Both Paul and John have ascribed the song directly to Paul. [109] The latter, in 1964, said, “I did a couple while I was there [the Virgin Islands], which we recorded when we got back, ‘Things We Said Today’ and ‘Always and Only.’ [110] In 1995, he said, “I wrote ‘Things We Said Today’ on acoustic.” [111]
We seem to have achieved an uncontroversial attribution; but as often, a stray piece of evidence breaks the symmetry. In another early interview, Paul said that he wrote the song on holiday, then he and John “finished [it] off when we got back.” [112] Paul stated this quite firmly, so I accept that there was some “finishing” collaboration with John on this song.
When I Get Home — (Lennon)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on June 2, 1964)
In 1980, John claimed this. “That’s me again, another Wilson Pickett, Motown sound, a four-in-the-bar cowbell song.” [113] Miles/Paul agreed in 1995, putting it in a list of songs written by John. [114]
You Can’t Do That — (Lennon)
(lead vocals: John)
See the “Can’t Buy Me Love / You Can’t Do That” single, above.
I’ll Be Back — (Lennon-McCartney)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on June 1, 1964)
John claimed this strongly in his three comments on the song. In 1971, he said, “Me. A nice tune, though the middle is a bit tatty.” [115] At about the same time, he referred to it as “An early favorite that I wrote,” [116] and in 1980, he affirmed, “‘I’ll Be Back’ is me completely.” [117]
Paul, in the 1990s, however, stated that the song was a mixture of John’s original authorship and collaboration:
“I’ll Be Back” was co-written, but it was largely John’s idea. When we knew we were writing for something like an album he would write a few in his spare moments, like this batch here. He’d bring them in, we’d check ’em. I’d write a couple and we’d throw ’em at each other, and then there’d be a couple that were more co-written. [118]
It was probably a song that was begun by John, then finished with collaboration.
In other words, according to Paul, there had been two levels of collaboration on many songs. One was John or Paul writing songs, then bringing them to the other, to “throw them at each other” and “check them.” This was not collaboration from the ground up, but it was collaboration, as theoretically this quality control process involved some changes. You could call it major collaboration and minor (finishing) collaboration. However, there was undoubtedly a continuum between the two types of collaboration, so we are left to wonder how much, exactly, was John, and how much, exactly, was Paul, in many of these early Beatle songs.
* * *
[1] Paul McCartney, Interview with Klas Burling, July 29, 1964.
[2] For more on the Asher music room, see “Interview with Peter Asher” (who remembers that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was written there by Paul and John sitting at a piano); Miles, Many Years from Now , 107-8 (but Paul doesn’t confirm that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was written there). Miles lists: “And I Love Her,” “Every Little Thing,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “You Won’t See Me,” and “I’m Looking Through You.”
[3] Kelley, Interview with the Beatles, Paris, 1964.
[4] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 150.
[5] Kelley, Interview with the Beatles, Paris.
[6] Lennon, Rolling Stone Interview, Dec. 1970, BBC, part 4, cf. Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 98-99, also 26, 83. See also: Hennessey, “Lennon: the Greatest Natural Songwriter,” 12, Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror ; McCabe and Schonfeld. John Lennon: For the Record , 118;
[7] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 150.
[8] Uncut interview, 2004, in Sawyers, Read the Beatles , 245. Similar: Miles, Many Years From Now , 108; Williams, “Produced by George Martin.”
[9] Kelley, Interview with the Beatles, Paris.
[10] Lewisohn, “The Paul McCartney Interview,” 10 (1988); Miles, Many Years From Now , 155 (1995). Interview in Smith, Off the Record (before 1989), 201.
[11] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Lost Lennon Tapes, Sept. 16, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 203.
[12] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 149.
[13] Miles, Many Years from Now , 111-12. According to Lewisohn, Paul started the song “during a dark, late-night walk home.” Tune In , extended, 516.
[14] Milwaukee Press Conference, Sept. 4, 1964.
[15] Miles, Many Years from Now , 111-12.
[16] Milwaukee Press Conference, Sept. 4, 1964.
[17] Peter Asher, 1995 Goldmine article, as cited in Unterberger, The Unreleased Beatles , 345.
[18] Wyndham, “Paul McCartney As Songwriter.”
[19] Miles, Many Years from Now , 111-12.
[20] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 183-84. Similar: Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror
[21] He referred to the “composers” of the song, Interview with the Beatles, Disc Weekly , May 9, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 62).
[22] Engelhardt, Beatles Undercover , 373-74.
[23] McCartney, [1964] in Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 97.
[24] Everett I, 221.
[25] Shepherd and Dean, “Behind the Spotlight,” The Beatles Book , Monthly no. 31 (Feb. 1966), 21.
[26] Wyndham, “Paul McCartney As Songwriter.”
[27] Miles, Many Years from Now , 161.
[28] McCartney, in Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 97.
[29] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[30] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 182. See also Lennon in Cott, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” (1968). Lennon [1964], in Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 97, seems to refer to recording the song, not to songwriting.
