Who Wrote the Beatle Songs

by Todd M Compton

  This is a Lennon song, but Paul contributed the middle section, with a few words from Ringo.

  Girl — (Lennon-McCartney)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded on November 11, 1965)

  John wrote the beginnings of this as a love song, the search for the “dream girl” [61] who later, for him, turned out to be Yoko. [62] Then he worked on it with Paul.

  A book on Christianity, which John was reading, was the unlikely source for the last verse of this song. It described the Catholic idea that pain would lead to pleasure, torture of the body would lead to salvation. As he and John talked about that idea, Paul put the phrases “pain would lead to pleasure” and “a man must break his back” into the song, as a kind of protest against this idea. [63] Thus the song ends on a remarkable philosophical note. [64]

  The evidence for the authorship of “Girl” shows the familiar pattern of John claiming the song, and Paul (in both early and late statements) remembering substantial collaboration. In 1968, John put it on a list of personal songs he’d written. [65] Two years later, he said, “They’re sort of philo­sophy quotes. . . . I was thinking about it when I wrote it.” [66] In 1971, he put it on the list of songs he’d written by himself, and at about the same time, he described it as, “one of my best.” [67]

  Paul, on the other hand, described collaboration on this song as early as 1965. After mentioning the pleasure/pain principle in the book on Christianity, he said, “So we’ve written a song about it.” [68] Thirty years later, he said, “It was John’s original idea, but it was very much co-written. . . . I credit that [song] as being towards John but I put quite a bit in. It wasn’t one that he came in with fully finished at all.” [69]

  Paul also remembered writing the tuneful Greek theme at the end of the song when he was on a holiday in Greece in September 1963. [70]

  Based on Paul’s very early testimony, I accept this as a song begun by John, but finished with collaboration.

  I’m Looking Through You — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded on November 11, 1965)

  In 1968, Hunter Davies, during an interview with Paul, reported that this song resulted from a bitter parting he’d had with Jane Asher. Paul said, to Davies:

  “Another problem was that my whole existence for so long centered round a bachelor life. . . . My life generally has always been very lax, and not normal. I knew it was selfish. It caused a few rows. Jane left me once and went off to Bristol to act. I said okay, then leave; I’ll find someone else. It was shattering to be without her.” This was when he wrote “I’m Looking Through You.” [71]

  Both Paul and John ascribe this completely to Paul. “I think it’s totally my song. I don’t remember any of John’s assistance,” Paul said in 1995. [72]

  In My Life — (collaboration)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded on October 18, 1965)

  This song began in a chance remark that journalist Kenneth Allsop made to John, just before an interview about In His Own Write (published in March 1964). Allsop asked, “Why don’t you put some of your life, about your childhood into the songs?” [73] So one day John began writing a song lyric about Liverpool places, a “bus journey” in which he mentioned every place he could remember between his house at 251 Menlove Avenue and downtown Liverpool. This didn’t work at all; it was “ridiculous,” John felt, and instead he began writing the beginnings of “In My Life.” [74]

  As Paul tells the story, he came over to John’s house one day and found the opening stanza or stanzas of the song written out, with no music. [75] So he said, “Well, you haven’t got a tune, let me just go and work on it.” [76] He sat down at John’s Mellotron [77] and worked out a tune in the style of Smokey Robinson. “So I recall writing the whole melody. And it actually does sound very like me, if you analyse it.” [78] So he took the tune up to John, and said, “Got it, great! Good tune, I think. What d’you think?” John said, “Nice.” They continued from there, working on the lyrics, filling out the verses. [79]

  George Martin wrote and performed the “harpsichord” solo, which raises the issue of whether he should get songwriting credit for such substantial contributions. [80] Where does arranging end and composing begin?

