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Lennon–McCartney

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John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1964

The Lennon–McCartney (also written Lennon/McCartney) songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history. Between 1962 and 1969, the partnership published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by The Beatles and form the bulk of their catalogue.

Unlike many songwriting partnerships which comprise separate lyricist and composer,[1] both John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote words and music. Sometimes, especially early on, they would collaborate extensively when writing songs, working "eyeball to eyeball". Later, it became more common for one of the two credited authors to write all or most of a song with limited input from the other. However, by an agreement made before the Beatles became famous, Lennon and McCartney agreed to share equal writing credit on songs that either one of them wrote while their partnership lasted.

Lennon–McCartney compositions have been the subject of numerous cover versions. According to Guinness World Records, "Yesterday" has been recorded by more artists than any other song.[2]

Working partnership

Lennon and McCartney's first musical idols were the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and they learned many of their songs and imitated their sound.[3] Their first compositions were written at McCartney's home (20 Forthlin Road), at Lennon's aunt Mimi's house at 251 Menlove Avenue, or at the Liverpool Institute.[4] They often invited friends—including George Harrison, Nigel Walley, Barbara Baker, and Lennon's art school colleagues—to listen to performances of their new songs.[5]

Although Lennon and McCartney often wrote independently—and many Beatles songs are primarily the work of one or the other—it was rare that a song would be completed without some input from both writers. In many instances, one writer would sketch an idea or a song fragment and take it to the other to finish or improve; in some cases, two incomplete songs or song ideas that each had worked on individually would be combined into a complete song. Often one of the pair would add a so-called middle eight or bridge section to the other's verse and chorus.[6] Lennon called it "Writing eyeball-to-eyeball",[6] and "Playing into each other's noses".[7] This approach of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting team—with elements of competitiveness and mutual inspiration as well as straightforward collaboration and creative merging of musical ideas—is often cited as a key reason for The Beatles' innovation and popular success.

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. "A Day in the Life" is a notable and well-known example of a later Beatles song that includes substantial contributions by both Lennon and McCartney, where a separate song fragment by McCartney ("Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head...") was used to flesh out the middle of Lennon's composition ("I read the news today, oh boy..."). "Hey Jude" is another example of a later Paul McCartney song that had input from Lennon: 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.[8]

In his 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon said of the partnership, "he provided a lightness, an optimism, while I would always go for the sadness, the discords, the bluesy notes. There was a period when I thought I didn't write melodies, that Paul wrote those and I just wrote straight, shouting rock 'n' roll. But, of course, when I think of some of my own songs—"In My Life", or some of the early stuff, "This Boy"—I was writing melody with the best of them."[9]

However, Lennon said the main intention of The Beatles' music was to communicate, and that, to this effect, he and McCartney had a shared purpose. The book Help! 50 Songwriting, Recording and Career Tips Used by The Beatles, points out that at least half of all Lennon–McCartney lyrics have the words "you" and/or "your" in the first line.[10]

The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership makes up the majority of The Beatles' catalogue. The first two UK studio albums included twelve cover tunes and fifteen Lennon–McCartney songs,[11][12] with one track ("Don't Bother Me") credited to George Harrison.[12] Their third UK album, A Hard Day's Night is made up entirely of Lennon–McCartney compositions.[13] The next album released, Beatles For Sale included six covers and eight Lennon–McCartney originals.[14] The subsequent release Help! had two covers and two Harrison compositions along with ten Lennon–McCartney tracks. Beginning with Rubber Soul, The Beatles released only original material on their studio albums,[15] with George Harrison contributing between one and four songs on each record, Ringo Starr writing two songs ("Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden") and being given joint credit with Lennon and McCartney for a third ("What Goes On"), and a fourth joint credit on Flying (credited to all four Beatles), and the rest of the catalogue coming from Lennon and McCartney.

