Who Wrote the Beatle Songs

by Todd M Compton

  (lead vocals: John)

  This was released by Johnny Burnette and his Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio in 1957.

  Nothin’ Shakin’ (COVER) (Eddie Fontaine, Cirino Colacrai, Diane Lampert, John Gluck, Jr. )

  (lead vocals: George)

  This was an Eddie Fontaine single in 1958. The full title is “Nothin’ Shakin’ (But the Leaves on the Trees).”

  The Hippy Hippy Shake (COVER) (Chan Romero)

  (lead vocals: Paul)

  American rocker Chan Romero released this song in the U.S. and Australia in 1959. Though it was covered by Little Tony in the U.K. in the same year, Paul heard the Romero recording, according to Bob Wooler, DJ at the Cavern. Wooler couldn’t tell if the falsetto vocals were by a man or a woman. “I played it at a lunchtime session at the Cavern, and Paul McCartney asked me about it. He always fancied himself as a high-voiced singer. I lent him the record and the Beatles started doing it.” [61] The song became a Beatles staple.

  Paul reminisced: “We had too much material anyway. We couldn’t record it all when we did get a deal, so other groups took songs from our act and made hits out of them — like The Swinging Blue Jeans with ‘The Hippy Hippy Shake,’ which was one of my big numbers.” [62]

  The Beatles performed this during the Get Back sessions.

  Glad All Over (COVER) (Aaron Schroeder, Sid Tepper, Roy Bennett)

  (lead vocals: George)

  This song, performed by Carl Perkins, appeared in the movie Jamboree in 1957, then was released as a single the following year.

  I Just Don’t Understand (COVER) (Marijohn Wilkin, Kent Westberry)

  (lead vocals: John)

  This was released by Ann-Margret (Olsson) in 1961.

  So How Come (No One Loves Me) (COVER) (Felice and Boudleaux Bryant)

  (lead vocals: George, John)

  This appeared on the Everly Brothers’ fourth album, A Date With The Everly Brothers , in 1960.

  I Forgot to Remember to Forget (COVER) (Stan Kesler, Charlie Feathers)

  (lead vocals: George)

  This was one of Elvis’s Sun singles, released in 1955.

  I Got to Find My Baby (COVER) (Chuck Berry)

  (lead vocals: John)

  Chuck Berry released this as a single in 1960. Some believe that it was written by Peter Clayton in 1941.

  Ooh! My Soul (COVER) (Richard Penniman)

  (lead vocals: Paul)

  This appeared as the B-side of Little Richard’s “True, Fine Mama” single in 1958.

  Don’t Ever Change (COVER) (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)

  (lead vocals: Paul, George)

  Written in 1961, this was a hit for the Crickets in the U.K. the following year.

  Anthology 1 album — The Beatles, November 20, 1995

  Between November 1995 and October of the following year, the Beatles released what amounted to the Beatle fan’s ultimate dream — three two-CD “official” bootlegs, Anthology 1 , Anthology 2 , and Anthology 3 . They offered songs written and performed by the Beatles that had never been released, including alternate takes, demos and covers. While some of this material had been available on bootlegs, some hadn’t. And the recordings on the Anthology CDs were understandably often of much higher quality than the bootlegs.

  Some of the early material, such as the Decca audition tape, has been mentioned above in chronological order of recording.

  I will discuss only the unique songs here.

  Free as a Bird — (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)

  As a part of the Anthology series, the living Beatles agreed to “complete” two demos by John, adding instrumentation, background vocals, and sections of the songs that were missing. Per Everett, this song was written by Lennon “around 1977, reportedly as an exhilarated reaction to [Lennon] obtaining his hard-won U.S. ‘green card’.” [63] The Beatles re-recorded it in February and March, 1994.

  Paul said: “I fell in love with ‘Free As A Bird.’ I thought I would have loved to work with John on that. I liked the melody, it’s got strong chords and it really appealed to me. Ringo was very up for it, George was very up for it, I was very up for it.” [64] The Beatles especially liked the fact that they could fill in a middle eight. Paul said: “That was really like working on a record with John, as Lennon/McCartney/Harrison, because we all chipped in a bit on this one. George and I were vying for best lyric.” [65] According to George, they also changed some chords. [66]

  That’ll Be the Day (COVER) (Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly, Norman Petty)

  (lead vocals: John)

  “That’ll Be the Day” and “In Spite of All the Danger” were two sides of the demo that the Quarrymen (John, Paul and George, with Colin Hanton on drums, and John ‘Duff’ Lowe on piano) recorded on July 12, 1958. Thus this is the earliest high quality recording of the proto-Beatles.

