John Lennon Love Songs/Hate Songs

Here's John Lennon's views on the hits and misses of the Beatles back catalogue, almost all quotes are from All We Are Saying (David Sheff) and Lennon Remembers (Jann Wenner) [reviews here].

HITS

Here There And Everywhere was a great one of [Paul's]. That's Paul's song completely, I believe. And one of my favourite songs of the Beatles

Something - I think that's about the best track on [Abbey Road] actually

For No One - Another of [Paul's] I really liked. One of my favourites of his. A nice piece of work.

Got To Get You Into My Life - I think that was one of [Paul's] best songs, too, because the lyrics are good

Things We Said Today - Good song

Fixing A Hole - That's Paul, again writing a good lyric

I'm Only Sleeping - One of my favourites

Fool On The Hill - Paul proving he can write lyrics if he's a good boy...shows he's capable of writing complete songs

I'm So Tired - One of my favourite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well

Oh! Darling was a great one of Paul's ...If he'd had any sense he should have let me sing it.

Hey Jude is a damn good set of lyrics and I made no contribution to that...It's one of [Paul's] masterpieces

All My Loving is Paul, I regret to say. Ha ha ha … Because it's a damn fine piece of work. But I play a pretty mean guitar in back.

Within You Without You - One of George's best songs. One of my favourites of his, too. He's clear on that song. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent. He brought that sound together.

Come Together was a funky record - it's one of my favourite Beatle tracks, or, one of my favourite Lennon tracks, let's say that. It's funky, it's bluesy, and I'm singing it pretty well. I like the sound of the record. You can dance to it. I'd buy it!

I like Across the Universe because it's one of the best lyrics I've written. In fact, it could be the best, I don't know … it's good poetry ... the ones I like are the ones that stand as words without melody … it's a poem, you know?

Happiness Is a Warm Gun - Oh, I like that, one of my best. I had forgotten about that. Oh, I love it. I think it's a beautiful song. I like all the different things that are happening in it.


MISSES

Run For Your Life I always hated. It was one of those I knocked off just to write a song, and it was phony.

And Your Bird Can Sing - Another horror. Another of my throwaways.

Birthday - A piece of garbage

Cry Baby Cry - Not me [Yes it was!]. A piece of rubbish

Honey Pie - I don't even want to think about that

Mean Mr Mustard - That's me, writing a piece of garbage

Sun King - That’s a piece of garbage I had around

Dig A Pony - Another piece of garbage

I'll Get You - That was Paul and me trying to write a song, and it didn't work out

Hold Me Tight - That was Paul's...It was a pretty poor song and I was never really interested in it

I Wanna Be Your Man - It was a throw-away. The only two versions of the song were Ringo and the Rolling Stones. It shows how much importance we put on them. We weren't going to give them anything great, right?

Eight Days A Week was never a good song. We struggled to record it and struggled to make it into a song. It was [Paul's] initial effort, but I think we both worked on it. I'm not sure. But it was lousy anyway

It's Only Love is mine. I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics were abysmal. I always hated that song

Good Morning Good Morning is mine. It's a throwaway, a piece of garbage, I always thought.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer - I hate it. 'Cuz all I remember is the track – [Paul] made us do it a hundred million times. He did everything to make it into a single and it never was and it never could've been, but he put guitar licks on it and he had somebody hitting iron pieces and we spent more money on that song than any of them in the whole album.





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10 Ways The Beatles Have Radically Changed My Songwriting

Welcome to my 500th post! It's almost 6 years since I starting blogging through the Beatles back catalogue and I have something special to share with you. One of my favourite songwriters on the planet, Simon Curd from Mountain Schmountain, asked me what effect studying the Beatles has had on my own songwriting.

A lot of songwriting tips are speculative (even here on BSA) “here kid try this! It may work!” But these are ten things I learned from the Beatles that have had a profound effect on my own writing - and I have the songs to prove it!

1) Use the minor 4 chord

In the key of A major it would be Dm. Effective sneaking up from a D major or just going straight for it. It wasn't in my tool box originally, but now my hand naturally gravitates towards it. It appears in I Got Lost, Djimi Traore, Bullingdon Boys, Tonight and many others.

