The Beatles' song 'like no other' was the only time John Lennon complimented Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison pose for a portrait in 1964
-Credit:Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images


Between them, Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote the vast majority of The Beatles' music, creating a collection of songs that would be the envy of any musician. All of their songs written while in The Beatles were credited to Lennon-McCartney, regardless of whether they were a collaborative effort or written predominately by one of them.

This led to some rivalry between the two as they both wanted to ensure they wrote the best songs - which John and Paul admitted helped drive them. In a 1980 interview with Playboy, John spoke about writing 'A Hard Day's Night', saying: "There was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A-side – who got the hits.

"If you notice, in the early days the majority of singles, in the movies and everything, were mine … in the early period I'm dominating the group." He continued: "The reason Paul sang on 'A Hard Day's Night' (in the bridge) is because I couldn't reach the notes."

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In 2018, Paul also admitted there was rivalry between him and John - not that they revealed it while they were in the band. He told CBS's 60 Minutes: "We were competitive, yeah. Not openly, but we later admitted". Impersonating John, Paul added: "yeah, so Paul’s written a good one there, I better get going."

He continued: "And I would similarly, 'that's a bit good, right'. Here we go, come on. If he’d written 'Strawberry Fields', I would write 'Penny Lane', you know, he’s remembering his own area in Liverpool, so I'll remember mine."

In that interview, Paul was asked if John ever complimented him for his signwriting. He answered: "Once - in the whole time.

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"I think it's 'Revolver', it was 'Here, There and Everywhere', (it) was one of my songs on it but John sort of just (said) when it finishes, 'that's a really good song that, I love that song'."

Paul said his response to that was: "'Yes he likes it'. You know, I’ve remembered it to this day. It’s pathetic really."

Bassist Paul McCartney of the rock band "The Beatles" poses for a portrait sitting on a bed in circa 1964 in London, England
The Beatles' Paul McCartney poses for a portrait in 1964 in London -Credit:Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

It seems Paul was kinder to John, however. Asked if he would praise his bandmate's writing, he said: "Yeah, I would tell him his stuff was great. You’d normally have to be a little bit drunk, it helped."

Paul wrote 'Here, There and Everywhere' at John's Surrey home in June 1966 as he waited for John to wake up. He recalled: "I sat out by the pool on one of the sun chairs with my guitar and started strumming in E. And soon, had a few chords, and I think by the time he'd woken up, I had pretty much written the song, so we took it indoors and finished it up."

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The wistful track featured on 'Revolver' and is considered one of The Beatles' finest songs. In 2000, music magazine Mojo ranked it 4th in its list of the greatest songs of all time

Art Garfunkel, one of The Beatles' peers, called it "intoxicating". The folk star said: "If music can be defined as that which perfumes the atmosphere, then 'Here, There and Everywhere' does it like no other single I’ve ever heard. It’s supreme."