  “That’ll Be the Day,” a Buddy Holly single released in May 1957, was one of the earliest rock songs that John learned to play. [67] “John did ‘That’ll Be the Day’ which was one of our stage numbers, and George played the opening guitar notes and I harmonised with John singing lead,” explained Paul in 1995. [68]

  In Spite of All the Danger — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: John)

  This is one of Paul’s two or three earliest songs. [69] He wrote it when he was about fourteen, around 1956. It was very influenced by Elvis — “It’s me doing Elvis,” he explained. [70] When it came time to record two songs onto an actual disk at a semi-professional studio in Liverpool, this was one of the songs chosen. [71] John ‘Duff’ Lowe, the pianist for the recording, remembered that in the rehearsal for the recording at Forthlin Road, Paul “was quite specific about how he wanted it played and what he wanted the piano to do. There was no question of improvising. We were told what we had to play.” [72] Paul as driven producer and arranger was already well in evidence.

  John sang lead on this song for this demo. He once said, “I sang both sides [of this single]. I was such a bully in those days I didn’t even let Paul sing his own song.” [73] This is a point worth emphasizing — Paul and John did not always sing lead on their own songs. Sometimes John sang lead on Paul songs so he (Paul) could sing harmony, and this is probably what happened here.

  When the disk received a sticker, a handwritten note on it attributed the song to “McCartney-Harrison.” Paul later explained, “It says on the label that it was me and George but I think it was written by me and George played the guitar solo! We were mates and nobody was into copyrights and publishing . . . and because George did the solo we figured that he ‘wrote’ the solo.” [74]

  There are no statements from George Harrison on the song, but John attributed it to Paul: “The first thing we ever recorded was ‘That’ll Be The Day,’ a Buddy Holly song, and one of Paul’s called ‘In Spite Of All The Danger.’” [75]

  McCartney played this song throughout his 2005 world tour.

  Hallelujah, I Love Her So (COVER) (Ray Charles)

  (Lead Vocal: Paul)

  A performance from the spring-summer 1960 rehearsals at the McCartney home. This had been a 1956 Ray Charles single, but the Beatles followed the Eddie Cochran version from 1958.

  You’ll Be Mine — (McCartney-Lennon)

  (Lead Vocal: Paul)

  This is from the spring-summer 1960 rehearsals at the McCartney home. A parody of the Inkspots, according to Lewisohn, it was sung by Paul, with a nonsensical spoken word interlude by John. [76] I have not as yet found any commentary on this song by any of the Beatles, so my attribution is based on the main singer. This is arguably the earliest Lennon-McCartney song recording, but the track has historical interest only.

  Cayenne — (McCartney)

  One more performance from the spring-summer 1960 rehearsals at the McCartney home. Paul claims authorship of this instrumental. This version lasts 1:14 minutes, while the original ran to two and a half minutes. “I wrote a few instrumentals,” Paul said in 1995. “‘Cat Call’ was one of those, then there was something called ‘Cay
enne Pepper,’ but those tended to be me writing tunes by myself.” [77] Paul realistically stated that this has mainly historical interest: “It’s not brilliant. But when you listen to it you can hear a lot of stuff I’m going to write. So, it’s interesting from that point of view.” [78]

  Searchin’ (COVER) (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)

  (lead vocals: Paul)

  From the Decca Audition, January 1, 1962. This was a single for the Coasters in 1957. It was a touchstone song for the Beatles, and Paul chose it as one of his Desert Island Disks in 1982. He said, in 1995,

  Another thing we went across town for was the record ‘Searchin’ by The Coasters. Nobody had it. The drummer in the Quarry Men, Colin Hanton, knew some guy that had it, but we had to get on the bus, do two changes of bus routes. Didn’t matter. Half an hour away. There was such a passion about that song ‘Searchin.’ [79]

  After they learned it, it became “a big Cavern number, that one.” [80]

  Three Cool Cats (COVER) (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)

  (lead vocals: George)

  From the Decca Audition, January 1, 1962. Another Coasters song — this was the B-side of their 1959 single, “Charlie Brown.”