• Ticket 8: Use the minor 4 chord

2) Repeat lyrics, lyric structures and whole verses

I used to feel like I was short changing people if I even repeated a single word, let alone a whole section. Now I see that was part of what made Beatles songs sticky. Let's Build An Airport even repeats the first verse twice!

• Ticket 24: Parallel lyrics,  Ticket 67: Repeat verse 1

3) Write a lot

I used to think true songwriters slaved over a song till it was perfect. But the Beatles rarely did that. They just wrote lots of songs. Around 250 in 7 years! Before BSA I generally finished 5 per year. Maybe 1 song was great but I'd slaved over it so much that I hated it anyway. Doing BSA (along with FAWM and First Tuesday) mean I write around 30 - 50 songs a year now. That would mean 6 - 10 really good songs per year, but I think my batting average has gone up. Writing more means I'm getting better.

• Blessed are the prolific

4) Work on one song at a time 

Standard practice in the music biz is to record songs in bulk, one instrument at a time. People as diverse as Max Martin and the Foo Fighters create a completely recorded tracks before contemplating a vocal line. The Beatles NEVER worked that way. They almost always finished each track before moving on to the next one. This working method allowed them to become more adventurous and musically diverse - temporarily immersing yourself in another genre can almost feel like a holiday from real work.

• Blessed are the single-taskers

5) OOKCs are OK

Out of key chords - I've always loved them. But when I attempted to be melodic or commercial (especially when I was writing for Church congregations) I forced myself to be diatonic. But the most melodic and commercial band in history hardly ever remained 100% 'in key'. Permission granted!

• Ticket 28: Use OOK chords

6) Stay off chord tones in the vocal melody 

This was another place where experimentation was discouraged, especially for a hesitant singer like me. I hugged those chord tones like a warm, fuzzy comfort blanket. But John Lennon rode those 2nds, 6ths and 4ths for all they were worth (check out the chorus of Help) and still sounded melodic. In a similar way I thought singing blue notes (the flattened 3rd, 5th and 7th) was only acceptable in  blues-type songs, but tracks like From Me To You showed me it was OK to do it over regular major chords and now, with a bit of practice, it's another tool in my box.

• Ticket 13: Make the vocals stay on non-chord tones, Ticket 22: Bluesify your melody

7) Trim off the fat

My default intro was the verse chords twice. BORING! So many Beatles tunes didn't have an intro at all. Many finished with a single ringing chord. Others had no solo. Or bridge. So now I'm more comfortable leaving my listeners wanting more. If they want to hear the chorus again all they have to do is hit repeat.

• Ticket 2: Put your song on a diet, Ticket 18: Finish on a single, ringing chord

8) Create new sections from your chorus 

I learned 'exposition – development – recapitulation' studying Beethoven at school, but never really understood how to make it work in a pop context. But a closer look at She Loves You and Help, and the scales fell from my eyes! I've learned to fashion intros, outros and solos from the material in my choruses. The songs hang together better and my listener subliminally learn the choruses before they even hear them (bwah hah hah!).

• Ticket 4: Recycle Your 'O's

9) There's more to life than Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus

Structurally pop music has been in a massive rut since the mid-sixties. The Beatles grew up on blues, folk and showtune forms and wrote in the AABA structure almost exclusively for the first 3 or 4 albums. I'm starting a campaign to bring it back. Join me!

• Ticket 26: Use the AABA structure

10) Get rid of the deadbeats

John Lennon was always impatient to get to the next line. Why bother strumming (and counting) that extra beat? Cut it out! (see All You Need Is Love's verse). I used this freedom on Fingernails. And when I found it difficult to squeeze the chorus of Everything In The World Is Fighting Everything In The Sky into 4/4 I felt 'St John' was looking down on my smiling and giving me permission to just 'Let It Be'.

• Ticket 37: The Lennon edit

So what about you? Whether you've been around for months or years, what effect has the Beatles songwriting had on your own writing? Leave me a comment!




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