Who Wrote the Beatle Songs
Page 37
[33] Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions , 175.
[34] Ibid., 194.
[35] For example, in 1971, Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[36] Smith, “Beatles Music Straightforward On Next Album.”
[37] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 214.
[38] “The McCartney Recording Sessions,” website.
[39] Ibid. White, “Paul McCartney On His Not-So-Silly Love Songs” (2001).
[40] Ibid. “I was always going to finish it, and I had another bit that went into a Spanish song, almost mariachi, but it just appeared as a fragment and was quite nice for that reason.”
[41] “The McCartney Recording Sessions.”
[42] Ibid.
[43] Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 210, 245.
[44] McCartney 1970 (self-interview insert for McCartney , as reprinted in DiLello, Longest Cocktail Party , 248).
[45] Ibid.
[46] Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 245-46; Unterberger, Unreleased Beatles , 253.
[47] Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 245-46.
[48] Lewisohn, Tune In , 91-92; Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 275. By Lewisohn’s chronology this, not “I Lost My Little Girl,” might be the first song Paul every wrote. Tune In , 811n16. Du Noyer, Conversations , 194.
[49] Miles, Many Years from Now , 183.
[50] Ibid. See also McCartney in 2003, quoted in Barnes, “Sinatra Rejected My Song, Says Sir Paul.”
[51] Miles, Many Years , 182-83; Unterberger, Unreleased Beatles , 256; Benitez, The Words and Music of Paul McCartney , 22.
[52] Information included in McCartney (1970), as reprinted in DiLello, Longest Cocktail Party , 253.
[53] Ibid. See also Unterberger, TheUnreleased Beatles , 198.
[54] Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 155; Unterberger, Unreleased Beatles , 244.
[55] Self-interview insert for McCartney (1970), as reprinted in DiLello, Longest Cocktail Party , 248-49.
[56] Self-interview insert for McCartney (1970), as reprinted in DiLello, Longest Cocktail Party , 248-49.
[57] McCartney 1970 (self-interview insert for McCartney (1970), as reprinted in DiLello, Longest Cocktail Party , 254). “Another song started in India and completed in Scotland and London, gradually.”
[58] Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , index.
[59] McCartney ca 1996 (Gobnotch, “Recording Sessions Update - Part 12”).
[60] White, “Paul McCartney: Farewell” (1988), 47.
[61] Internet Movie Database gives February 17, 1970 as the date of release.
[62] Quoted in Badman, The Beatles: The Dream is Over , 13.
[63] Miles, Many Years from Now , 471. Du Noyer, Conversations , 203-4.
[64] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[65] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 214.
[66] Ringo, in Yellow Submarine radio series, as cited in Sauter, “One John Lennon.”
[67] Transcript from Sauter, “One John Lennon.”
[68] See also Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 22.
[69] Ibid., 39.
[70] Doggett, Abbey Road , 83.
[71] Lost Lennon Tapes, Oct. 21, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 214.
[72] Turner, Hard Day’s Write , 176.
[73] From the film, Imagine .
[74] Miles, Many Years from Now , 537.
[75] Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 201-3.
[76] Lost Lennon Tapes, Apr. 18, 1988, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 201-3.
[77] Lewisohn, Beatles Recording Sessions , 133-34. Overdubs were added in subsequent sessions.
[78] Winn, That Magic Feeling , 150.
[79] Lost Lennon Tapes, Apr. 18, 1988, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 201-3.
[80] Lennon, Rolling Stone Interview, Dec. 1970, BBC, part 4, cf. Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 99, see also 85. Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. Similar: Miles, Beatles in Their Own Words , 105.
[81] Miles, Many Years from Now , 421. See also Brown, “McCartney: Life after Death” (1974), 63.
[82] Harrison, George. Interview with Johnny Moran, March 11, 1970.
[83] I Me Mine , 158.
[84] Doggett, Abbey Road , 86-87; see also Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 133.
[85] For example, Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[86] Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 208..
[87] Miles, Many Years from Now , 536.
[88] Miles, Many Years from Now , 537. Similar: Paul in 2003 (Sennett, “At last, they let it be”).
