“At the end of the day when it’s all said and done,” John shared shortly before his death. Positive or negative, John’s views on Paul’s music didn’t detract from the deep feelings he held for the man since he had known since he was 16. Received similar praise with John noting that it proved Paul could write lyrics. John firmly believed that this Sgt Pepper‘s song had a good lyric. John thought the Revolver song one of McCartney’s best. Likewise with ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’. He held ‘For No One’ is slightly higher esteem deeming it “one of my favorites”. In his 1980 Playboy interview Lennon simply noted Paul’s 1964 song ‘Things We Said Today’ as “good”. While John had a degree of respect for the Get Back project songs which would eventually be repurposed for the final Beatles album Let It Be, it was ‘Let It Be’ and the Long and Winding Road that he dubbed the Beatles last great burst of creativity. While John declared the song “one of his best” in 1972 he also contended that it was most likely written as a joke. The vocal track is pure Middle Period Beatles almost as though it were a recipe-pattern done up 'by the numbers': the composer double-tracked on the lead and the two others (with very rare exception, such as 'Carry That Weight' where you can hear him right through the heavy mix, Ringo didnt 'do' backing vocals) providing an instrumental-like. Well done.”įans might debate John’s take on ‘Why Don’t We Do It On The Road’ as Lennon’s estimation of the White Album era song sits somewhere between a backhanded compliment and hidden nugget of praise. I have got so much accolade for ‘Yesterday’ but that’s Paul’s song, and Paul’s baby. She left and he wishes it were yesterday, that much you get, but it doesn’t resolve or anything. If you read the whole song, you don’t know what happened. ” Although the lyrics don’t resolve into any sense, they’re good lines. “Paul wrote the lyrics to ‘Yesterday,’” John reflected in one interview. “ I should have written that song,” Lennon once confided, “ it sounds like a song I’d write.”Īs much as John rubbished it, Lennon could not deny that ‘Yesterday’ may just have been Paul’s greatest moment. The Beatles‘ early hits never earn too much praise from John though feeling charitable he once referred to McCartney composition ‘All My Loving’ “a damn good piece of work”. Paul recently noted that it may have been the only complimented Lennon ever paid him. And one of my favorite songs of the Beatles.” “ That’s Paul’s song completely, I believe. “ was a great one of his,” John once enthused. Revolver‘s ‘Here There and Everywhere’ was another of Lennon’s favorites. The angel in him was saying, ‘Bless you.’ The devil in him didn’t like it at all, because he didn’t want to lose his partner.” “‘ Hey, John.’ Subconsciously, he was saying, ‘Go ahead, leave me.’ On a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead. “ I always heard it as a song to me,” he told Playboy in 1980. Lennon was of course quite famous at contradicting himself. Then he turned it into ‘Hey Jude.’ I always thought it was about me and Yoko but he said it was about him and his.” (This is how Yesterday by the Beatles was written originally. ” It started off as a song about my son Julian because Paul was going to see him. Do you know your lyrics is a game that will make you want to sing but also make you. “ That’s his best song,” John told Hit Parader in 1972. Nonetheless, there were odd moments where Lennon expressed the admiration he held for Paul’s talents, which in the eyes of many a Beatles fan rivaled if not eclipsed his own. It’s a feat unmatched by any act before or since, and with Peter Jackson’s Get Back reviving interest in their achievements, let’s pile back in to the most magical mystery tour pop music has ever known, with each track ranked in order of greatness.When it came to fellow Beatle Paul McCartney‘s songwriting John Lennon‘s views could vary wildly.Ī self-professed jealous guy with little or no filter, his snipes at Paul’s work could be scathing. Of their entire catalogue, only six or seven songs could be classed as ‘shonky’, and most of those have still got something historic going for them.Īmong them you’ll find songs which caused seismic shifts in pop, psychedelia and rock and the formative roots of punk, metal and electronica, amongst a panoply of other styles they pioneered and popularised in such a short time. Out of 185 self-penned tunes they released commercially during their initial seven-year run – so not including covers, fan club releases, alternative versions or their 1995 reunion songs – you’ll list well over a hundred tracks before you get to anything you wouldn’t call sublime, and hit 150 or so before anything verging on average appears. If you ever doubt that The Beatles were the greatest band that ever existed, try ranking their songs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |