Who Wrote the Beatle Songs

by Todd M Compton

  I accept this as mainly a John song, built on Leary and Chuck Berry, with contributions from Paul and George.

  Something (Harrison-Taylor)

  (lead vocals: George) (recorded April 16 to August 15, 1969)

  One day, during the White Album sessions, when Paul was busy doing overdubs, George went into a room with a piano, and wrote the main part of this song, though with incomplete lyrics, and perhaps lacking the chorus. He played it for Chris Thomas, often the functional producer for the White Album sessions, on October 19, 1968. [85] Since it was unfinished, it had to wait to find a home two albums later.

  In 1969, George said that it was “maybe” “probably” written for his wife, Pattie: “David: What inspired ‘Something’ for example? George: Maybe Pattie, probably. David: Really? George: I wrote it at the time when we were making the last double album.” [86] And Pattie said that George “told me, in a matter-of-fact way, that he had written it for me.” [87] Later, he strongly denied that it was about Pattie. “Now, you wrote that about Pattie, is that right? Well no, I didn’t. . . . everybody presumed I wrote it about Pattie, but actually, when I wrote it, I was thinking of Ray Charles.” [88]

  It was evidently influenced, in its first line, by a James Taylor song named “Something In The Way She Moves,” which would appear on Taylor’s first album in December 1968. George had heard the song because Taylor was an Apple artist. The two songs are not otherwise similar, musically or lyrically. He admitted the influence in 1969,

  “Something” is a song of mine I wrote towards the end of . . . the White Album. . . . But I never finished it off. I could never think of words for it. And, um, also because there was a James Taylor song called ‘Something In The Way She Moves,’ which is the first line of that. [89]

  George recorded a demo of this on February 25, 1969; it is available on Anthology 3 .

  Maxwell’s Silver Hammer — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded July 9–11 and August 6, 1969)

  Paul wrote this during the White Album sessions, and it was almost recorded for that album. [90] It was another of Paul’s “fantasy songs” with fictitious characters. [91] Its gleefully macabre humor makes it a McCartney song “against type,” in one sense, but Paul’s humor could always lean toward the surreal. In 1995 Paul gave a surprisingly serious explanation of the song’s philosophy: “‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ is my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life.” [92]

  According to Linda, the song’s story reflects the influence of avant-garde dramatist Alfred Jarry. [93] Paul used Jarry’s word “Pataphysical” (the next step beyond metaphysical) in the lyrics.

  This was performed during the Get Back sessions, on January 3, 7, 8 and 10. [94] The movie Let It Be shows some rehearsals of the song.

  Paul, John and George all ascribed “Maxwell” to Paul. John called it “a typical McCartney sing-a-long.” [95]

  In Beatle lore, this song is remembered primarily as the focus for attacks by the other Beatles, and the time it took to record it. John said, in 1980, “That’s Paul’s. I hate it. ‘Cause all I remember is the track — he made us do it one hundred million times.” [96] (Strangely enough, given this quote, John did not perform on the song. [97] ) Ringo turned the three days into “It went on for fucking weeks.” [98] Actually, it took two days to record, and part of another; the third day was divided between “Maxwell” and two other songs. [99] Winn thinks John may be referring to the Get Back sessions, but this seems unlikely, as the song was only rehearsed for a few days in those sessions, many other songs were rehearsed on the same days, and it did not end up on the Let It Be album. [100]

  Oh! Darling — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded April 20 to August 11, 1969)

  The Beatles began to play this song during the Get Back rehearsals. [101] Like many Beatles songs, it was modeled on black rhythm and blues performance. [102]

  Paul has never commented on writing this song, but he sings the lead, and has made proprietary comments on performing the song. In an early interview, he said that when he was recording the vocals, he came to the studio early every day to sing it by himself, as he wanted his voice to sound strained, “as though I’d been performing it on stage all week.” [103] As there wasn’t a lot of melody or “chordal magnificence” in the song, he felt he had to turn in a really good performance to bring it to life. [104]