[89] Lennon 1980, Sauter, “One John Lennon”; cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 215.
[90] Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[91] Miles, Many Years from Now , 537. Similar: Paul in 2003 (Sennett, “At last, they let it be”).
[92] Winn, That Magic Feeling , 231.
[93] Miles, Many Years from Now , 536. Paul also put it in a list of early collaborative songs, an improvement on “Just Fun,” “In Spite of All the Danger,” “Like Dreamers Do,” and leading up to “Love Me Do.” Ibid., 36.
[94] Winn, Way Beyond Compare , 4, 17.
[95] Lewisohn, Tune In , 440.
[96] Lennon and McCartney 1969 (Fly on the Wall bonus disc on Let It Be . . . Naked ). McCartney in Cott and Dalton, The Beatles Get Back , p. 85.
[97] Lennon, Rolling Stone Interview, Dec. 1970, BBC, part 2. Cf. Wenner, Lennon Remembers , 26. Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror. See also Hennessey, “Lennon: the Greatest Natural Songwriter,” 12. Aldridge, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics , 192.
[98] Lost Lennon Tapes, Sept. 23, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews, 213.
[99] Lennon and McCartney 1969 (Fly on the Wall bonus disc on Let It Be . . . Naked ).
[100] McCartney to “Mr. Low,” about 1959, see Davies, The Beatles , 63.
[101] McCartney in Cott and Dalton, The Beatles Get Back , p. 85. See also Miles, Many Years from Now , 536, quoted above. Paul also put it in a list of early collaborative songs, an improvement on “Just Fun,” “In Spite of All the Danger,” “Like Dreamers Do,” and leading up to “Love Me Do.” Ibid., 36.
[102] In Merritt, “Truth behind ballad that split Beatles.”
[103] Taylor is quoted in Matteo, Let It Be , 43-44.
[104] Miles/McCartney, Many Years from Now , 539.
[105] Miles, Many Years from Now , 539.
[106] In Merritt, “Truth behind ballad that split Beatles,”
[107] Matteo, Let It Be , 43.
[108] Miles, Many Years from Now , 539.
[109] White, “Paul McCartney: Farewell,” 48. See also: See Merritt, “Truth behind ballad that split Beatles.” Coleman, McCartney: Yesterday . . . and Today , 38; Interview in Smith, Off the Record , 201.
[110] Lost Lennon Tapes, Oct. 21, 1991, cf. Sheff, The Playboy Interviews , 214. Also Hennessey, “Who Wrote What,” Record Mirror.
[111] Anthology , 350.
[112] I Me Mine , 156. See also Harrison, interview with Johnny Moran, March 30, 1970; Mal Evans in 1969 (“The Beatles Get Back,” 27). As George’s spoken reference to Mississippi blues guitarist Elmore James shows, it’s modeled on that style. Womack, Long and Winding Roads , 260.
[113] Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 26.
[114] Ibid., 148.
[115] Read, “McCartney on McCartney,” episode 1.
[116] Miles, Many Years from Now , 81
[117] “Early Beatle Songs” website. Sulpy and Schweighardt, Get Back , 119.
[118] McCartney 1969 (Let It Be movie; Cott and Dalton, The Beatles Get Back , p. 85).
[119] Read, “McCartney on McCartney,” episode 1. See also Miles, Many Years from Now , 36.
15
“Both inspired from the same lecture of Maharishi” —
BEATLE SONGS AFTER THE BREAKUP
A s was mentioned in the previous chapter, I’m using January 4, 1970 as the somewhat arbitrary dividing line b
etween the Beatles era and the solo Beatles era. From the standpoint of songwriting, I regard songs written before that date as part of the Beatles canon; songs written after as part of the solo Beatles era. This chapter deals with songs written before January 4, 1970, though they may appear on later solo albums. If we are concerned mainly about songwriting, such songs are fully Beatle songs, Beatle music. Many of the songs in George’s All Things Must Pass , for example, were written during the Beatles era. His “Not Guilty,” a key song for understanding George’s place in the Beatles, was recorded as one of the Kinfauns demos after India, but did not appear until the 1979 album George Harrison .
