Who Wrote the Beatle Songs
Page 12
[21] For the date, BBC interviews, Nov. 17, 1964, as reported in Unterberger, The Unreleased Beatles , 114. See also Miles, Many Years From Now , 172-73.
[22] Miles, Many Years From Now , 173.
[23] BBC interviews, Nov. 17, 1964, as reported in Unterberger, The Unreleased Beatles , 114.
[24] Miles, Many Years From Now , 173.
[25] Melody Maker , Nov. 7, 1964, p. 3, cf. Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 134. BBC interviews, Nov. 17, 1964, as reported in Unterberger, The Unreleased Beatles , 114.
[26] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[27] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 184.
[28] Read, “McCartney on McCartney,” episode 2.
[29] Miles, Many Years From Now , 173.
[30] For Quickly, see “Tip of My Tongue,” above. Lewisohn, in Booklet to Anthology 1 , 41.
[31] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[32] Ibid. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 184.
[33] Miles, Many Years From Now , 176.
[34] Lennon, Rolling Stone Interview, Dec. 1970, BBC, part 1; Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 9.
[35] Ibid., 83.
[36] Coleman, “Beatles Say – Dylan Shows the Way.”
[37] Hutton, “Protest palls: Says Paul,” 1. Thirty years later, Paul thought he might have contributed a little to it, but now wasn’t sure. Miles, Many Years From Now , 176.
[38] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102).
[39] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 205.
[40] Miles, Many Years from Now , 176.
[41] John and Paul agree on this. Hennessey, “Lennon: the Greatest Natural Songwriter,” 12; Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 214. Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102). Miles, Many Years from Now , 175. Paul in Anthology , 160.
[42] Miles, Many Years from Now , 175.
[43] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102).
[44] Lewisohn interview (1988), 12.
[45] McDonald, Revolution in the Head , 138.
[46] Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 4.
[47] Miles, Many Years from Now , 38-39.
[48] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102).
[49] Lewisohn interview (1988), 12. Miles, Many Years from Now , 38-39.
[50] Coleman, “Life with the Lennons.”
[51] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Also, Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 184.
[52] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102).
[53] Rybaczewski, “‘Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!’ History.”
[54] Goodman, “Paul and Linda McCartney Interview,” Playboy , 88.
[55] McCartney, in Garbarini and Baird, “Has Success Spoiled Paul McCartney?” (1985), 60. McCartney, Letter to John on John’s Induction. See also O’Hare, “McCartney on McCartney.”
[56] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102).
[57] Interview in Smith, Off the Record , 201. Linda’s idea that Ringo said it, which Paul doesn’t correct, is evidently wrong. Goodman, “Paul and Linda McCartney,” Playboy (1984), 90.
[58] Miles, Many Years From Now , 174. Similar: Anthology , 159; Badman, The Beatles Off the Record , 135.
[59] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. He also put it on a list of collaborations, Hennessey, “Lennon: the Greatest Natural Songwriter,” 12.
[60] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 185.
[61] Turner, A Hard Day’s Write , 63.
[62] Article in Melody Maker , March 27, 1965 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 120); Soderbergh and Lester, Getting Away With It , 52.
[63] Many Years from Now , 108, 174.
[64] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102)., Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[65] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102)., Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[66] Miles, Many Years From Now , 174.
[67] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 214.
[68] Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 235. Similar: Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror (on a list of songs John wrote himself).
[69] Miles, Many Years from Now , 175.
[70] Nigel Hunter, interview with McCartney, Disc Weekly , Nov. 14, 1964 (Sandercombe, The Beatles: Press Reports , 102).
[71] Ibid. “We wrote this one in Atlantic City like ‘Every Little Thing.’” See also Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 359.
[72] Miles, Many Years From Now , 175-76.
[73] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 214. Earlier, John put this on a list of collaborative songs. Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
7
“I started thinking about my own emotions” —
HELP!
T he collaborative songwriting for this album was mostly done at John’s house, Kenwood, at Weybridge. [1] In January 1965, John said, “Well, Paul has written five structures — I suppose he means tunes without words — for the film, and I’ve done half a song, so we aren’t doing bad.” [2] Paul usually wrote music first, then added words.
Help! includes twelve original Beatle songs, and two covers, Ringo’s excellent country outing, “Act Naturally,” and John’s scorching “Dizzy Miss Lizzie,” which ends the album. This is the last major Beatle album to include covers, with the exception of the forty second joke, “Maggie Mae” on Let It Be . Help! is thus a transitional record, with some traits of the early Beatles albums (including a “screamer” at the end of the “show”), and then “Yesterday” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” which point forward to the stylistic exploration of Rubber Soul and Revolver . Elsewhere on the record, John is reaching toward the lyrical sophistication and folk balladry of Dylan, with “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.”
“Yesterday” has the most famous songwriting story in the Beatle history: Paul dreamed the main melody and wondered if it came from a song he’d heard. It’s also an example of a song written entirely without collaboration. As such, it points ahead to John and Paul writing many songs entirely separately in later Beatle albums.
