Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 17 June; 11 November 1965
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 3 December 1965 (UK), 6 December 1965 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar, tambourine
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass
George Harrison: guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, maracas
Available on:
Rubber Soul
First recorded and left off the Help! album, Wait was exhumed during the final day's recording for Rubber Soul, nearly five months later.
It was written while The Beatles were filming Help! in the Bahamas, and was originally intended for inclusion in the soundtrack. Paul McCartney recalled writing the song in the presence of actor and former child star Brandon de Wilde.
He was a nice guy who was fascinated by what we did. A sort of Brat Pack actor. We chatted endlessly, and I seem to remember writing Wait in front of him, and him being interested to see it being written. I think it was my song. I don't remember John collaborating too much on it, although he could have.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The reason why Wait was unused for Help! is unclear. It's possible that it was omitted in favour of Dizzy Miss Lizzy, which had been recorded specifically for the North American market, when The Beatles decided that the Help! album required a suitably rousing finale.
When the group found themselves needing a fourteenth song for Rubber Soul, they added extra percussion, vocals and guitar to make it sound more like a late-1965 Beatles recording.
In the studio
The Beatles recorded four takes of Wait on 17 June 1965, only the last of which was complete. They recorded guitars, drums and bass, along with the lead vocals, shared by Lennon and McCartney.
On 11 November they added more vocals, plus extra guitar (played with a volume pedal), tambourine and maracas, with which it was ready for release on Rubber Soul.
The intro sounds similar to In My Life… I wouldn’t have put it next to that one.
I never noticed that before, the rising melodic intro. On the contrary, it would seem to work in the two songs’ favour, lending unity to two otherwise disparate songs — a unity that might not be so obvious were they further apart on the record.
i hear that same really weird sound on this one as well. is it a guitar or what?
“On 11 November they added more vocals, plus extra guitar (played with a volume pedal), tambourine and maracas, with which it was ready for release on Rubber Soul.”
These recordings were overdubbed onto the remaining tracks (3) and (4):
3) tone pedal guitar (George)
4.) double-tracked vocal by Paul (bridge), tambourine (John), maracas (Ringo)
John did put this song in the co-written category in his 1972 interview with Hit Parader.
Sadly, David Sheff forgot to ask John about this song in the Playboy interview eight years later.
There seems to be some sort of consensus between experts that the song was a 50/50 collaboration, but Paul’s assessment does at least suggest that John’s input wasn’t substantial.
Back in the 70s there was a Beatles book published called “Things We Said Today” which basically was a concordance of Beatles words and lyrics. There was also section in the book which was devoted to naming the actual principal composers of the songs. This particular book gave sole songwriting credit of WAIT to Lennon!! Nevertheless, I was always skeptical of this.
I find it very strange that this was left off of ‘Help!’, as I consider it better than half that album’s material…
It may be worth noting that “Wait” was begun near the tail end of the Help! sessions, which had already spanned five months. They would certainly have been under pressure to finish this project, with a projected release date a mere month away. They would also have known that this track couldn’t supersede any of the Side 1 material because this was the movie’s songtrack and all the musical sequences were already shot — Lester’s latest work was nearing completion at this point. If “Wait” replaced anything on the album it would have to have been on side two, and most likely would be one of Paul’s songs to maintain the balance of power: he had three compositions to John’s one, George’s one, and Ringo’s one (though, on the movie soundtrack side, Paul has only has two songs to John’s four and George’s one).
I like this one. Its great how John and Paul alternate the vocal part. Further more I agree with Mike that “Wait” is far better than some of the Help-Stuff, but the song does fit much better to Rubber Soul.
It’s hard for me to think of this as being mainly a Paul song, as it feels so much like a John song to me. Of course, it’s always a little blurry when it comes to this era.
Pure speculation here, but highly likely IMO: John wrote only the chorus “It’s been a long time, now I’m, coming back home…” (11 notes) which repeats. Paul wrote the chorus “Wait…!” and the break “I feel as though…” This would account for Paul recalling that he wrote it even though John had a big part in it. This could all be nonsense.
The lyrics rhyme “It´s been a long TIME now I´M” are the same as “I´ll be back” (this TIME I will try to show that I´M)so I´m sure John had a lot of work on the writing on this one. Paul must have written the bridge where he sings lead doubletracking
Not a bad song, but the closest thing to ‘filler’ on Rubber Soul.