Paul’s “Cosmically Conscious,” written during the India residence, could have been included on the White Album, but did not appear until his 1993 album Off the Ground .
Of course, some songs are hybrid: John’s “Jealous Guy,” from his 1971 album Imagine , uses music written during the India period, but its present lyrics were written post January 4, 1970.
Doris Troy album — Doris Troy, September 11, 1970
This Apple album with four George collaborations was recorded from mid-1969 to the end of the year. [1]
Ain’t That Cute — (Harrison-Troy)
See “Ain’t That Cute” single, February 13, 1970.
Give Me Back My Dynamite — (Harrison-Troy)
Gonna Get My Baby Back — (Harrison-Starkey-Troy-Stills)
Ringo and Stephen Stills from Crosby, Stills and Nash helped write and perform this song, and “You Give Me Joy Joy.”
You Give Me Joy Joy — (Harrison-Starkey-Troy-Stills)
Jacob’s Ladder (traditional, arranged Harrison-Troy)
Encouraging Words album — Billy Preston, September 11, 1970
This Apple album appeared the same day as the Doris Troy album. George Harrison co-produced it, and an all-star cast of musicians (George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Ginger Baker) helped record it. This is the first appearance of two solo Harrison classics, and the only appearance of an obscure Harrison collaboration. [2]
My Sweet Lord — (Harrison)
See at Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album, below. The Preston version was recorded with the Edwin Hawkins Singers, the group that George says inspired the song.
Sing One for the Lord — (Harrison-Preston)
This song was co-written by George and Billy during the Get Back sessions. It was recorded and mixed by February 12, 1969. Billy said: “The names change. His [George’s] is Krishna; mine is Christ. The spiritual promotion — praising God, chanting, spreading it, turning people onto it — these are the things we have in common.” [3]
All Things Must Pass — (Harrison et al.)
See at George’s All Things Must Pass , below.
All Things Must Pass album — George Harrison, November 27, 1970
This album includes many superb songs written during the Beatles era, some of which were rather inexplicably rejected by the other Beatles and denied a place on a Beatle album.
I’d Have You Anytime — (Harrison-Dylan)
George and Bob Dylan wrote this song in November 1968 in Dylan’s front room in upstate New York when the Beatle was visiting the Band and Dylan. George asked him how he wrote words so easily, and Dylan replied, “How do you get all them chords?” George played two major seventh chords, which turned into the main melody. He sang the opening lyric, “Let me in here / I know I’ve been here.” Then Bob “wrote the middle”: “All I have is yours / all you see is mine / I’m glad to hold you in my arms / I’d have you anytime.” [4]
My Sweet Lord — (Harrison-Preston-Clapton-Delaney-Bonney-traditional Hindu prayer)
George wrote this in December 1969, in Copenhagen, Denmark, when he was touring with Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, and Delaney & Bonnie. [5] He left a press conference and, thinking of the Edwin Hawkins Singers’ version of “Oh Happy Day,” [6] began to play chords on his guitar, adding the words “Hallelujah” and “Hare Krishna.” “Later,” he said, “members of the band joined in and lyrics were developed.” [7]
In England, as George was working with Preston on his Encouraging Words album, Preston suggested they record the song that had begun in Denmark. Beatles historian Joseph Self writes, “The unfinished ‘My Sweet Lord’ was brought up, and was worked into a finished version. Part of this completed song included a second section that differed significantly from the first section.” [8] A Hindu prayer, “Hare Krishna / Hare Krishna / Krishna Krishna / Hare Hare / Hare Rama / Hare Rama,” was included.
So this song began as George’s idea, was developed in a jam session with Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie, and later was finished in collaboration with Preston, for Preston’s album.
There was a plagiarism suit regarding this song and Ronnie Mack’s “He’s So Fine,” a hit for the Chiffons in 1962. [9] The suit was successful, though George was convicted of unconscious plagiarism only, and he had to pay Allen Klein, who had purchased “He’s So Fine,” $587,000.