[31] Harrison [1964] in Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 97. Shepard and Dean also reported that “Can’t Buy Me Love” was co-written: “He [Paul] and John had written the song [‘Can’t Buy Me Love’] at late-night sessions in Paris during January.” Shepherd and Dean, “Behind the Spotlight,” The Beatles Book , Monthly no. 32 (March 1966), 22. See also “Beatle News,” Beatles Book Monthly 9 (April 1964), 29.
[32] Coleman, “George Harrison — Exclusive.” See also Harrison [1964], in Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 97.
[33] Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 212. Similar: Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 204.
[34] Miles, Many Years From Now (1995), 164.
[35] For another song in Pickett’s style, see “When I Get Home” below.
[36] Harry, “Billy J. Kramer.” Miles, Many Years From Now (1995), 162.
[37] Braun, Love Me Do , 82-83. Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 120.
[38] Braun, Love Me Do , 82-83.
[39] Engelhardt, Beatles Undercover , 476. Unterberger, The Unreleased Beatles , 86.
[40] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror; Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 184. For Paul, Miles, Many Years From Now (1995), 162.
[41] Michael Braun, Love Me Do , 82-83; Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 120.
[42] Harry, “Billy J. Kramer.”
[43] Miles, Many Years from Now , 112.
[44] Peter Asher, Introduction to performance of “Nobody I Know,” 2015.
[45] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 204. See also Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[46] Coleman and Roberts, “What Makes a Beatle Beat?” (“Like Dreamers Do” not named, but in other listings, it’s always put first, as in Roberts, “How to Write a Hit.”) Miles, Many Years from Now , 82. See also Anthology , 18, 68. Lewisohn, Tune In , extended, 516-17.
[47] This performance can be found on Anthology 1.
[48] Engelhardt, Beatles Undercover , 24.
[49] Miles, Many Years from Now , 36.
[50] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[51] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 183.
[52] Roberts, “How to Write a Hit.”
[53] McCartney i
n Gambaccini, “The Rolling Stone Interview.”
[54] Ibid. Du Noyer, Conversations , 30.
[55] McCartney in Goodman, “Playboy Interview,” 88.
[56] Anthology , 112.
[57] Gambaccini, “The Rolling Stone Interview”.
[58] Miles, Many Years from Now , 46.
[59] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews (1980), 180.
[60] Lost Lennon Tapes, Sept. 16, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 180. Similar: Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 201. Lennon in 1974, cited in Google Groups: “A song that I wrote — except for the middle part — when I was sixteen. We recorded the middle-eight in Ska-style.”
[61] Miles, Many Years from Now , 46.
[62] The Beatles, Interview, Auckland, June 24, 1964.
[63] Ibid.
[64] Lennon, interview, in Coleman, “Beatles Say – Dylan Shows the Way” (1965), quoted below.
[65] Ibid.
[66] Or director Richard Lester. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 185.
[67] Or to Lennon and McCartney, or Lennon alone. Lost Lennon Tapes, July 9, 1990.
[68] Or the Beatles decided the phrase would work. Miles, Many Years from Now , 164.
[69] Lennon, interview, in Coleman, “Beatles Say — Dylan Shows the Way” (1965).
[70] Maureen Cleave (as quoted in Turner, A Hard Day’s Write , 47).
[71] Walter Shenson, article about Hard Day’s Night , in Disc Weekly , July 18, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 72). Similar: Walter Shenson, March 1966, in Lydon, “Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters,” also in Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution , 11. See also Shenson in Pritchard and Lysaght, The Beatles: An Oral History , 164: “At eight-thirty the next morning John and Paul called me into their dressing room at the studio. On the back of a matchbook cover they had the lyrics of ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ The two of them then took out their guitars and played this song.”
[72] Miles, Many Years from Now , 164-65.
[73] McCabe and Schonfeld, John Lennon: For the Record , 118. Similar: Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[74] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 185.
[75] Interview with Nigel Hunter, Disc Weekly , June 19, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 62).
[76] Lost Lennon Tapes, July 9, 1990. Anthology , 129.
[77] Miles, Many Years from Now , 164-65.
[78] Walter Shenson, article about Hard Day’s Night , in Disc Weekly , July 18, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 72). Similar: Walter Shenson, March 1966, in Lydon, “Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters,” also in Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution , 11. See also Shenson in Pritchard and Lysaght, The Beatles: An Oral History , 164: “At eight-thirty the next morning John and Paul called me into their dressing room at the studio. On the back of a matchbook cover they had the lyrics of ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ The two of them then took out their guitars and played this song.”
[79] Dick James, in Jones, “Northern Songs Ltd. for Beatle Songs Unlimited,” 11.
[80] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror ; Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 204. For Paul, “Paul and Linda McCartney Interview,” Playboy , (1984), 107; Miles, Many Years from Now , 164 (assuming that Miles reflects Paul).
