Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known, and most successful musical collaborations ever by records sold, with the Beatles selling more than 600 million records worldwide . Between 5 October 1962 and 8 May 1970, the partnership published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by the Beatles, forming the bulk of their catalogue.
Unlike many songwriting partnerships that comprise a separate composer and lyricist, such as George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, John Kander and Fred Ebb, or Elton John and Bernie Taupin, both Lennon and McCartney wrote music and lyrics. Sometimes, especially early on, they would collaborate extensively when writing songs, working "eyeball to eyeball" as Lennon phrased it. During the latter half of their partnership, it became more common for either of them to write most of a song on their own with minimal input from the other, and sometimes none at all. By an agreement made before the Beatles became famous, Lennon and McCartney were credited equally with songs that either one of them wrote while their partnership lasted.
Lennon–McCartney compositions have been the subject of numerous cover versions. According to Guinness World Records, "Yesterday" has been recorded by more musicians than any other song.
History and evolution The Quarrymen days Lennon and McCartney separately experimented with songwriting before having met each other. McCartney wrote his first song fragments—including "I Call It Suicide" and the tune of what eventually became "When I'm Sixty-Four"—in spring 1956, just shy of 14 years old. Lennon's first song, "Calypso Rock", was written about March 1957.
Although McCartney had previously seen and noticed Lennon in the local area without knowing who he was, the pair first met on 6 July 1957, at a local church fête, where 16-year-old Lennon was playing with his skiffle group, the Quarrymen. The 15-year-old McCartney, brought along by a mutual friend, Ivan Vaughan, impressed Lennon with his ability on the guitar and his version of Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock". Soon afterwards, Lennon asked McCartney if he would join the Quarrymen; McCartney accepted.Burlingame, Jeff. John Lennon "Imagine". Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers, 2011. Print.Conord, Bruce W. John Lennon. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994. Print. The duo's first musical idols were the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and they learned many of their songs and imitated their sound. Their first compositions were written at McCartney's home (20 Forthlin Road), at Lennon's aunt Mimi's house (251 Menlove Avenue), or at the Liverpool Institute.
The first song that Lennon and McCartney wrote together, according to Mark Lewisohn, was titled "Too Bad About Sorrows" (January 1958), followed soon after by "Just Fun". The two boys kept song scraps in a notebook, the top of each page noting "another Lennon–McCartney original." This formulation was inspired by theatrical writing teams like Rodgers and Hammerstein. They often invited friends—including George Harrison, Nigel Walley, Barbara Baker, and Lennon's art school colleagues—to listen to performances of their new songs. However, they did not perform these songs with the Quarrymen. The pair continued to write throughout 1958 and 1959, though by summer 1959 they were writing mostly separately and presenting each other with their own songs for approval. Most compositions during this time were by McCartney. Early versions of numerous songs the Beatles and other artists recorded emerged at this time, including "Love Me Do", "I'll Follow the Sun", "Love of the Loved", "A World Without Love", and "What Goes On".
Hiatus, 1960–1961 In May 1960, Lennon's art college classmate Stuart Sutcliffe joined the group, soon known as the Beatles. Sutcliffe's close friendship with Lennon and new role in the band made McCartney envious and disrupted the Lennon–McCartney songwriting dynamic. The pair wrote no new songs in 1960, despite needing to fill hours of stage time in their Hamburg residency. Lewisohn observed, "as a bar band, it was important the Beatles played songs people knew or might know." The dry spell continued on the next year, as neither Lennon nor McCartney wrote any new songs in 1961. The pair kept their songwriting a secret from associates and fans alike; on the rare occasions they played one of their own songs, they would not announce them as such to the audience.Lewisohn, p. 843. Possibly the only instance of such a performance was a rendition of "One After 909" at the Top Ten Club at Astrid Kirchherr's request.Lewisohn, p. 901. It was not until late 1961, around the time the Beatles met Brian Epstein, that they began regularly performing some of their original songs.Lewisohn, p. 1018.
New songs and songwriting contracts The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership re-emerged forcefully in 1962. Among the songs the Beatles recorded at their failed 1 January 1962 Decca Records audition were three old originals—"Like Dreamers Do", "Love of the Loved", and "Hello Little Girl".Lewisohn, p. 1057. Soon after, a tape of this performance of "Like Dreamers Do" was played for EMI song publishers Ardmore & Beechwood, who lobbied EMI management to sign the Beatles as recording artists so Ardmore & Beechwood could obtain exclusive publishing rights to Lennon–McCartney songs.Lewisohn, p. 1106–1107, 1179. Around March 1962, John and Paul each wrote their first songs since 1959—"Ask Me Why" and "Pinwheel Twist", respectively.Lewisohn, p. 1129. In May, Paul wrote "P.S. I Love You".Lewisohn, p. 1194.