Wait as filler! Michelle is filler if ive ever heard filler. Wait, while having a simpler structure than other songs on the album its rythm and catchy vocals make it one o my favs on rubber soul.
Agreed. Never thought too much of this one. Michelle is a classic- wonderful melody and recording.
It is interesting to think of this as being close to a ‘filler’. Whilst I don’t think it is anywhwere near the strongest track on the album, it was strangely the first track to grab me when i first listened to the album. Bizarrely I got talking to a stranger in a pub a couple of months ago and got onto the topic of The Beatles – within 5 minutes we were singing Wait. Most Beatles fan I talk to don’t seem to have even heard of it!
Then they’re not real fans, IMO! Great song for any album.
check out Bettye LaVette’s verssion on her new 2015 LP Worthy.. she did it on Letterman last night 2/5/15 – and it took me a minute to realize what the heck song she was singing…!! wow
..and how about the Frankie Vaughn version? He was my Mum’s favorite!
Definitely co-written. The verses and chorus are typical John 1964-65.
“Ive been away now / oh how, I’ve been alone”
“If your heart breaks / don’t wait, turn me away”
“We forget the tears we cried”
It was normal for John to insert depressing lyrics in otherwise upbeat songs, and he also was familiar with the subject of being away from home.
When I Get Home and It Won’t Be Long coming to mind.
John sings the lead on both the verses and chorus, singing the first words of every verse solo
Paul wrote the middle eight, the most upbeat part of the song.
“I’ll trust in you / I know that you will wait for me”
But because he sings it solo, rather than harmonizing with John, people assume it’s Paul’s song
***ALL*** = see the opening to the Wikipedia page for this song.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wait_(Beatles_song)
It contains some interestingly sourced material:
“Wait” is a song released by the Beatles, on their 1965 album Rubber Soul. The songwriting credit is Lennon–McCartney, and the song is usually said to be a joint effort between the two, although in the 1997 book, Many Years from Now, McCartney recalls it as entirely his.[1] This is supported by a 1970 interview with John Lennon by Ray Connolly. John could not remember writing it. “That must be one of Paul’s,” he said.
These statements back up what is said in this article above:
“Paul McCartney recalled writing the song in the presence of actor and former child star Brandon de Wilde.
He was a nice guy who was fascinated by what we did. A sort of Brat Pack actor. We chatted endlessly, and I seem to remember writing Wait in front of him, and him being interested to see it being written. I think it was my song. I don’t remember John collaborating too much on it, although he could have.
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles”
Lennon acolytes have a serious complex. John doesn’t remember writing the song five years later and Paul says his help was minimal or nonexistent… you’d think that would be enough. But because some early Beatles books speculated it was cowritten or John’s and deep down they want it to be John’s (even though it’s only satisfactory by Beatles standards), they’re still so incredulous… Paul couldn’t have written this song alone! Paul couldn’t have helped John write It Won’t Be Long or Help or In My Life. They won’t budge an inch and they’re typically either criticizing Paul’s songs or indignantly trying to preserve John’s legacy. I love John but this kind of neurosis from his fanboys makes me like him less.
What I like best about this one, is the end. The way the cymbals and the tambourine sound together as both fade out give the song a somehow obscure conclusion on the loneliness idea of the lyrics.
I also love the “sad trombone” effect of the final volume-pedal guitar there.
Wrote a little piece on this one. The fascinating thing about this one is the way in which the erratic rhythm suits the words – it’s a perfect little poem in its own way.
https://conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/words-and-music-wait-by-the-beatles/
Regardless wether this is a joint collaboration or not between John and Paul, I think this song already “belonged to Rubber Soul when it was recorded on the last session of Help.
I think it´s incredible how the arrangement expresses the insecureness of the bridge, with its crescendo parts , and how it stops dryly on the verses, with the pessimistic section of the song. It also recalls the alternation between Lennon and McCartney on We Can Work It Out.
Lately I’ve begun to feel that this is an early example (perhaps the earliest) of Lennon and McCartney writing incomplete songs and fusing them. As L-H fan says above, the verses are pure John and the middle eight sounds so much like Paul. However, instead of being co-written, which implies eyeball to eyeball or whatever passed for it at that point in the partnership, I believe it might have been brought together as two different compositions that they decided fit together.