With The Beatles - McLennon Analysis
Released in 1963, 'With The Beatles' is still early in their discography with many of their tracks being cover songs, however, it is worth mentioning that covers such as 'You've Really Got A Hold On Me' lingers that slight possibility where you can kind of twist the narrative in your head and imagine it's John singing to Paul. His voice is filled with so much raw infatuation and love, desperation and a yearning to get through to the person he's singing to. This album is packed with romantic lyrics, which makes the process of how it was written all the more interesting.
Special thanks to @undying-love for the help on this post!
It Won't Be Long
The album starts off with a rather standard Beatlemania song, not much can be said other than the fact that, during this time, most of the group collectively agreed that John was seen as the leader in the studio. However they all witnessed the shift of leadership when Paul produced 'Yesterday' in 1965, which John later admitted he had mixed feelings about.
All I've Got To Do
This is a 100% Lennon original, only shown to Paul on the day of the recording, Paul managed to introduce an impressive bass pattern, and according to Dennis Alstrand, it's the first time in rock and roll history where the bass player plays chords as a vital part of the song (sometimes I forget just how much of an impact they made on music and that they weren't just rockstars with a complicated relationship lol).
Many people have also mentioned that the opening chord is extremely similar to the one that opens 'Oh! Darling', written by Paul, which (while far-fetched) could perhaps be Paul unintentionally referencing one of John's older works. It wouldn't be the first time Paul has referred to their shared history by accident, as such in 'Eleanor Rigby', which is the church where they had first met.
All My Loving
"âAll My Lovingâ is Paul, I regret to say. Ha-ha-ha. Because itâs a damn good piece of work. [Singing] âAll my lovingâŚâ But I play a pretty mean guitar in back." (John Lennon, 1980).
Interestingly enough, Paul clarified in his book that he doesn't know if he was thinking of Jane Asher when writing the lyrics even though they were courting, "it's probably more of a reflection on what our lives were like then - (the band) leaving behind family and friends to go on tour and experience these new adventures."
Undying-Love adds that, in an interview with Howard Stern, Paul said that 'All My Loving' was one of the few songs in which he wrote the lyrics first and then added the music. He said he wrote the lyrics like a poem.
Don't Bother Me
This was George Harrison's first song to appear on their album, as Paul and John had been somewhat opposed to including him more in the songwriting process as Paul clarifies later in the Anthology, "It was an option to include George in the songwriting team. John and I already talked about it. I remember walking up past Woolton Church with John one morning and going over the question: 'Without wanting to be too mean to George, would three of us write or would it be better to keep it simple?' We decided we'd just keep the two of us." It's interesting how reserved they were about songwriting with other people initially and, if anything, it proves how personal and exclusive their partnership was to them.
George, reasonably, was reluctant to bring his ideas to John and Paul in the future - they were usually dismissive of his ideas and more interested in what the other had to offer musically speaking. I imagine while they all had a good relationship with each other, nothing compared to the bond John and Paul had and their ability to "tune out the others". Friends of John and Paul all described how they could read each other's minds, how they hadn't needed words to communicate.
Till There Was You
'Till There Was You' was first sung by Eileen Wilson in 1950, it was a showtune written by Meredith Willson, and Paul's first introduction to it was Peggy Lee's cover in 1961. Paul quite liked to sing heartfelt ballads, many originally sung by women, which was a hit for female audiences but was a generally unheard move for a rock and roll band. As per old-fashioned views, men were meant to be nothing short of bravado, and here was Paul, who was often described as "pretty" by both fans and John. Cilla Black confirms that John thought something similar, "[John] liked women, but was always a bit uncomfortable, a bit nervous in their company - always a man's man. Paul was beautiful [...] and I know John thought 'god, with him around, I don't stand a chance.'"
There's a recording in Hamburg, 1962, of Paul singing the words of 'Till There Was You' gently while John is in the background, repeating him somewhat mockingly(?). Paul seems amused, and would sometimes introduce it as a "Peggy Leg" song while John would make fun of him for singing such an unconventional song.
Please Mister Postman, Roll Over Beethoven, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Devil In Her Heart are all cover songs with little to write about. Little Child, Not A Second Time and I'll Get You, while not cover songs, also don't have much to add to their relationship.
Hold Me Tight
When they were young, Paul and John would frequently skip school and meet back at Paulâs Forthlin Road home to write songs while the rest of his family were away, as was the case for 'Hold Me Tight'. Most sources would credit this song wholly to Paul, however, Paul himself insists that it was a collaborative effort with John.