“Ticket to Ride / Yes It Is” single, April 9, 1965
Ticket to Ride — (Lennon-McCartney)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on February 15, 1965)
Understanding the songwriting history for this song is hampered by conflicting evidence, but following is a possible reconstruction. Sometime before Christmas, 1964, Paul and John sat down for a songwriting session at Kenwood. John had the “Ticket to Ride” phrase, and probably the general idea of the lyrics [3] but they “wrote the melody together.” [4] John’s domination of the lyrics caused him to think of this song as one of his personal songs that meant something to him, reflecting his “moods or moments.” [5]
Paul and John sang the tune of “Ticket to Ride” to Dick James during the rehearsals for the Hammersmith Odeon Christmas Show, thus December 21st to 24th, 1964. John told James that the song had “a sort of title”: “She’s Got a Ticket to Ride.” [6]
John played it for George Martin on a skiing holiday in February 1965, then said that “he would get together with Paul as soon as he got back to London and finish it off.” [7] Paul was gone on vacation when John returned, only returning on February 14th, at which time he and John finished the song, the day before they recorded it.
The evidence shows us the familiar pattern of John describing the song as his, while Paul remembered collaboration. J
ohn claimed it in 1971, and in 1980, he said “That’s me,” and limited Paul’s contribution to “the way Ringo played the drums”! [8] But Paul, in a very early statement, described writing it in collaboration. “John and I wrote it in the middle of doing some other stuff at his house one afternoon,” he said in 1965. [9] This is definitively confirmed by George Martin’s equally early interview. [10] In 1995, Paul still had definite memories of the songwriting session. Responding to John saying Paul’s contribution was the way Ringo played the drums, Paul replied, “John just didn’t take the time to explain that we sat down together and worked on that song for a full three-hour songwriting session, and at the end of it all we had all the words, we had the harmonies, and we had all the little bits.” [11]
John probably had the idea of this song, and dominated writing the lyrics, but the song was still written with substantial musical and lyrical collaboration.
Yes It Is — (Lennon-McCartney)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on February 16, 1965)
John began this song as a rewrite of “This Boy’” [12] and then he and Paul worked on it together. “It was his inspiration that I helped him finish off,” said Paul. [13] We have the familiar pattern of John claiming a song and Paul remembering some collaboration, but Paul definitely highlighted John’s contribution: “‘Yes It Is’ is a very fine song of John’s, a ballad, unusual for John.” [14]
So we have a John song, another in three-part harmony, finished with collaboration.
Beatles VI , U.S. album, June 14, 1965
Although this album contained the usual stateside mangling of the canonical British versions of the Beatle albums, it also contained a great cover song never before released by the Beatles.
Bad Boy (COVER) (Larry Williams)
(lead vocals: John)
This Larry Williams song had appeared in 1959. The Beatles recording was later released on the U.K. collection, A Collection of Beatles Oldies (December 10, 1966) and on Past Masters, Volume One . [15]
“Help! / I’m Down” single, July 19, 1965
Help! — (Lennon-McCartney)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on April 13, 1965)
When it came time to write a title song for the new Beatle movie, after the director and producers had decided on “Help!” as the title, John went home, “thought about it [the title song] and got the basis for it,” [16] but there wasn’t much of the song there yet. [17] Paul came over to work on it, and they adapted “a little bit of a song” John had written, which had been “floating around for a long time,” called “Keep Your Hands Off My Babe.” [18] Paul supplied a counter-melody to the verses, starting with “When I was younger, so much younger than today.” [19] He also helped develop the “structure” of the song. [20] John probably dominated writing the lyrics, while Paul probably made a substantial contribution to the music. [21]
In the seventies, John claimed this song as entirely his own, and even singled it out as one of his most personal songs. [22] “The only true songs I ever wrote were like ‘Help’ and ‘Strawberry Fields,’” he said in 1970. [23] “It was just me singing ‘Help’ and I meant it.” [24] He even mentioned it as one of the best examples of how he wrote with no collaboration: “And we’d written separately for years. I mean, in Help , I wrote ‘Help.’” [25] And again, in 1980, he said that, “I wrote [‘Help’], bam! bam! like that and got the single.” [26] He continued to emphasize the song’s personal nature, reflecting his insecurity at the time: “I was just writing a song — I’d been commissioned to write a song for the movie. And I came out with ‘Help!’ . . . I was crying for help. It was like the fat Elvis period.” [27]
But John’s early interviews conclusively record collaboration. In 1965, he said, “We wrote it in my house. . . when Paul came over, we decided to, sort of adapt it [the song fragment]. We wrote “Help!” after we had been told of the film title.” [28] And again, in the same year, he said, “Paul and I wrote eleven and we chose seven out of the eleven. Q: I suppose there is a title song. Yeah, it’s called ‘Help!,’ you know. We think it’s one of the best we’ve written.” [29]
Paul’s first attribution for this song, in 1984, reflects clear memories of collaboration: “John wrote that — well, John and I wrote it at his house in Weybridge for the film.” [30] Three years later, he said, “I remember sitting there doing ‘Help!’ [31] In 1993 Paul, in direct contrast to John in the seventies, cited it as a good example of collaboration: “But when we came together on songs, then you got a different kind of song again. You got things like ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand,’ ‘Help!’ and stuff like that.” [32] Paul said that John had the tendency to start songs and leave them unfinished, but that a co-writing session would quickly get them into a finished state. “That’s what I was there for; to complete it. Had John just been left on his own he might have taken weeks to do it, but just one visit and we would go right in and complete it.” [33]
Despite the fact that they had collaborated on the song, Paul said, “Help” was a song characteristic of John, “really John.” [34]
Given the early testimony from John, and Paul’s memories, I conclude that it was a song started by John, then finished with significant collaboration. It’s possible that the lyrics were entirely dominated by John (which would fit with the lyrics being personal), while Paul contributed substantially to the music.