  One person who frankly thought that Paul had failed in this objective was John, who said that Paul “didn’t sing it too well. . . . He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it. If he’d had any sense, he should have let me sing it. [Laughing ]” [105]

  “‘Oh! Darling’ was a great one of Paul’s,” he said in 1980. [106]

  Octopus’s Garden — (Starkey-Harrison)

  (lead vocals: Ringo) (recorded April 26 to July 18, 1969)

  On August 22, 1968, during the White Album sessions, Ringo had a moment of despair, and decided to leave the Beatles. After announcing his decision to John and Paul, he left for Sardinia with his family. While he was there, a sea captain began telling him stories of octopi. [107] “He told me all about octopuses,” Ringo said in 1981, “how they go round the sea bed and pick up stones and shiny objects and build gardens. I thought, ‘How fabulous!’ ’cause at the time I just wanted to be under the sea, too. I wanted to get out of it for a while.” [108] (Ringo returned to the group about a week later.)

  Though this song is credited to Ringo alone, and it started out as his idea, the Get Back tapes and the Let It Be movie show that George helped Ringo develop the song during the Get Back sessions. [109] On January 26, the chorus is non-existent, and George shows Ringo some piano chords that would work for it. Sulpy and Schweighardt write, “even these few minutes of rehearsal show George making a significant contribution to the song.” [110] George and Ringo worked on the song through the day, with George Martin occasionally pointing out sections missing.

  George referred to it as a Ringo song in 1969, but said, in 1988, “I’ve helped Ringo finish songs.” [111] John, in an undated interview, said it was “the only song that he [Ringo] wrote on the album . . . It’s a ‘Ring-a-Long’ ‘Sing-A-Long.’” [112]

  I Want You, She’s So Heavy — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded February 22 to August 11, 1969)

  The Beatles first played this toward the end of the Get Back sessions, on January 29, 1969. [113] It was a love song from John to Yoko, [114] and its minimalist lyrics were the product of Yoko’s aesthetics. [115]

  Paul has never commented on this song, but John’s authorship is not in doubt. [116]

  SIDE TWO

  Here Comes the Sun (Harrison)

  (lead vocals: George) (recorded July 7 to August 19, 1969)

  George started writing this one day when he decided to skip depressing business meetings at Apple and spend an afternoon at Eric Clapton’s house, “Hurtwood” in Ewhurst. In a 1969 interview, he said, after describing the meetings with lawyers and bankers,

  And it was really awful, ’cause it’s not the sort of thing we enjoy. And one day I didn’t come in to the office. I just sort of, it was like sagging off school. David: (laughs) George: And I went to a friend’s house in the country. And it was just sunny and it was all just the release of that tension that had been building up on me. And it was just a really nice sunny day. And I picked up the guitar, which was the first time I’d played the guitar for a couple of weeks because I’d been so busy. And the first thing that came out was that song. It just came. [117]

  After thus getting the beginning of it, he finished it later, when he and Pattie were on holiday in Sardinia, from June 1 to 23, 1969. [118]

  Once again, George pointed to a Byrds influence on this song. “The riff going through it is the same as, uh — y’know, all those ‘Bells Of Rhymney’ sort of Byrd-type things,” he said in 1969. [119]

  Because — (Lennon-
Ono)

  (lead vocals: John, with Paul and George singing harmony) (recorded August 1 to 5, 1969)

  This is another Beatle song that came directly from a classical source. Yoko, a classical trained musician, was playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on the piano one day, and John said, “Play that backwards.” [120] She played the chord progression backwards, and a song developed. “Well, it wasn’t quite the reverse,” said Ono, “I mean, it wasn’t exact or anything — that was the inspiration.” [121]