Lennon and McCartney gave songs to Starr to sing, and to Harrison before he started writing his own material. As for the songs they kept for themselves, each partner sang his own composition, often with the other providing harmonies, or they shared lead vocal. If each contributed a fragment to make a whole song, he might sing his portion (see "I've Got a Feeling" and "A Day in the Life"). "Every Little Thing" (written by Paul, sung by John) is a very rare example of a Lennon–McCartney composition written by one member of the partnership and sung by the other.[16]

Joint credit

McCartney and Lennon met in July 1957 as teenagers and began writing songs together;[17] they agreed that all songs written by them (whether individually or jointly) should be credited to both of them.[17] The precise date of the agreement is unknown; however, Lennon spoke in 1980 of an informal agreement between him and McCartney made "when we were fifteen or sixteen".[18] Two songs written (primarily by Lennon) in 1957, "Hello Little Girl" and "One After 909", were credited to the partnership when published in the following decade.[19] The earliest Beatles recording credited to Lennon–McCartney to be officially released is "You'll Be Mine", recorded at home in 1960 and included on Anthology 1 35 years later.[20]

However, some other compositions from the band's early years are not credited to the partnership. "In Spite of All the Danger", a 1958 composition that the band (then The Quarrymen) paid to record to disc, is attributed to McCartney and George Harrison. "Cayenne", recorded at the same time as "You'll Be Mine", is a solo McCartney composition. "Cry for a Shadow", recorded during The Beatles' sessions with Tony Sheridan in June 1961, was written by Lennon and Harrison.

By 1962, the joint credit agreement was in effect. From the time of The Beatles' first A&R audition in January that year, until Lennon's announcement in September 1969 that he was leaving the band, virtually all songs by McCartney or Lennon were published with joint credit. The only exceptions were a handful of the McCartney compositions released by other artists (viz. "Woman" by Peter and Gordon in 1966, "Cat Call" by Chris Barber in 1967, and "Penina" by Carlos Mendes in 1969).

After the partnership had ended, Lennon and McCartney each gave account of their individual contribution to each jointly-credited song. In only three known cases is there a substantial difference between their recollections:

  • Although Lennon said that McCartney helped only with "the middle eight" (implying a short section) of "In My Life",[21] McCartney has said that he wrote the (entire) melody, taking inspiration from Smokey Robinson songs.[22]
  • McCartney said that he wrote "Eleanor Rigby" on a piano in the Ashers' music room in Wimpole Street,[23] and later played it to Donovan before it was finished—a claim which Donovan confirmed.[24] Lennon said, in 1972, that he wrote 70 percent of the "Eleanor Rigby" lyrics,[25] but Pete Shotton, Lennon's childhood friend, remembered Lennon's contribution as being "absolutely nil".[26]
  • Whilst Lennon said that McCartney's contribution to "Ticket to Ride" was limited to "the way Ringo played the drums,"[27] McCartney said "we sat down and wrote it together... give him 60 percent of it."[28]

Lennon–McCartney vs McCartney–Lennon

In October 1962, the Beatles released their first single in the UK, "Love Me Do", credited to "Lennon–McCartney". However, on their next three releases (viz. the single "Please Please Me", the Please Please Me LP, and the single From Me To You), the credit was given as "McCartney–Lennon".[29] With the "She Loves You" single, released in August 1963, the credit reverted to "Lennon–McCartney", and all subsequent official Beatles singles and albums list "Lennon–McCartney" (UK) or "J.Lennon/P.McCartney" (US) as the author of songs written by the two.

In 1976, after the Beatles had disbanded, McCartney released his live album Wings over America with songwriting credits for five Beatles songs reversed to place McCartney's name first. Neither Lennon nor Yoko Ono publicly "voiced a word of disapproval about it".[17] Several years after Lennon's death however, in the late 1990s, McCartney and Ono became involved in a dispute over the credit order.[30] McCartney's 2002 live album, Back in the U.S., also used the credit "Paul McCartney and John Lennon" for all of the Beatles songs.[31] When Ono objected to McCartney's request for the reversed credit to be used for the song "Yesterday", McCartney said that he and Lennon had agreed in the past that the credits could be reversed, if either of them wanted to, on any future releases. Later, however, he relented, saying "I'm happy with the way it is and always has been. Lennon and McCartney is still the rock 'n' roll trademark I'm proud to be a part of—in the order it has always been."[30] An in-depth analysis of the legal issues surrounding the dispute is the subject of a sixty-six page Pepperdine Law Review article from 2006.[32]

Other credits

A number of songs written primarily by the duo and recorded by The Beatles were credited as follows:

The German-language versions of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" were also credited to additional songwriters for assisting with the translation: "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" was credited to Lennon–McCartney–Nicholas–Heller and "Sie Liebt Dich" was credited to Lennon–McCartney–Nicholas–Montague.

