyrical style of Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...

. The persona forces a happy-go-lucky view on his break-up to make himself feel better, similar in character to Holly's 1959 song "It Doesn't Matter Anymore

It Doesn't Matter Anymore

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" is a pop ballad written by Paul Anka and recorded by Buddy Holly in 1958. The song reached #13 as a posthumous hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in early 1959 shortly after Holly was killed in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. The single was a two-sided hit, backed...

".

Recording

This song was recorded by the Beatles on 4 April 1963 at the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Paris Theatre, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and broadcast on the BBC radio show Side by Side on 24 June 1963. This is the only known recording of "I'll Be on My Way" by the Beatles; it features joint lead vocals by McCartney and Lennon, and can be heard on the Beatles' album Live at the BBC

Live at the BBC (The Beatles album)

Live at the BBC is a 1994 compilation album featuring performances by The Beatles that were originally broadcast on various BBC Light Programme radio shows from 1963 through 1965. The monaural album, available in multiple formats but most commonly as a two-CD set, consists of 56 songs and 13 tracks...

, where it is the only previously unreleased original song.