I’m Down — (McCartney-Lennon)
(lead vocals: Paul) (recorded on June 14, 1965)
“I’m Down” is another song Paul wrote in the rave-up genre — “Me again, you see, Little Richard gone mad,” he said in 1989. [35] John may have contributed a little to it, but not much. For example, in 1995, Paul said, “I’m not sure if John had any input in it, in fact I don’t think he did. But not wishing to be churlish, with most of these I’ll always credit him with 10 per cent just in case he fixed a word or offered a suggestion.” [36]
John had two conflicting memories about the song. In 1971, he ascribed it to Paul, [37] but by 1980, he stated that he might have contributed something to it: “That’s Paul, with a little help from me, I think.” [38]
“I’m Down” is thus a Paul song, but with some possible minor collaboration from John.
It was recorded on June 14, 1965, the same session in which Paul recorded “Yesterday,” a remarkable fact. Beatle neophytes often think there is a continuum between the hard rock songs of Lennon, on one side, and the ballads of McCartney on the other side. Actually, both Paul and John each had individual continuums going from hard rock to tender ballads.
Help! album, August 6, 1965
Help! — (Lennon-McCartney)
See the “Help / I’m Down” single, above.
The Night Before — (McCartney)
(lead vocals: Paul) (recorded on February 17, 1965)
In 1971, John said that Paul had written this. [39] He also ascribed it to Paul in 1980, but with the caveat that he didn’t remember the song at all! [40] Paul also claimed it, though he left open the slight possibility that John might have helped with it: “I would say that’s mainly mine. I don’t think John had a lot to do with that.” [41]
I conclude that it was a Paul song.
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away — (Lennon)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on February 18, 1965)
John wrote this at Kenwood, and it became one of his personal songs: “I started thinking about my own emotions . . . instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself.” [42] It is another Dylan-influenced song. [43]
Paul agreed, most of the time. In 1974, he gave this song as the first example of Dylan’s influence on the Beatles, and said, “That was John’s song.” [44] In fact, in 1995, he said, “I think it was 100 per cent John’s song.” [45] Case closed.
Or is it? In the same interview, Paul maddeningly goes on: “I might have helped him on it. I have a vague recollection of helping to fill out some verses for him.” So, after saying the song was a hundre
d percent written by John, he lurches in a different direction and remembers “helping to fill out some verses for him.” Paul’s complex statement shows how important it is to look at the historical record holistically. Here he makes two conflicting statements in the same section of an interview. The two chief Beatles often contradicted themselves in separate interviews, or, as here, in the same interview.
I lean toward seeing this as a Lennon song, as Paul’s earliest testimony ascribes it to John. There may have been some slight collaboration on it, however.
I Need You — (Harrison)
(lead vocals: George) (recorded on February 15 and 16, 1965)
In 1965, George said that he wrote the melody for this in twenty minutes, but it took a few days to come up with the words. [46] There is a pleasant story that George wrote it for his eventual wife, Pattie Boyd, when he was separated from her while the Beatles were filming Help! in the Bahamas. However, the truth is that he recorded this song on February 15 and 16, 1965, a week or two before he went to the Bahamas. [47]
Another Girl — (McCartney)
(lead vocals: Paul) (recorded on February 15 and 16, 1965)
Before recording Help! , Paul had been on vacation with Jane for ten days in Hammamet, Tunisia, a seaside resort, and the British government had put him up in a picturesque villa there. He wrote “Another Girl” in this villa. [48] Both John and Miles/Paul agreed that this was a Paul song. [49]
You’re Gonna Lose That Girl — (Lennon-McCartney)
(lead vocals: John) (recorded on February 19, 1965)
Cynthia Lennon remembered John writing ‘You’re Going to Lose That Girl’ late one night, then calling her to listen. [50] It was finished in a songwriting session with Paul at Kenwood. [51]
John claimed this song as entirely his own. “This is one of mine,” he said in about 1971. [52] However, Miles, working from interviews with Paul, wrote, in 1995,