At the Beatles' first four EMI recording sessions, between June and November 1962, the band played almost exclusively Lennon–McCartney songs. However, producer George Martin was initially unconvinced that the pair could write any hit songs.Lewisohn, p. 1232. His attitude changed after the chart success of the first Lennon–McCartney single, "Love Me Do", which reached the UK top 20. Martin then offered a series of ideas that would dramatically bolster the Lennon–McCartney partnership: to record and release "Please Please Me" as their next single (which went on to become a breakout hit); to record an LP composed largely of Lennon–McCartney tunes; and to use Dick James as song publisher for Lennon–McCartney songs.Lewisohn, p. 1460–1469.
In the latter months of 1962 and early months of 1963, aspects of the partnership became formalized in legal documents. On 1 October 1962, Lennon, McCartney, and Brian Epstein signed a publishing agreement with Ardmore & Beechwood. As Mark Lewisohn wrote: "From 1 October 1962, unstoppable twin energies—the Beatles and Lennon–McCartney—were running strong, together and separate, side by side and neck and neck, parallel missions that intertwined, mutually reinforcing."Lewisohn, p. 1342. In February 1963, James proposed creating the Northern Songs publishing company for Lennon–McCartney songs, fostering an arrangement whereby Lennon, McCartney, and Epstein collectively owned 50% of the new company.
Writing chemistry Lennon said the main intention of the Beatles' music was to communicate, and that, to this effect, he and McCartney had a shared purpose. Author David Rowley points out that at least half of all Lennon–McCartney lyrics have the words "you" and/or "your" in the first line. In Lennon's 1980 Playboy interview, he said of the partnership:
Historian Todd Compton has noted that there is some truth to Lennon's statement regarding McCartney's optimism. However, it does not tell the whole story, as some of McCartney's most characteristic songs are tragic, or express themes of isolation, such as "Yesterday", "She's Leaving Home", "Eleanor Rigby" or "For No One".
Although Lennon and McCartney often wrote independently—and many Beatles songs are primarily the work of one or the other—it was rare that a song would be completed without some input from both writers. In many instances, one writer would sketch an idea or a song fragment and take it to the other to finish or improve; in some cases, two incomplete songs or song ideas that each had worked on individually would be combined into a complete song. Often one of the pair would add a middle eight or bridge section to the other's verse and chorus. George Martin attributed the high quality of their songwriting to the friendly rivalry between the two.
As time went on, the songs increasingly became the work of one writer or the other, often with the partner offering up only a few words or an alternative chord. "A Day in the Life" is a well-known example of a later Beatles song that includes substantial contributions by both Lennon and McCartney, where a separate song fragment by McCartney ("Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head ...") was used to flesh out the middle of Lennon's composition ("I read the news today, oh boy ..."). "Hey Jude" is another example of a later McCartney song that had input from Lennon: while auditioning the song for Lennon, when McCartney came to the lyric "the movement you need is on your shoulder", McCartney assured Lennon that he would change the line—which McCartney felt was nonsensical—as soon as he could come up with a better lyric. Lennon advised McCartney to leave that line alone, saying it was one of the strongest in the song.The Beatles Anthology documentary
Though Lennon and McCartney's collaborative efforts decreased in later years, they continued to influence one another. As Lennon stated in 1969, "We write how we write now because of each other. Paul was there for five or ten years, and I wouldn't write like I write now if it weren't for Paul, and he wouldn't write like he does if it weren't for me."
Credit variations and disputes Joint credit When McCartney and Lennon met as teenagers and began writing songs together, they agreed that all songs written by them (whether individually or jointly) should be credited to both of them. The precise date of the agreement is unknown; however, Lennon spoke in 1980 of an informal agreement between him and McCartney made "when we were fifteen or sixteen". Two songs written (primarily by Lennon) in 1957, "Hello Little Girl" and "One After 909", were credited to the partnership when published in the following decade. The earliest Beatles recording credited to Lennon–McCartney to be officially released is "You'll Be Mine", recorded at home in 1960 and included on Anthology 1 35 years later.
Some other songs from the band's early years are not credited to the partnership. "In Spite of All the Danger", a 1958 song that the band (then the Quarrymen) paid to record to disc, is attributed to McCartney and George Harrison. "Cayenne", recorded at the same time as "You'll Be Mine", is a solo McCartney song. "Cry for a Shadow", an instrumental recorded during the Beatles' sessions with Tony Sheridan in June 1961 (one of the only full instrumentals the group recorded), was written by Harrison and Lennon.
By 1962, the joint credit agreement was in effect. From the time of the Beatles' A&R Decca audition in January that year, until Lennon's announcement in September 1969 that he was leaving the band, virtually all songs by McCartney or Lennon were published with joint credit, although, on a few of their first releases, the order was reversed (see below). The only other exceptions were a handful of the McCartney songs released by other musicians (viz. "Woman" by Peter and Gordon in 1966 [McCartney using Bernard Webb as a pseudonym], "Cat Call" by Chris Barber in 1967, and "Penina" by Carlos Mendes in 1969). Lennon kept the joint credit for "Give Peace a Chance", his first single with the Plastic Ono Band.