Who Wrote the Beatle Songs

by Todd M Compton

  The surreal, plotless TV film, including six songs, was the Beatles’ first major failure, though the musical releases connected with it did well.

  The history of the Magical Mystery Tour album as a collection is complex. The American album, Magical Mystery Tour , included the songs from the Magical Mystery Tour movie and a collection of 1967 singles. It became the canonical album reproduced in modern CDs. But in Britain, this material was released only as singles, and then as a six-song double EP of songs from the movie. The first of the singles on the album, “Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane,” had been released much earlier, on February 17, 1967, before Sgt. Pepper .

  “Magical Mystery Tour is one of my favourite albums, because it was so weird,” said John in 1974. [3] It’s one of those Beatle albums that has been overshadowed by Sgt. Pepper , The Beatles and Abbey Road , so you think of it as a lesser album. Then you remember that it includes masterpieces such as John’s “Strawberry Fields,” “All You Need is Love” and “I Am the Walrus,” along with superb McCartney songs like “Hello Goodbye,” “Penny Lane” and “Fool on the Hill.” I’m also a fan of the quirky songs of the album, “Flying,” “Blue Jay Way,” “Your Mother Should Know.”

  “All You Need is Love / Baby, You’re a Rich Man” single,

  July 7, 1967

  All You Need is Love — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded June 14 to 26, 1967)

  In 1967, the BBC had the idea to broadcast a program to millions of people throughout the world, and asked the Beatles to contribute a song and a performance. Brian Epstein and the Beatles agreed, and Paul and John wrote songs in competition for the slot (as Paul in 1967 remembered, and George Martin remembered). Paul’s song was “Hello Goodbye” while John’s was “All You Need is Love.” [4] Paul said, in 1967, “And we went to the session and we just decided to do his first. Anyway, by the time we’d done the backing track for his, we suddenly realized, that his — his was the one, you see, “All You Need Is Love,” perfect. . . . So we’ve still got mine ready to do for the next one.” [5]

  However, there are alternate accounts. Geoff Emerick remembered that John specifically agreed to write a song. Brian Epstein explained the Our World deal to the Beatles, and said that a song was needed. “Paul didn’t seem all that interested . . . With a distinct lack of enthusiasm, John finally said, ‘Oh, okay. I’ll do something for that.’” Then Paul reminded him two or three weeks before the program that he needed to come up with something. According to Emerick, John looked at Neil Aspinall, who said, “Couple of weeks’ time, looks like.” John moaned, “Oh God, is it that close? Well, then, I suppose I’d better write something.” [6]

  Strangely enough, John only made one short comment on this song in extant interviews. Asked in 1971 if “Give Peace a Chance” and “Power to the People” were propaganda songs, John replied, “Sure. So was ‘All You Need is Love.’” [7]

  In 1967, Paul ascribed “All You Need is Love” to John. Paul again described it as a John song in 1995, with the exception of a few minor additions by the other Beatles. “I threw in a few ideas, as did other members of the group, but it was largely ad libs like singing ‘She Loves You’ or ‘Greensleeves’ or silly little things at the end and we made those up on the spot.” [8]

  But in 1989, he tempered his attribution with “mainly”: “it was quite a strange little song, mainly one of John’s.” [9] And in the 2000 Anthology interviews, he said, “It was John’s song, mainly; one of those we had around at the time.” [10]

  Two insiders, in an early interview, described this as a co-written song. Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, writing in 1967, described how the song was requested, then said: “That’s the basis John and Paul worked on when they settled down to write the new song.” [11] Probably Evans and Aspinall mentioned co-writing simply as a matter of custom. It’s impossible to know for certain. 1967 is impressively early, and Evans and Aspinall were certainly insiders.

  In view of Paul’s 1967 memories, I ascribe the song fully to John, though the other Beatles helped with aspects of the recording.

  Pieces of music by non-Beatles used in the recording were: the French national anthem “La Marseillaise”; “Two-Part Invention #8 in F” by Bach; “Greensleeves”; Glenn Miller’s “In The Mood”; “She Loves You” (sung by John and Paul), “Chanson d’Amour” by Wayne Shanklin; and Jeremiah Clarke’s “Prince of Denmark’s March.”