  John brought the song to the recording studio, then worked on it with George Martin and the Beatles. Geoff Emerick remembered that at first John was singing it and “gently picking individual notes” on guitar “rather than playing chords.” So John and the Beatles and George Martin worked on the chords to the song. John said, “I just asked George Martin, or whoever was round, “What’s the alternative to thirds and fifths?” they’re the only ones I know, and he plays them on a piano, and we’d say, “Oh, we’ll have that one.” [122]

  At some point, John and the Beatles decided to do the song in three part harmony, a return to the style of early Beatle songs such as “Yes It Is” or “This Boy.” John, Paul and George worked these harmony parts out, then started recording them, doing take after take. Finally, John rebelled, “at one point snapping, ‘Jesus Christ, give me a break already . . . I wish I hadn’t written the bloody thing!’” [123]

  The song’s authorship is not controversial. “I’ve just written a song called “Because,” John told Alan Smith in 1969. [124] Paul said he had nothing to do with “Because,” but thought that Yoko was probably a co-writer. [125] George, in an early interview, said, “‘Because’ is one of the most beautiful tunes. And I think it’s three-part harmony, John, Paul and George all sing it together. John wrote this tune.” [126] George Martin commented: “‘Because’ was a strange song for John to write. He got the idea from the arpeggios in Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata but the choral work was really classical Beatles.” [127]

  However, in the 1969 interview with Alan Smith, after describing the genesis of the song in the Moonlight Sonata, John said, “and we [John and Yoko] had a tune. We’ll probably write a lot more in the future.” Here he seems to reflect collaboration with Ono. [128]

  In light of this early statement, I accept Yoko as a collaborator on “Because,” though John was far and away the dominant writer. One could also make a case for George Martin as a minor collaborator, as he contributed to working out the harmony, by Lennon’s own account.

  You Never Give Me Your Money — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded May 6 to August 6, 1969)

  This song is another document reflecting McCartney’s pain as the Beatles were breaking up. “I wrote this when we were going through all our financial difficulties at Apple,” he said in an early interview. [129] It has the patented Beatle organization of song fragments thrown together. The main song is apparently addressed to Allen Klein.

  That was me directly lambasting Allen Klein’s attitude toward us: no money, just funny paper, all promises and it never works out. It’s basically a song about no faith in the person, that found its way into the medley in Abbey Road . John saw the humour in it. [130]

  It’s curiously gentle, lyrical music to accompany such a theme.

  Another song fragment dealt with Paul and Linda on one of their “going nowhere” trips — expeditions in which they would jump into a car and drive for hours without a definite goal, simply enjoying the scenery, getting away from everything. [131]

  Paul wrote this song while the Beatles (and Linda) were in New York, in May 1968. He and Linda would marry on March 12, 1969.

  Both Paul and John ascribed this to Paul. [132] George selected it as one of his favorites on Abbey Road. “You know, Paul always writes nice melodies. In fact, I don’t know where he finds them half the time.” [133]

  Sun King — (Lennon-McCartney)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded on July 24 and 25, 1969)

  According to Miles/McCartney, John dreamed this song, though I haven’t been able to find John himself saying this. [134] Paul also thought John had been influenced by Nancy Mitford’s biography of Louis XIV, The Sun King (1966). John described it as “just half a song that I had which I never finished, which was one way of getting rid of it without every finishing it, you know.” [135]

  Paul helped with the “Spanish” lyrics, as John explained:

  [On “Sun King”] when we came to sing it, to make them different, so it wasn’t just the same riff, we just started joking, you know, saying “cuandopara mucho .” So we just made it up. Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, so we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got “chickaferdi ” in — that’s a Liverpool expression; just like it doesn’t mean anything, just like “ha ha ha.” [136]

  This is a John song. “My contribution [to the medley] is ‘Polythene Pam,’ and ‘Sun King’ and ‘Mean Mr Mustard,’” he said in 1969. “So we just juggled them about until it made vague sense.” [137] However, Paul helped with the Spanish.

