But Paul McCartney quickly began to catch up as their career together unfolded. George Harrison made a late push into songwriting as well. As you'll see, there are individual albums where Lennon and McCartney take center stage.
Lennon, for instance, wrote or co-wrote an astonishing 10 songs for 's A Hard Days Night. On the other hand, McCartney is credited for the vast majority of 's Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. On several occasions, things were in complete equilibrium: 's Help! They basically split the songwriting difference on 's The Beatles , too. All were ascribed to "Lennon-McCartney," creating lingering questions about who did what.
One resourceful fan became so desperate to figure it out that he resorted to mathematical formulas. There have been a few surprising admissions along the way: Lennon later told David Scheff that he had a big hand in creating "Eleanor Rigby," which is typically credited solely to McCartney. We're taking the Beatles' word for it, since they were the only ones in the room — save for producer George Martin and engineers like Geoff Emerick — as their storied discography was created.
The junior members of the Beatles' songwriting stable are also included here, though Harrison didn't begin to make major statements of his own until the group's later era. The youngest member of the Beatles had only one credit over their first four studio albums — but then made 11 contributions over their final four.
Ringo Starr often sang others' words, but added a handful of songwriting credits as well. We're focusing on officially released Beatles songs, not bootlegs, radio recordings, anthology extras or songs they gave away.
As time went on, the songs increasingly became the work of one writer or the other, often with the partner offering up only a few words or an alternate chord.
While auditioning the song for Lennon, when McCartney came to the lyric "the movement you need is on your shoulder," McCartney assured Lennon that he would change the line — which McCartney felt was nonsensical — as soon as he could come up with a better lyric. Lennon advised McCartney to leave that line alone, saying it was one of the strongest in the song.
Even before they formed the Beatles, McCartney and Lennon began writing songs together. Lennon suggested that all songs written by either one of the pair whether written individually or in a collaborative effort should be credited to both of them, in an effort to emulate the familiarity of the Leiber—Stoller partnership. Between and all songs either of them published with the exception of Lennon's solo single " Cold Turkey " were jointly credited. As a result of this mutual agreement, songwriting royalties for the bulk of The Beatles' catalogue were shared equally between the two.
There was known to be substantial disagreement between Lennon and McCartney over the authorship of only two songs: " In My Life " and " Eleanor Rigby ". McCartney said that he wrote "Eleanor Rigby" on an upright piano in the Ashers' music room in Wimpole Street, and later played it to Donovan before it was finished — a claim which Donovan confirmed.
Beatle experts assign credit to "In My Life" mainly to Lennon, and credit "Eleanor Rigby" mainly to McCartney, although it is generally agreed that neither song was a solo effort.
Otherwise they write in their heads or work out a tune on a guitar. The beginning idea could be anything on earth. I was just fiddling when it came to me. It almost never got written, but then I found some time. Now, except for occasional late night sessions when they play for their own enjoyment, they tend to develop ideas on their own. Many songs, however, get written just by sitting down to write. Otherwise a lot of ideas, good ones, get lost. Many songs John and Paul write together, both doing words and music; others are done solo.
But just as they are distinct personalities, their musical abilities differ. John also tends toward a greater interest in lyrics; Paul towards music. But their tastes and personalities complement each other, and they are close and trusting friends, a rare thing in creative partnerships.
When I played it to John at the recording session, he said,. I thought about it and knew he was right, so we went on to other songs, then that night we spent hours trying to get a better idea.
Lyric ideas come on everywhere. Noting the ambiguous meaning, however, they never recorded it. As a child he was amused by a religious motto that hung in his home:. Have faith and trump and B. Both stress that since they do not write their songs down, the finished record is really the song they write. In the studio they do most of the arranging, but are aided by George Martin, who has recorded everything they have done, and by the inventive playing of George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Though they would blanch at the comparison, they are rather like Duke Ellington, who writes and arranges with particular musicians in mind. One of their biggest recent influences has been a newly popular British group, the Who, who use tremendous amounts of feedback. Both men say that other influences are hard to pin down. Paul mentioned a wide range of people he likes now: from groups like the Marvelettes and rhythm and blues singer Otis Redding, through Stockhausen and John Cage, and onto Albert Ayler, a pioneer of random jazz.
Cage, he felt, is too random. Summed up, their musical achievements have been breathtaking. Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Richard Rodgers all had written songs, and good ones, by their early twenties, but none could have matched the sheer output, range, or originality of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, aged 25 and 23 respectively. Yet they feel they have done nothing extraordinary, rather that they have just begun, and fairly modestly at that.
In interviews they stress over and over again the obvious facts: they have been at the game seriously just over six years; that much of their early work was adolescent and imitative; that they can hope to live and create for another forty years; and that they have total financial freedom to develop in any way they please.
Lennon: 10 McCartney: 3. Beatles For Sale Lennon: 5 McCartney: 5 Harrison: 2. Lennon: 6 McCartney: 5 Harrison: 2 Starr: 1. Rubber Soul Revolver Lennon: 5 McCartney: 6 Harrison: 3. Lennon: 5 McCartney: 5 Harrison: 3 Starr: 1. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
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