  The broadcast took place on June 25, 1967. The Beatles sang to a prerecorded backing track, surrounded by friends, relatives and various luminaries.

  Baby, You’re a Rich Man — (Lennon-McCartney)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded on May 11, 1967)

  “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” is another case where Paul and John stuck two independently written songs together. John had an incomplete song written from newspaper articles about American hippies, called “One of the Beautiful People.” [12] Paul had an incomplete song called “Baby, You’re a Rich Man.” The two songwriters decided that this would fit as the middle section to John’s song, so the two fragments were combined.

  Both John and Paul agree about this songwriting scenario. “Both of us. In fact we just stuck two songs together for this one — same as ‘A Day In The Life,’” said John in 1971. [13] Paul in 1995 remembered that the song “was co-written by John and me at Cavendish Avenue.” [14]

  I give Lennon first billing on this song because he wrote the “main” song, and Paul wrote the “chorus.”

  “Cat Call / Mercy Mercy Mercy” single — The Chris Barber Band, October 20, 1967

  Cat Call — (McCartney)

  (recorded on July 20, 1967)

  Paul wrote this instrumental back in the early Beatles days. It was in the Beatles’ live repertoire from 1958 to 1962, performed under the name “Catswalk.” [15] It can be found on an early Beatle rehearsal tape.

  In 1967, Paul became friendly with Chris Barber, a trombonist whose band was a leading jazz group in the U.K. [16] Barber asked Paul if he had any songs that would work for his band. Paul gave him “Cat Call,” then helped produce the Chris Barber Band recording. [17]

  In 1995, Paul said there was no collaboration with John on this song: “I wrote a few instrumentals: ‘Cat Call’ was one of those, then there was something called ‘Cayenne Pepper,’ but those tended to be me writing tunes by myself.” [18] In about 1959, Paul listed it, “Catswalk,” in a group of songs written collaboratively, but he may have been talking generally. [19] On the record, it is attributed to “Paul McCartney.”

  Later, in the Get Back sessions, the Beatles performed it again. [20]

  Mercy Mercy Mercy (Joe Zawinul)

  “Hello Goodbye / I am the Walrus” single, November 24, 1967

  This is the last single from the Magical Mystery Tour period. John dominated the previous single, but Paul had the A-side on this one, though it was almost upstaged by John’s “I am the Walrus,” one of the strongest B-sides in the history of pop music.

  Hello Goodbye — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded October 2 to November 2, 1967)

  As we have seen, George Martin said that this was written in competition with “All You Need is Love” for performance on the My World TV show, and was dropped in preference to John’s song. [21]

  According to Alastair Taylor — Epstein’s former personal assistant and later the general manager of Apple Corps — the song began at Cavendish Avenue, with Paul telling Taylor that anyone could write a song. They went to a harmonium, and Paul had Taylor play a note, any note, then Paul also played a note to create a rhythm. Next Paul told Taylor to shout out opposites as he (Paul) spoke words. [22] “‘Black,’ he started. ‘White,’ I replied. ‘Yes.’ ‘No.’ Good.’ ‘Bad.’ ‘Hello.’ ‘Goodbye.’” Paul came up with a tune as they echoed opposites to each other. [23]

  Taylor was unsure whether this was the actual genesis of the song, or whether Paul had had the idea for it previously and was simply developing it with
him.

  This is an example of Paul working on the lyrics of a song with a non-musical friend. But probably Taylor’s contribution can’t be equated with song­writing.