Unfortunately, neither of them liked it, "that was Paul's. Maybe I stuck some bits in there, but I don't remember. It was a pretty poor song and I was never really interested in it either way". Paul agrees, calling it "a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler".
I Wanna Be Your Man
'I Wanna Be Your Man' was a song they wrote for The Rolling Stones and also for Ringo to sing.
Although there's not much to suggest that the lyrics were in any shape dedicated to each other, John and Paul had written the lyrics of this song together - "Paul just had this bit...'I wanna be your lover, baby, I wanna be your man,' and we just needed another verse or something" - which, if anything, is a cute image - the two of them having fun writing innocent love lyrics.
On the day they had passed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and gifted them 'I Wanna Be Your Man', John and Paul had been out âin Charing Cross Road, which was guitar central. We would get into a taxi and go down there just to look at the guitars. The whole area in the early '60s was guitar shops, and we would just go there and gaze longingly all afternoon at guitars we could not afford." (Paul McCartney).
Money (That's What I Want)
Although not related to this cover song, while researching, I found out that when John first heard that Paul had a 25 million dollar fortune in the late 70s, he immediately set off to do the same with Yoko's business acumen. Mark Lewisohn described John as "a scarred boy who craved money and sex and was injecting passion into every performance."
In relation to this song, Paul would later complain about John being viewed as the Beatle with "the rock 'n' roll edge" and not him. He would make an effort in his future songs to win that title.
She Loves You
'She Loves You' is a non-album single written while John and Paul faced each other, "so we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it - John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars."
The song is written from a third perspective - a friend watching a lovers quarrel - which would later become Paul's reality as he became an in-between for John and Yoko.
12th of August, 1963, EMI Studios, Abbey Road.
I Want To Hold Your Hand
The process of writing this song has been described in intimate detail by both John and Paul, first by John - "we wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball [...] And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, 'That's it!' I said, 'Do that again!' In those days, we really used to absolutely write like thatâboth playing into each other's noses."
Paul later agrees, "eyeball to eyeball is a very good description of it. That's exactly how it was. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' was very co-written."
Undying-Love further adds that, in The Lyrics book, Paul clarified that 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' isn't about Jane, "but it was certainly written when I was with her. To tell you the truth, I think we were writing more to a general audience. I may have been drawing on my experience with a person I was in love with at the time, and sometimes it was specificâbut mostly we were writing to the world". Undying also mentioned that, in the 70s when John was asked about his feud with Paul and HDYS, he said, "I often express myself through song. Letâs say [Paul]âs a brother of mine. If two brothers argue and fight, the only way they can express themselves is either through letters or through dialogue. One brother goes away to sea [...] The brother away at sea â letâs call that meâ might write to his brother [...] Because weâre in the â we do it on the grand scale, my letters home are examined and taken for a lifelong statement. Now, I said, âI want to hold your handâ. Thatâs what I was saying then.â Lastly, Undying points out the parallels and direct replies from 'Let Me Roll It' to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand': "You gave me something, I understand"="You got that something, I think you'll understand."]. Another reminder that they were constantly referring back to each other, even if they were no longer writing music together.
At some point in the late 1980s, John was recording his album 'Double Fantasy' and would sometimes play Beatles classics. Engineer Lee DeCario said, "I remember we were editing something and Lennon was bored so he went out into the studio [...] and sat on the amp all day playing Beatles songs. It was great, youâd walk by and youâd hear him singing and playing âI Want To Hold Your Handâ". 1980 had been a complicated year for them, so to hear that John was able to sing Beatles classics (ones especially important to John and Paul's writing career) implies that much of their animosity that was present in the early 70s had dissipated.
This Boy
John implies that 'This Boy' was a song he had written on his own, however, Paul tells an extremely vivid account of writing it together in 'Many Years From Now', "This Boy was another hotel-bedroom song, twin beds, one afternoon somewhere; we had arrived around one oâclock. We had a couple of hours to kill, so we thought, Well, letâs write one. Rather like the hotel where we wrote âShe Loves Youâ. Itâs funny, I remember the room and the position of the beds: John and I sitting on twin beds, the G-Plan furniture, the British hotel with olive green and orange everywhere, that marvellous combination, the colours of vomit."
It's quite strange that they tell such different accounts, one that completely dismisses their collaboration and one that recalls the moment so perfectly.
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