  Mean Mr. Mustard — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded for Abbey Road from July 24 to 29, 1969)

  John wrote this song in India, and it became “another half a song which I never finished.” [138] As was the case with many Beatle songs, its lyrics were based on a newspaper story. [139] John wrote it after reading an account of a man who kept his money in his rectum. “I’d read somewhere in the newspaper about this mean guy who, something about he hid five-pound notes, not up his nose but somewhere else. It had nothing to do with cocaine or snorting,” he said in 1980. [140] John changed the name of Mr. Mustard’s sister to Pam in order to lead into “Polythene Pam.” [141]

  Both John and Paul ascribed this to John, though John had no great fondness for it. “That’s me, writing a piece of garbage,” he said in 1980. [142] Paul in 1995, said, “‘Mean Mr Mustard’ was very John. I liked that. A nice quirky song.” [143]

  It was performed as one of the Esher demos in May 1968, which is on Anthology 3 . The Beatles also played it during the Get Back sessions. [144]

  Polythene Pam — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: John) (recorded July 25 to 30, 1969)

  The Beatles knew Royston Ellis, a beat poet, in Liverpool — John called him “England’s answer to Allen Ginsberg.” In August 1963, they ran into him after a show in Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, and Ellis introduced John to his girlfriend, Stephanie, who dressed in polythene. “She didn’t wear jack boots and kilts, I just sort of elaborated. . . . Perverted sex in a polythene bag. . . . I was just looking for something to write about.” [145]

  Paul remembered, in 2000: “He came back with all these tales about a girl who dressed in polythene: ‘Shit! There was this chick and it was great . . .’ and we thought, ‘Oh, wow!’ Eventually he wrote the song.” [146] This memory of Ellis and “Polythene Pam” was so vivid to John, that when he was in India, some five years later, he wrote the song there. [147]

  Both Paul and John ascribed this to John. In an early interview, John said, “I wrote this one in India, and when I recorded it I used a thick Liverpool accent because it was supposed to be about a mythical Liverpool scrubber [groupie] dressed up in her jackboots and kilt.” [148]

  Like “Mean Mr. Mustard” this became one of the Esher demos (recorded in May 1968), now available on Anthology 3 , then was performed during the Get Back sessions. [149]

  She Came in Through the Bathroom Window —

  (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded July 25 to 30, 1969)

  John said that Paul came up with the title of the song in May 1968, when the pair were in New York, doing publicity for Apple. “We were just in the flat we were staying in and he just came out with that line, y’know, ‘She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.’ So, he’d had it for years, so he eventually finished it.” [150]

  According to Paul, he got the words for the third v
erse (“And so I quit the police department”) from something he saw during a cab ride in New York. The cabbie’s name, Eugene Quits, was underneath his photo, and beneath it was written, “New York Police Dept.” This verse had no logical coherence with the rest of the lyrics, but “This was the great thing about the randomness of it all,” Paul said. [151] Or one could easily call this avant-garde aesthetic of randomness flawed.

  John, in 1980, tentatively suggested that it might have been Linda who came in through the bathroom window. [152] Paul, two years later, disagreed: “No she wasn’t.” He explained that it might have been a subconscious meaning but he didn’t knowingly write the song with her in mind. “A lot of the time when I do songs like that, it’s just because the words sound good.” [153]

  Two non-Beatles have offered theories for the song’s title. The “Apple Scruffs” who would hang around Paul’s house once broke in while he was gone, using the bathroom window to gain entrance, and stole some photos and clothes. [154] One of the Scruffs, Carol Bedford, said Paul told her, “I’ve written a song about the girls who broke in.” [155] John, however, explicitly said that the song was not about the Apple Scruffs. [156]

  Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues said that he told Paul of a groupie who climbed through a bathroom window into the band’s house. Paul took up a guitar and sang, “She came in through a bathroom window.” [157] This does not have the support of any statement by Paul or John.