  Both Paul and John ascribe this to Paul. In 1988, Paul said, “The thing that lodges in my memory, in the writing aspect of ‘Hello, Goodbye,’ was the ‘you say yes, I say no, you say hey, I say hello, you say black, I say white.’ It almost wrote itself because it was to be ‘Hello, Goodbye.’” [24] In 1995, he commented on the lyrics:

  “Hello Goodbye” was one of my songs. There are Geminian influences here I think: the twins. It’s such a deep theme in the universe, duality — man woman, black white, high low, right wrong, up down, hello goodbye — that it was a very easy song to write. It’s just a song of duality, with me advocating the more positive. You say goodbye, I say hello. You say stop, I say go. I was advocating the more positive side of the duality, and I still do to this day. [25]

  John ascribed it to Paul in 1971 and 1980. [26]

  I Am the Walrus — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded on September 5, 1967)

  This song began when John heard a two note police siren in the middle of the night at Kenwood, and was fascinated by its power as it faded in and out. In an undated interview he said that the siren “was so hypnotic, you know, dee doo dee doo dee dooo fading in and getting loud and then fading away again.” [27]

  Why not write a song with that two-note melody? he thought. This gave him the minimalist melody for the main part of the song, though it subsequently was expanded beyond the two notes. “You couldn’t really sing the police siren,” he said in 1968. [28]

  The lyrics came slowly. First came “sitting pretty, like a policeman.” He told Hunter Davies, in 1967, that this “would be a basis for a song, but there was no need to develop now. It could be dragged out next time he needed a song. ‘I’ve written it down on a piece of paper somewhere. I’m always sure I’ll forget it, so I write it down, but I wouldn’t.’” [29]

  However, in 1968, John stated that the first words of the song that came to him were “I am he as you are he as we are all together.” [30] Then, one day, he wrote down a few more words, “just daft words, to put to another bit of rhythm. ‘Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for a man to come.’” Davies thought he said ‘van to come’ and Lennon liked that better. [31]

  As John said in 1980, “The first line written on one acid trip one weekend, the second line written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and subsequently filled in after I met Yoko.” [32]

  One part of the song — “sitting in an English country garden” — started out as an entirely different song, which he later connected to the main “I Am the Walrus” song. Hunter Davies wrote, in 1967,

  He also had another piece of tune in his head. This had started from the phrase “sitting in an English country garden.” This is what John does for at least two hours every day, sitting on the step outside his window, looking at his garden. This time, thinking about himself doing it, he’d repeated the phrase over and over till he’d put a tune to it. “I don’t know how it will all end up. Perhaps they’ll turn out to be different parts of the same song — sitting in an English country garden, waiting for the van to come. I don’t know.” [33]

  As to the surreal obscurity of the lyrics, John said, “‘Walrus’ is just saying a dream, the words don’t mean a lot.” [34]

  Pete Shotton described the genesis of another section of the song, which can be viewed as “found” poetry, of a sort. John had received a fan letter from a student at Quarry Bank High School, who described how the teachers were giving solemn interpretations of obscure Beatle lyrics. Then Lennon thought of the ‘Dead Dog’s Eye’ song they’d sung as boys, and asked Shotton if he remembered it. “Yellow matter custard, green slop pie / All mixed together with a dead dog’s eye / Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick / Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick.” “‘That’s it!’ said John, ‘Fantastic!’ He found a pen and commenced scribbling . . .” Then he “threw in the most ludicrous images his imagination could conjure . . . He turned to me, smiling. ‘Let the so-and-sos work that one out, Pete!’” [35]

  The walrus of the title came from Lewis Carroll’s “Walrus and the Carpenter,” though John later regretted that he had used the rapacious walrus for the title. [36]

  Both John and Paul ascribe this to John. “Me — I like that one,” he said in 1971. [37] Paul in 1988 said that John “obviously wrote” it, and in 1995 affirmed, “That was John’s baby, great one, a really good one.” [38]

  Magical Mystery Tour, U.S. album, November 27, 1967

  Magical Mystery Tour , U.K. double EP, December 8, 1967 (Magical Mystery Tour; Your Mother Should Know; I Am the Walrus; The Fool on the Hill; Flying; Blue Jay Way)

  Magical Mystery Tour TV movie, aired on BBC1 on December 26, 1967

  The canonical U.S. Magical Mystery Tour album starts with the songs from the TV movie, then fills side two with all the extraordinary singles they’d been releasing in 1967.