George said, on the two songs:
I wasn’t consciously aware of the similarity between “He’s So Fine” and “My Sweet Lord” when I wrote the song as it was more improvised and not so fixed, although when my version of the song came out and started to get a lot of airplay people started talking about it and it was then I thought ‘Why didn’t I realise?’. It would have been very easy to change a note here or there, and not affect the feeling of the record. [10]
All Things Must Pass — (Harrison-Tao Te Ching -Leary)
George wrote this song during his visit to the Band and Bob Dylan in Woodstock in November 1968, and he cited the Band’s “The Weight,” with its religious overtones, as his immediate model. [11] It is a curious mixture of religious, oriental and psychedelic drug mysticism, as it was modeled after a “psychedelic prayer” by Timothy Leary, which was in turn based on the Tao Te Ching . [12] “I remembered one of these prayers and it gave me the idea for this thing,” said George. [13] The chapter of the Tao Te Ching , titled “All Things Pass” by Leary, begins, “All things pass / A sunrise does not last all morning / All things pass / A cloudburst does not last all day.” [14]
This was performed frequently during the Get Back sessions, first on January 2, 1969, and finally on January 29, and must have been seriously considered as an album cut for Let It Be . [15] It would have been a much stronger Harrison song than “I Me Mine” or “For You Blues.” George recorded it alone as a demo on February 25, 1969, and this version is on Anthology 3 .
Isn’t It a Pity — (Harrison)
This song, which we associate with George’s solo career, was apparently written in 1966! George performed it during the Get Back sessions, on January 25, 1969, at which time he mentioned that John had rejected it three years earlier. [16]
Behind That Locked Door — (Harrison)
George wrote this song about Bob Dylan when Dylan was performing at the Isle of Wight in August 1969. George said, “It was a good excuse to do a country tune with pedal steel guitar.” [17]
Let It Down — (Harrison)
This was performed during the Get Back sessions. [18] George taught John the chords to the song on January 2, 1969.
Hear Me Lord — (Harrison)
Written just before January 6, 1969, this was performed during the Get Back sessions. [19]
Wah Wah — (Harrison)
This was written on January 10, 1969, the day George left the Get Back sessions, after he’d had an argument with Paul. [20] In 1977, George said:
That was the song, when I left from the “Let It Be” movie, there’s a scene where Paul and I are having an argument, and we’re trying to cover it up. Then the next scene I’m not there and Yoko’s just screaming, doing her screeching number. Well, that’s where I’d left, and I went home to write “Wah-Wah.” It had given me a wah-wah, like I had such a headache with that whole argument. It was such a headache. [21]
Plastic Ono Band album — John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band, December 11, 197
0
The songs for this album were mostly written in spring and summer 1970, and reflected John’s intense involvement with Dr. Arthur Janov’s Primal Scream therapy. However, one song, “Look at Me,” was written during the Beatles era.
Look at Me — (Lennon)
This was written when the White Album was being recorded (May to October, 1968), “but I just never got it, got it done,” said John in 1970. [22]
“Another Day / Oh Woman, Oh Why” single — Paul McCartney, February 19, 1971
Another Day — (P. McCartney-L. McCartney)
This song was performed during the Get Back sessions, on January 9 and 25, 1969. [23] It became the A-side of Paul’s first solo single. He listed Linda as co-writer. Some have sneered at the idea of Linda as co-writer of songs in Paul’s solo career, but it was a traditional modus operandi for the Beatles to turn toward friends and family for feedback, and to get phrases to finish songs (as we have seen, George Harrison’s mother helped him finish “Piggies”). John and Paul often enlisted friends to help in brainstorming/collaboration sessions, and when they were married, their wives would be natural sounding boards.
Ram album — Paul McCartney, May 17, 1971
Back Seat of My Car — (P. McCartney-L. McCartney)
This song, the dramatic conclusion of the Ram album, was performed during the Get Back sessions, on January 14, 1969. [24] Paul described it as “a good old driving song” and “the ultimate teenage song.” [25]
Imagine album — John Lennon, September 9, 1971
Five of the ten songs on this album were started during the Beatles period.
Jealous Guy — (Lennon)