  The Sheik of Araby (COVER) (Harry B. Smith, Francis Wheeler, Ted Snyder)

  (lead vocals: George)

  Another from the Decca Audition. This Tin Pan Alley song was written in 1921, in honor of Rudolf Valentino’s role in The Sheik , and became a jazz standard in the twenties. George said, in 2000,

  In those days a lot of the rock ‘n’ roll songs were actually old tunes from the Forties, Fifties or whenever, which people had rocked up. That was the thing to do if you didn’t have a tune: just rock up an oldie. Joe Brown had recorded a rock n’ roll version of ‘The Sheik Of Araby.’ He was really popular on the Saturday TV show Six-Five Special and Oh Boy! . I had the Joe Brown records, so I sang ‘Sheik Of Araby.” [81]

  Like Dreamers Do — (McCartney)

  (lead vocals: Paul)

  From the Decca Audition, January 1, 1962. It was first released by the Applejacks in 1964, see above. This is the only Beatles version.

  Hello Little Girl — (Lennon-McCartney)

  (lead vocals: John)

  Also from the Decca Audition. It was first released by the Fourmost in 1963, see above. This is the only Beatles version.

  Bésame Mucho (COVER) (Consuelo Velázquez, Sunny Skylar)

  (lead vocals: Paul)

  From the EMI audition, recorded on June 6, 1962. See the Let It Be movie for another version. It was also played at the Decca Audition.

  How Do You Do It? (COVER) (Mitch Murray)

  (lead vocals: John)

  The Beatles recorded this, reluctantly, on September 4, 1962, at George Martin’s urging. But they disliked the song, so Martin gave it to Gerry and the Pacemakers, who made it a hit. [82]

  Lend Me Your Comb (COVER) (Kay Twomey, Fred Wise and Ben Weisman)

  (lead vocals: John and Paul)

  The Beatles live at the BBC Maida Vale Studios, July 16, 1963. This had been the B-side of Carl Perkins’s 1958 single, “Glad All Over.”

  Moonlight Bay (COVER) (Percy Wenrich, Edward Madden)

  (lead vocals: John)

  Performed on The Morecambe and Wise Show, December 2, 1963, broadcast on April 18, 1964. This song had been published in 1912.

  Shout! (COVER) (Rudolph Isley, Ronald Isley, O’Kelly Isley, Jr.)

  (lead vocals: John, Paul, George, Ringo)

  Live for the ITV show, “Around The Beatles,” recorded April 19, 1964. This was recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1959, and became a rock standard.

  You Know What to Do — (Harrison)

  (lead vocals: George) (recorded on June 3, 1964)

  This demo was recorded with Jimmy Nicol on drums, as Ringo was sick. Then it was apparently forgotten. Paul said, in 1995,

  There was a song of George’s that the engineer Allan Rouse discovered. EMI didn’t know they had it. . . . I do believe there will be a bunch of people interested in hearing the George Harrison song from thirty years ago that no one to this day had heard. It’s not the greatest thing that George ever wrote, but it’s an undiscovered nugget. [83]

  After it was rediscovered, George reportedly said that he had no memories of it at all.

  Leave My Kitten Alone (Take 5) (COVER) (Little Willie John, James McDougal and Titus Turner)

  (Lead Vocal: John) (recorded August 14, 1964)

  Little Willie John released this in 1959, and Johnny Preston did a version of it the following year. The Beatles recorded it for the Beatles for Sale album, but it was not used. Paul said, in 1988, “That was a John­ny Preston song that we’d rehearsed in Liverpool along with all our Cavern stuff and it was just in our repertoire. It wasn’t a big one that we used to do, we’d pull it out of the hat occasionally, and we also recorded it.” [84]

  “Free as a Bird / “Christmas Time (Is Here Again) “ single — The Beatles, Dec. 4, 1995

  “Free as a Bird — (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)

  See Anthology 1 .

  “Christmas Time (Is Here Again) “

  See Christmas record, at December 11, 1967. This is its first general release.