  Magical Mystery Tour — (McCartney-Lennon-Harrison-Starkey)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded April 25 to May 3, 1967)

  As Paul thought of magical mystery tours, he remembered the barker recruiting participants. This gave him the first line of the song (“Roll Up, Roll Up, for the Magical Mystery Tour,”), and he added music. Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall wrote, in 1967, “Flying home to London (Tuesday April 11) Paul worked on the first words for a ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ song.” [39]

  Paul brought the words and music for that first line to the studio, played what he had for the other Beatles, and asked them for suggestions to finish the lyrics. [40] Davies writes:

  At the recording session, all they had was a title and a few bars of music. “Paul played the opening bars of ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ on the piano, showing the others how it would go.” They started with one line: “Roll Up, Roll Up, for the Magical Mystery Tour.” “Paul told Mal to write down the order of how they would do the song.” “As they shouted out ideas, Mal wrote them all down. “Reservation,” “Invitation,” “Trip of a Lifetime,’ ‘Satisfaction guaranteed.’” Paul came back later with the completed lyrics. [41]

  Paul, in 1995, gave a vague ascription of this song to collaboration.

  “Magical Mystery Tour” was co-written by John and I, very much in our fairground period. One of our great inspirations was always the barker: “Roll up! Roll up!”. . . If you look at all the Lennon / McCartney things, it’s a thing we do a lot. . . . John and I remembered mystery tours, and we always thought this was a fascinating idea. [42]

  John ascribed the song mainly to Paul, though he agreed that he had worked on it. In 1971, he said, “Paul. I helped with some of the lyric.” And, “Paul’s song. Maybe I did part of it, but it was his concept,” he remembered in 1980. In an undated interview, he stated that he “contributed to the Mystery Tour song.” [43]

  Thus it looks like the music and beginning of the song were written by Paul, and the lyrics were collaborative, with John, then all of the Beatles (and Beatle insiders?) contributing phrases and ideas.

  Fool on the Hill — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded September 25, 1967)

  In 1995, Paul remembered writing the music for “Fool”: “I was sitting at the piano at my father’s house in Liverpool hitting a D 6th chord, and I made up ‘Fool On The Hill.’ There were some good words in it, ‘perfectly still,’ I liked that, and the idea that everyone thinks he’s stupid appealed to me, because they still do.” [44]

  Davies records that in mid-March 1967 (during the Sgt. Pepper sessions), Paul played it for John for the first time. The lyrics weren’t yet complete. [45]

  Both Paul and John ascribe this to Paul. In 1980, John praised its lyric and its sense of completeness. [46]

  Paul recorded a demo version on September 6, 1967, now available on Anthology 2 .

  Flying — (McCartney-Lennon-Harrison-Starkey)

  (re
corded September 8, 1967)

  This song, originally called “Aerial Tour Instrumental,” was the Beatles’ first released instrumental since “Cry Like a Shadow” in the Hamburg-Tony Sheridan era. I’ve found one firsthand comment on the creation of this song. According to Paul, he asked the Beatles to make up an instrumental filler in the studio. He even called it a “non-song.”

  In the studio one night I suggested to the guys that we make something up. I said, “We can keep it very very simple, we can make it a twelve-bar blues. We need a little bit of a theme and a little bit of a backing.” I wrote the melody. The only thing to warrant it as a song is basically the melody, otherwise it’s just a nice twelve-bar backing thing. It’s played on the Mellotron, on a trombone setting. It’s credited to all four, which is how you would credit a non-song. [47]

  However, since Paul wrote the melody, and it was his idea, he is the dominant contributor.

  The first take ended with a jazz instrumental, a recording on the Mellotron. This was replaced by a long ending of tape loops and special effects, created by the unlikely creative combination of John and Ringo, according to Lewisohn. This version of the song — 9:36 in length — was edited down to 2:14, as found on the final recording. [48]

  Blue Jay Way — (Harrison)

  (lead vocals: George) (recorded September 6–7 and October 6, 1967)

  Strangely enough, the lyrics to this song are autobiographical. After arriving at Los Angeles on August 1, 1967, George, with his wife and Neil Aspinall, arrived at a rented house on a street named Blue Jay Way in the Hollywood Hills. Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ press officer, was going to meet them there, and though George was exhausted, he decided to stay awake till Derek arrived. But he was delayed, lost in the foggy back-streets of L.A. George said, in 1968,