  Paul’s story, with its fullness of details, is quite anecdotally convincing. In many interviews, Paul tells the same story. In 1973, he said, “Those were words that John wrote and I wrote the tune to it. That was a great one.” [81] In the “angry interview” published in the second edition of Hunter Davies’s Beatles biography, Paul said, “He [John] also forgot completely that I wrote the tune for ‘In My Life.’ That was my tune. But perhaps he just made a mistake on that. Forgot.” [82] And in 1984, he said, “John either forgot or didn’t think I wrote the tune. I remember he had the words, like a poem — sort of about faces he remembered . . . I recall going off for half an hour and sitting with a Mellotron he had, writing the tune.” [83]

  On the other hand, John often claimed this song as entirely his own composition. For example, in 1980, he gave the song as an example of how, in some of his songs, “I was writing melodic ‘muzak’ (in quotes) with the best of them.” [84] In 1971, he said, “Me. I think I was trying to write about Penny Lane when I wrote it. It was about places I remembered.” [85] In 1980, he said, “I think ‘In My Life’ was the first song that I wrote that was really, consciously about my life.” [86]

  However, Lennon, in other interviews, is all over the map. In 1970 he described the song as his own, but remembered some collaboration from Paul. “I wrote that in Kenwood. . . . I wrote it upstairs, that was one where I wrote the lyrics first and then sang it. . . . I think on . . . ‘In My Life’ Paul helped with the middle eight, to give credit where it’s due.” [87]

  In 1980, he again remembered collaboration on the middle eight, and, in addition, Paul contributing “melodically” to the harmony of the song: “The whole lyrics were already written before Paul even heard it. [88] . . . his contribution melodically was the harmony and the middle eight itself — not the whole middle eight . . . his input was with me there on the chord changes.” [89]

  Given the convincing unity and anecdotal fullness of Paul’s memories, I accept that he wrote the music to “In My Life.”

  If we accept Paul’s version of this song’s genesis, how do we view such an equally co-written song, then, with Lennon’s words (mostly or completely) and McCartney’s music (completely)? If we are interested in lyrics in a rock song, it is a Lennon-McCartney; but if we are focused on music, then it is a McCartney-Lennon.

  So I call this song “collaboration,” and leave it to the reader to call it “collaboration John emphasis” (if you’re more interested in lyrics) or “collaboration Paul emphasis” (if you’re focused more on music).

  Of course, it’s entirely possible to view the conflict in McCartney-Lennon testimonies here as a he-said / he-said situation, in which we might have to accept the testimony of either Paul or John. If we reject Paul entirely, however, then we are still left with the variations in John’s testimony. The ambiguities involved in assessing the authorship of the Beatle songs are seemingly infinite.

  Wait — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: John and Paul) (recorded on June 17 and

  November 11, 1965)

  Paul wrote this on the set of Help! as American actor Brandon De Wilde watched. In 1995, McCartney remembered that Brandon “was a nice guy who was fascinated by what we did. A sort of Brat Pack actor. We chatted endlessly, and I seem to remember writing ‘Wait’ in front of him, and him being interested to see it being written.” [90]

  As it turned out, the song was not used for Help! , but was resurrected to fill up side two of Rubber Soul. [91]

  John never commented on this song, and Paul only talked about it once. “I think it was my song,” he said in 1995. “I don’t remember John collaborating too much on it, although he could have.” [92] If Paul was the writer, this is another example of John singing lead on a song Paul wrote. Or perhaps, more ex
actly, John and Paul singing the lead together, though John sings the actual main melody. Paul sings the middle eight alone.

  If I Needed Someone — (Harrison)

  (lead vocals: George) (recorded on October 16, 1965)

  George’s second outing for Rubber Soul was based partly on a Byrds song, “The Bells of Rhymney.” Roger McGuinn, when asked, “The prevailing riff from the song sounds a lot like a riff you had in “The Bells of Rhymney.” In fact, didn’t George write to Derek Taylor and tell him that?” said,

  Derek delivered the message and said, “George wants you to know that the song ‘If I Needed Someone’ was inspired by the lick in ‘The Bells of Rhymney.’” In fact, George later told me himself. And even if he hadn’t told me, I would have known it anyway, because it was the same lick. But I was very honored to see that. . . . And “If I Needed Someone” is one of my favorite songs by them! [93]

  Many Beatle songs were inspired by previous songs, Motown, coun­try western, folk music, pop standards. Here we begin to see the im­pact the American groups such as the Byrds and the Beach Boys had on the Beatles.