  Anthology 2 album — The Beatles, March 18, 1996

  Real Love — (Lennon)

  This was written in 1979-80, then was re-recorded with the other Beatles in February 1995. [85] Paul said, in 1996,

  I don’t quite like it as much as ‘Free As A Bird’ because I think ‘Free As A Bird’ is more powerful. But it’s catchier. There was one real nice moment when we were doing ‘Real Love’ and I was trying to learn the piano bit, and Ringo sat down on the drums, jamming along. It was like none of us had ever been away. [86]

  Paul, as we have seen, preferred doing the more collaborative “Free as a Bird,” and “Real Love” was more like “being side men to John — but that was very joyful and good fun and I think we did a good job.” [87]

  If You’ve Got Trouble (Take 1) — (Lennon)

  (lead vocals: Ringo) (recorded on February 18, 1965)

  This was recorded during the Help! sessions, and apparently became another lost Beatle song, until much later it was rediscovered in the vaults. [88] John claimed it in 1965. Journalist Ray Coleman observed, “They are just completing a song which features Ringo singing. ‘I wrote it,’ says John. ‘It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever done — listen to the words.’” [89]

  That Means a Lot (Take 1) — (McCartney-Lennon)

  (lead vocals: Paul) (recorded February 20, March 30, 1965)

  P. J. Proby released this in 1965, see above.

  12-Bar Original (Edited Take 2) — (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starkey)

  (recorded November 4, 1965)

  A rare Beatles instrumental, recorded during the Rubber Soul sessions.

  Anthology 3 album — The Beatles, 28 October 1996

  Junk — (McCartney)

  A demo recorded at Kinfauns in May 1968. See the McCartney album, above.

  Not Guilty (Take 102) — (Harrison)

  Another Kinfauns demo. See George’s album, George Harrison , above.

  What’s the New Mary Jane (Take 4) — (Lennon-Mardas)

  (Lead vocal: John) (Recorded August 14, 1968)

  In 1969, John described this song as “a mad thing I wrote half with our electronics genius, Alex. . . . It was real madness.” [90] “Alex” was Yanni (John) Alexis Mardas, “Magic Alex,” a close associate of John in 1967 and 1968. [91]

  This song was one of the Esher demos, from May 1968. In an undated, unsourced interview, John is quoted as saying, “That was me, Yoko, and George sitting on the floor at EMI fooling around. Pretty good, huh?” [92] It was on the short list for inclusion on the White Album, but was rejected at the last moment. Mal Evans, in 1968, said this was “a recording you WON’T hear on the new LP… Very strange this one. John thought it up and John sings it.” [93]

  Lennon wanted to release it as a single, but the other Beatles v
etoed the idea. [94] This is the song’s first release.

  Step Inside Love — (McCartney) / Los Paranoias — (McCartney-Lennon-Harrison-Starkey)

  (Lead vocals: Paul) (recorded September 16, 1968)

  Cilla Black recorded “Step Inside Love” in 1968, see above. This Beatles performance led to a studio jam, “Los Paranoias,” credited to Lennon-Mc­Cart­ney-Harrison-Starkey. It’s a fragment, but Paul sings it and it is connected with a Paul composition. According to Turner, “Los Paranoias” is “an extended studio joke initiated by Paul.” [95]

  Teddy Boy — (McCartney)

  See the McCartney album, above.

  Medley: Rip It Up (COVER) (Robert Blackwell, John Marascalco) / Shake, Rattle and Roll (COVER) (Jesse Stone, under his working name Charles E. Calhoun) / Blue Suede Shoes (COVER) (Carl Perkins)

  See the Let It Be movie, above.

  All Things Must Pass (Demo) — (Harrison)

  See Harrison’s album, All Things Must Pass , above.

  Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues (COVER) (Ruth Roberts, Bill Katz, Stanley Clayton)

  (Lead vocals: John)

  From the Get Back sessions. This was the B-side of the 1957 “Words of Love” single by Buddy Holly. It was in the early Beatles repertoire.

  Come and Get It (Demo) — (McCartney)

  This demo, performed entirely by Paul, was recorded on July 24, 1969. See “Come and Get It / Rock Of All Ages” single, Badfinger, above.