Lennon / McCartney
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Lennon / McCartney is one of the most famous songwriting partnerships in music history. The duo holds the copyrights to numerous compositions - including most of the Beatles' songs.
Beatles songs
All Beatles compositions written by John Lennon and / or Paul McCartney were given the copyright "Lennon / McCartney" due to an agreement between the two at the beginning of the Beatles' career. Consequently, the royalties were divided equally between them. This partnership is still one of the best known of its kind today.
On the first Beatles album Please Please Me , the partnership was referred to as "McCartney / Lennon"; The order of the names was reversed on all later albums.
While both musicians often worked independently and many Beatles compositions are primarily the work of one or the other, it was rare, especially in the first half of the 1960s, that a piece was composed entirely without any contribution from either of the two. In many cases, one presented a fragment that the other completed or improved upon, often by adding a middle section or a transition .
Especially in the late creative period of the Beatles, numerous songs were written without the participation of the other and still assigned to the joint copyright. Paul McCartney wrote the songs Yesterday , When I'm Sixty-Four , Lady Madonna , Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da , Hey Jude and Let It Be without Lennon, among others . In return, John Lennon was the sole author of plays such as Strawberry Fields Forever , Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! , All You Need Is Love , Across the Universe , I Am the Walrus and Come Together .
Methodical work
Methodically, the Lennon / McCartney partnership functioned from elements of competitive thinking and mutual inspiration as well as targeted collaboration. The collaborative and creative amalgamation of musical ideas between the two is often cited as the main reason for the Beatles' innovation and success.
The two composed together in 1958, until the partnership ended in 1969. In the course of time the pieces were increasingly just the work of one of the two and the contribution of the other was limited to a few words or a chord change . A Day in the Life is probably the best example of a later Beatles composition made up of substantial contributions from both Lennon and McCartney, using a McCartney piece to work out the middle section of Lennon's composition.
Authorship disputes
Over the years there have only been disputes over the authorship of three titles: Eleanor Rigby , In My Life and Ticket to Ride .
Eleanor Rigby was written by Paul McCartney alone. McCartney said he wrote the song in the music room of his girlfriend at the time, actress Jane Asher , and played it, unfinished, to musician Donovan . John Lennon stated in an interview in 1972, however, that he had written over 70 percent of the text for that piece, which his childhood friend Pete Shotton disagreed with.
On In My Life , Lennon stated that McCartney only contributed a small amount (he only helped in Middle Eight). However, McCartney said he wrote most of the song and cited as inspiration for the two songs you've Really Got a Hold on Me and Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson .
Also Ticket to Ride complaining John Lennon all to yourself. He said, "Paul's contribution was telling Ringo how to play the drums." McCartney explained that while Lennon brought the first fragment of the piece, they finished it together. “Attributes 60% of the piece to him. But we worked out the song together in a three-hour session. "
Rotation of authorship
On the 1976 album Wings over America , as well as in the 1990s and early 2000s, Paul McCartney attempted to reverse the authorship, claiming "Paul McCartney and John Lennon" for a number of songs he had independently written. This change was rejected by Yoko Ono . In February 2005, McCartney stated that this was a matter he no longer had problems with.
Give Peace a Chance
Give Peace a Chance was also created at a time when the songs were still attributed to Lennon / McCartney. This copyright is also present on the single release, although the song was written by Lennon alone. On his 1997 album Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon , McCartney's name disappeared from the credits.
Songs for other artists
Some Lennon / McCartney songs were initially published by other artists, including especially those from the environment of the joint manager Brian Epstein . This mostly affects the period from 1963 to 1965. In some cases, Lennon / McCartney songs helped other artists start their careers. Performers who received titles from Lennon / McCartney were in particular Billy J. Kramer , The Fourmost , Cilla Black and Peter & Gordon . The songs Bad to Me (1963, Billy J. Kramer) and A World Without Love (1963, Peter & Gordon) reached number 1 on the British charts. 1979 appeared the compilation The Songs Lennon and McCartney Gave Away , in which many of the recordings are included.
Some of the songs were recorded again by the Beatles after their initial release. I Wanna Be Your Man (1963, The Rolling Stones ) and I Call Your Name (1963, Billy J. Kramer) were soon recorded by the Beatles and released on albums and EPs . Other recordings only appeared with the album Live at the BBC (1994) and as part of the Anthology trilogy (1995/1996).
literature
- Rolf Berger: The compositional styles of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Shown with special consideration of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” (= Osnabrück Contributions to Systematic Musicology. Vol. 12). epOs Musik, Osnabrück 2006, ISBN 3-923486-81-2 ( Dissertation Uni Osnabrück , 202 pages).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. P. 281. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6 .
- ↑ Barry Miles, pp. 277-281
- ↑ Barry Miles pp. 283-284
- ↑ Barry Miles, pp. 277-278
- ↑ David Sheff: The Ballad of John and Yoko. The last big interview . Höfen: Hannibal, 2002. S. 201. ISBN 3-85445-202-0 .
- ↑ Barry Miles, p. 193
- ↑ Booklet of the CD, credits on the single