[81] Lost Lennon Tapes, Sept. 23, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 204.
[82] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[83] Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 113.
[84] Miles, Many Years from Now , 162.
[85] Ibid.
[86] “How Does It Feel to Be a Beatle,” Interview with Jude Rogers, Q Magazine , May 2013, as cited in Beatles Bible. Paul was not claiming the entire song as his own, as his 1995 interview shows.
[87] John before 1979, in Miles, Beatles in their Own Words , 79. Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[88] Miles, Many Years from Now , 163.
[89] Ibid., 122-23.
[90] Ibid., 122. Goodman, “Paul and Linda McCartney Interview,” Playboy , 107.
[91] Miles, Many Years From Now , 122-23.
[92] Harry, McCartney Encyclopedia , at “And I Love Her.”
[93] Miles, Many Years From Now , 122-23.
[94] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 183.
[95] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. He put it on a list of songs that were collaborative. Hennessey, “Lennon: the Greatest Natural Songwriter,” 12.
[96] Miles, Many Years From Now , 122-23.
[97] Lost Lennon Tapes, Sept. 23, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 204-5. Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[98] Miles, Many Years From Now , 164.
[99] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror . Miles, Many Years From Now , 164.
[100] Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 186.
[101] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[102] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 205.
[103] Miles, Many Years From Now , 164.
[104] Nigel Hunter, interview with George Martin, Disc Weekly , June 13, 1964, as quoted in Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 62.
[105] Miles, Many Years From Now , 121.
[106] Ibid., 122.
[107] Ibid.
[108] McCartney, interview with Klas Burling, July 29, 1964.
[109] For John, see Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror (a list of Paul songs); Lennon in 1980 (Lost Lennon Tapes, Episode Sept. 16, 1991; cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 204).
[110] Shepherd, “Beatles on Holiday,” 9. “Always and Only” is a mystery. Some believe that the transcriber of the interview, or the ghost writer of the article, got the name wrong. Unterberger, The Unreleased Beatles , 116.
[111] Miles, Many Years From Now , 122.
[112] McCartney, interview with Klas Burling, July 29, 1964.
[113] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 205. Similar: Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[114] Miles, Many Years From Now , 164.
[115] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[116] Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 171.
[117] Lost Lennon Tapes, Sept. 16, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 173.
[118] Miles, Many Years from Now , 163.
6
“A folk song gone pop” —
BEATLES FOR SALE
B eatles for Sale marked a return to “live show” album format, part Lennon-McCartney songs, part covers. Paul said, “Recording Beatles for Sale didn’t take long. Basically it was our stage show, with some new songs.” [1]
During this time period, Paul remembers, the record company would call them up a month before the recording session, and let them know that they would have a week off scheduled for them to write songs. So Paul would go to John’s new house in Weybridge every day for a week, and they would go to the music room at the top of the house and work from about one or two in the afternoon till four or five. They would write a song a day and be ready for the recording session. [2]
John had bought this new house, called Kenwood, at Weybridge, Surrey, in the London suburbs, on July 15, 1964. The music room was an attic where John kept most of his musical instruments and tape recorders. Many of the great Beatles songs were written in this house, or outside, near the swimming pool (as was the case with Paul’s “Here, There and Everywhere”) or in the gardens, as memorialized in John’s line from “I Am the Walrus”: “sitting in an English garden, waiting for the sun.”
“From a Window / Second To None” single —
Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, July 17, 1964
From a Window — (McCartney-Lennon)
(recorded on May 29, 1964)
Apparently, Brian Epstein came to Paul and John and said that Billy needed a new song. So Paul had the beginnings of a song, and he and John worked on it till it was good enough to “give away.”
Neithe
r Paul nor John remembered the details of actually writing “From a Window.” John ascribed it to Paul, but without any great certainty. “Paul — must be Paul’s. I can’t really remember it,” he said in 1971. [3] And nine years later, he again credited the song to Paul, but then added, “I’m not sure.” [4]
Miles, however, refers to it as a collaboration:
“From a Window” was again written purposely for Billy. [Brian would ask for a song] . . . and they would write it on the spot.” Paul: “We would just make it up. We would sit down at rehearsal . . . and just with pen and paper, scribble the lyrics down.” [5]
So it was probably a Paul song finished with collaboration.
George Martin produced this recording session, and Paul and John attended.
Second To None (Robin MacDonald)
“It’s For You / He Won’t Ask Me” single —
Cilla Black, July 31, 1964
It’s For You — (McCartney-Lennon)
(recorded on July 2, 1964)
When Cilla Black recorded Burt Bacharach’s “Anyone Who Had a Heart” Paul was at the recording session. He told her he liked the song and that he and John would try to write something similar for her. [6] Paul wrote “It’s For You” and brought it to John for quality control. John objected to something about it, Paul said. “I’d written it basically, and John said, well, that’s no good, you know.” So they “talked it over together” and “eventually finished it.” [7]
Who Wrote the Beatle Songs Page 10
