a legacy of the Beatles having had to satisfy requests for styles such as rhumba during their pre-fame years in Hamburg. Author Jonathan Gould identifies "I Will" as an effective "demure punchline" to the sexual suggestiveness of "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?", and similar in mood and form to McCartney's 1966 song "Here, There and Everywhere". He also views it as lacking in genuine emotion, however, due to the lyrics and musical arrangement, and concludes: "This is one of the few instances in which the restraint Paul typically brought to his ballad singing blanches into something that sounds like simple indifference. 'Who knows how long I've loved you?' he asks, and it's tempting to think, 'Who cares?'" Howard Sounes welcomes the diversification of McCartney's non-rock White Album contributions such as "Martha My Dear" and "Honey Pie" but he says of "I Will": "[It] exemplified Paul's weakness for the soft-centred love song. The melody was catchy, but the lyric, about loving his beloved forever and ever, etc., was the sickliest cliché, a taste of what was to come." Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "I Will" at number 12 in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He called the song "crystalline proof that no one can write a love song as effortlessly as McCartney", adding that McCartney’s selection of it among his personal favourites is a tough choice to argue with. The song was sung in the 1994 film Love Affair, starring Annette Bening and Warren Beatty. Personnel According to Ian MacDonald: Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitars, "vocal bass" John Lennon – percussion, maracas Ringo Starr – bongos, cymbals References Sources External links The Beatles songs Diana Ross songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Songs published by Northern Songs Apple Records singles 1968 songs 1968 singles English folk songs