Non-Beatles songs

Several songs credited to Lennon–McCartney were originally released by artists other than The Beatles, especially those managed by Brian Epstein. Recording a Lennon–McCartney song helped launch new artists' careers. Many of the recordings below were included on the 1979 compilation album The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away.[34] Beatles versions of some of these were recorded; some were not released until after their split, on compilations such as Live at the BBC (1993) and The Beatles Anthology (1995-6).

Year Artist Song Peak Chart
Position 		Notes
1963 The Rolling Stones "I Wanna Be Your Man" UK #12 Beatles version released later in 1963 on With The Beatles
1963 Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas "I'll Be on My Way" (B-side) Beatles version released on Live at the BBC
1963 Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas "Bad to Me" UK #1
1963 Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas "I Call Your Name" (B-side) Beatles version released on Long Tall Sally EP in 1964
1963 Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas "I'll Keep You Satisfied" UK #4
1964 Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas "From a Window" UK #10
1963 Tommy Quickly "Tip of My Tongue" —
1963 The Fourmost "Hello Little Girl" UK #9 Beatles version released on Anthology 1
1963 The Fourmost "I'm in Love" UK #17
1963 Cilla Black "Love of the Loved" UK #35
1964 Cilla Black "It's for You" UK #7
1968 Cilla Black "Step Inside Love" UK #8 Beatles version released on Anthology 3
1964 The Strangers with Mike Shannon "One and One Is Two" —
1964 Peter & Gordon "A World Without Love" UK #1
1964 Peter & Gordon "Nobody I Know" UK #10
1964 Peter & Gordon "I Don't Want to See You Again" —
1964 The Applejacks "Like Dreamers Do" UK #20 Beatles version released on Anthology 1
1965 P.J. Proby "That Means a Lot" UK #30 Beatles version released on Anthology 2
1968 Black Dyke Mills Band "Thingumybob" —
1969 Mary Hopkin "Goodbye" UK #2

See also

Template:Wikipedia-Books

Notes

  1. ^ Such as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
  2. ^ "Most Recorded Song". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 10 September 2006. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  3. ^ Spitz (2005), p. 131-132.
  4. ^ Miles (1997), p. 34.
  5. ^ Spitz (2005), p. 135.
  6. ^ a b Miles (1997), p. 107.
  7. ^ Spitz (2005), p. 133.
  8. ^ The Beatles Anthology documentary
  9. ^ Sheff, p. 136
  10. ^ Rowley (2008), p. 3.
  11. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Overview of Please Please Me". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
  12. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review of With the Beatles". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
  13. ^ "Overview of A Hard Day's Night". Allmusic.
  14. ^ "Overview of Beatles for Sale". Allmusic.
  15. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Review of Rubber Soul". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
  16. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 128.
  17. ^ a b c Garcia, Gilbert (27 January 2003). "The ballad of Paul and Yoko". salon.com. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  18. ^ Sheff, p. 214
  19. ^ MacDonald (2005), p. 53
  20. ^ Unterberger, Richie. The unreleased Beatles: music & film. Hal Leonard Corp., 2006, ISBN 9780879308926, p. 5-6
  21. ^ Miles (1997), p. 278.
  22. ^ Miles (1997), p. 277.
  23. ^ Miles (1997), p. 281.
  24. ^ Miles (1997), p. 282.
  25. ^ Miles (1997), p. 283.
  26. ^ Miles (1997), p. 284.
  27. ^ Sheff (2000), p. 196.
  28. ^ Miles (1997), p. 193.
  29. ^ Lewisohn (1988), pp. 23, 32
  30. ^ a b "McCartney makes up with Ono". BBC News. 1 June 2003.
  31. ^ Lister, David (28 December 2002). "Let it be, Sir Paul (as someone or other once said)". The Independent.
  32. ^ Landes, Ezra D. (2006). "I Am the Walrus - No. I Am!: Can Paul McCartney Transpose the Ubiquitous 'Lennon/McCartney' Songwriting Credit to Read 'McCartney/Lennon?" An Exploration of the Surviving Beatle's Attempt to Re-Write Music Lore, as it Pertains to the Bundle of Intellectual Property Rights". Pepperdine Law Review. 34: 185.
  33. ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 28.
  34. ^ Calkin, Graham. "The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away". JPGR. Retrieved 14 December 2009.

References

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