  Run For Your Life — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded on October 12, 1965)

  John was often fascinated by isolated lines in songs. Under pressure to produce another song for Rubber Soul , he wrote “Run For Your Life” around a line from the 1955 Elvis single, “Baby Let’s Play House:” [94] “I’d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man.” [95]

  John claims this song, though he said he never liked it. In 1970, he said that “it was one of them I knocked off just to write a song. And it was phony.” [96] Paul stated that it was “largely John’s.” [97]

  A disappointing conclusion for a great album.

  * * *

  [1] Lydon, “Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters,” also in Lydon, Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts , 12.

  [2] Ibid. For the album’s title, Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 324.

  [3] John in New Musical Express , 1965, as quoted in the Beatles Bible website, at “That Means a Lot”; also in Harry, The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia , at the entry, “That Means a Lot”; Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions , 56–57.

  [4] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 205.

  [5] John in New Musical Express , 1965, as quoted in the Beatles Bible website, at “That Means a Lot”; also in Harry, The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia , at the entry, “That Means a Lot”). Paul, 1988 interview, Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions , 12.

  [6] As quoted in Engelhardt, Beatles Undercover , 388.

  [7] Miles, Many Years From Now , 269-70.

  [8] Lydon, “Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters,” also in Lydon, Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution , 16.

  [9] Ibid.

  [10] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror (in a list of co-written songs).

  [11] Sauter, “One John Lennon”; cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 215.

  [12] Everett I, 313.

  [13] Lost Lennon Tapes, Jan. 9, 1989, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 188.

  [14] Miles, Many Years From Now , 270. George Martin before 1999, in Pritchard and Lysaght, Beatles: an Oral History , 200.

  [15] Miles, Many Years From Now , 270-71. Paul “had the idea to set the place on fire, so I take some sort of credit. And the middle was mine, those middle eights, John never had his middle eights.”

  [16] Lost Lennon Tapes, Jan. 9, 1989, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 188.

  [17] Cott, “The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  [18] Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 85.

  [19] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.

  [20] Gambaccini, Paul McCartney, In His Own Words , 19.

  [21] Gambaccini, “A Conversation with Paul McCartney.”

  [22] McCartney, undated interview, in Badman, Beatles Off the Record , 189. Miles, Many Years From Now , 270-71.

  [23] Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 84. Brown, “A Conversation with George Harrison” (1979); Harrison, Anthology , 196. Lost Lennon Tapes, Jan. 9, 1989.

  [24] Miles, Many Years From Now , 271.

  [25] Ibid.

  [26] Harry,” Jane & Paul: A Love Story.”

  [27] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror . Sheff, The Playboy Interviews (1980), 205. Miles, Many Years From Now , 271.

  [28] Davies, The Beatles , 274-75.

  [29] Goodman, “Paul and Linda McCartney Interview,” 107.

  [30] Miles, Many Years From Now , 272. Snow, “Paul McCartney.”

  [31] Davies, The Beatles , 274-75. Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 82. Similar: Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 203.

  [32] Anthology , 196.

  [33] “Interview, Observer Music Monthly.”

  [34] I Me Mine , 88.

  [35] Miles, Many Years From Now , 272.

  [36] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.

  [37] Lost Lennon Tapes, Oct. 21, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 215.

  [38] Sholin and Kaye, “John Lennon’s last interview” (1980).

  [39] Wyndham, “Paul McCartney As Songwriter”; Miles, Many Years From Now , 272.

  [40] Miles, Many Years From Now , 272. See also Anthology , 20.

  [41] McCartney from 1985-1989, in Somach et al., Ticket to Ride, 144.

  [42] Read, “McCartney on McCartney,” episode 2. Doherty, “Pete Doherty meets Paul McCartney.”

  [43] Miles, Many Years From Now , 273. “Trambone,” one of Atkins’s signature songs, appeared on his 1962 LP Down Home .

