Lennon McCartney: Magical Mystery Duo
The songwriting duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one of the most successful and productive musical partnerships in history. In less than ten years, they wrote and published about 180 songs (most of them were Beatles songs, and were recorded by The Beatles). Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote words and music, which is not the way most musical partnerships work, making them unusual writing partners.
They were unusual in another way, as well: Before they even formed The Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon had been writing songs together. It was back when John Lennon formed The Quarrymen, their first band. Both agreed then that all songs written by either one of them, whether they were written individually or as a collaboration, would give credit to both of them. The date when they agreed on this is not really known. When John Lennon was interviewed in 1980, he mentioned an informal agreement between him and Paul McCartney when we were fifteen or sixteen. It was in effect at least by 1962. From then until John Lennon left the band, all songs were jointly credited. The only exceptions were songs written by Paul McCartney released by other artists.
And Lennon McCartney are certainly one of the best known musical writing partnerships: Lennon McCartney songs have many, many cover versions. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Yesterday has been recorded by more musicians and artists than any other song in the world.
Although Lennon and McCartney often wrote Beatles songs separately, it was rare for a song to be completely finished without some kind of input from both of them. A lot of times, one of them would have an idea, or write a small piece and then the other would finish it or polish it. They’d add a little something to the other’s verses, and this style of writing that the Lennon McCartney songwriting team used is sometimes noted as one of the reasons for The Beatles music success and popularity. Sometimes they would even put together two totally different songs that they’d been working on separately. A Day in the Life is an example of a Beatles song written this way. There are parts written by both of them, with a piece by Paul McCartney (Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…) combined with a longer piece by John Lennon (I read the news today, oh boy…). They innovated, they played off each other, and they made their music better. Beatles music is still some of the most listened to in the world, and it is because of the unique and creative Lennon McCartney writing partnership.
Tags: Beatles, Beatles music, Beatles songs, John Lennon, Lennon McCartney, Paul McCartney, The Beatles
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