  [44] Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 56.

  [45] Miles, Many Years From Now , 273. Austin Mitchell was one of Paul’s tutors.

  [46] Robbins, “Interview with John Lennon.” In later interviews, Paul seems to reflect that the song was more developed than this when he brought it to John.

  [47] This song, written by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in 1956, received a remarkably different interpretation on jazz singer Nina Simone’s 1965 album, of the same title.

  [48] Matthew, “Interview with Paul McCartney & John Lennon.” See also Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 148.

  [49] For Jan Vaughan, see also Badman, Beatles Off the Record , 192; Turner, A Hard Day’s Write , 94.

  [50] Miles, Many Years From Now , 274.

  [51] Pritchard and Lysaght, Beatles: an Oral History , 200.

  [52] Interview in Smith, Off the Record , 201. See also Miles, Many Years From Now , 273.

  [53] The Paul McCartney World Tour , 82.

  [54] Snow, “Paul McCartney.”

  [55] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. A year later, he claimed the middle eight entirely: “I wrote the middle eight on that one.” Garcia, “The Ballad of Paul and Yoko.” The earlier statement is more convincing.

  [56] Matthew, “Interview with Paul McCartney & John Lennon.”

  [57] Ringo, 1966, in an Interview with the Beatles, Aug. 28, 1966, as found in Giuliano, The Lost Beatles Interviews , 87.

  [58] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Similar: Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 188.

  [59] “Neil’s Column.” The Beatles Monthly Book no. 33 (April 1966): 6.

  [60] Article in Disc Weekly , Nov. 20, 1965 (Sandercombe, The Beatles , 146).

  [61] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 206.

  [62] Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 99, see also 85-86.

  [63] Wyndham, “Paul McCartney As Songwriter.” Almost the same words in Lydon, “Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters” (1966). John also claimed those sentiments, Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 99, see also 85-86.

  [64] Miles, Many Years From Now , 275-76.

  [65] Cott, “The Rolling Stone Interview.”

  [66] Lennon, Rolling Stone Interview, Dec. 1970, BBC, part 1; Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 99, see also 85-86.

  [67] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 175. See also Shef
f, The Playboy Interviews, 206.

  [68] Wyndham, “Paul McCartney As Songwriter.” Almost the same words in Lydon, “Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters” (1966).

  [69] Miles, Many Years From Now , 275-76.

  [70] Ibid., 120. Snow, “Paul McCartney.”

  [71] Davies, The Beatles , 309. Snow, “Paul McCartney.” See also Miles, Many Years From Now , 276.

  [72] Miles, Many Years From Now , 276. Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 206.

  [73] Lost Lennon Tapes, March 14, 1988, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 162-63.

  [74] Lost Lennon Tapes, March 14, 1988, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 164. See also pp. 188-89, and 203.

  [75] Miles, Many Years From Now , 277-78. Paul went back and forth on whether John had one verse or multiple verses written out. For example, see later in this same passage (single verse), and deCurtis, In Other Words (1987), 61: “I know he brought in ‘In My Life’ and he had the first verse and the rest of it wasn’t written.” In a 1984 interview, however, Paul seems to suggest that John had all the lyrics. “I remember he had the words, like a poem—sort of about faces he remembered.” Goodman, “Paul and Linda McCartney Interview,” Playboy , 107. Du Noyer, Conversations , 185: “The words to ‘In My Life’ were done without me.”

  [76] Miles, Many Years From Now , 277-78.

  [77] A forerunner of the Moog synthesizer, which had sampled sounds on tapes. This is a convincing detail, as John had acquired a Mellotron on August 16, 1965. Babuk et al., Beatles Gear , 165.

  [78] Miles, Many Years From Now , 277-78.

  [79] Ibid. However, in some interviews, Paul said John had all the lyrics, see above.

  [80] Pritchard and Lysaght, Beatles: an Oral History , 199-200. For further on George Martin’s solo, see Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions, 65; Everett I, 31.

  [81] Gambaccini, Paul McCartney, In His Own Words , 19.

  [82] Davies, The Beatles , 371.