'Extraordinary' Beatles song Paul McCartney and John Lennon could never agree on
Every song Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote for The Beatles was given the joint credit of Lennon-McCartney, regardless of whether they were a collaborative or independent endeavour. This was the result of a pact the two made before they rose to fame.
In the early days of the band, John and Paul wrote together in the same room, but as the years went on, they tended to do the bulk of the writing on their own, before presenting the song to the other for tweaks and finishing touches. However, this has meant that there was some disagreement among the band as to who wrote what.
The ECHO has recently looked at how Paul and John had differing recollections on their respective contributions to the writing process of 'In My Life' and how they both had claimed parts of 'And I Love Her' as their own. And they are not the only examples of classic Beatles songs where this was the case.
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'Ticket to Ride' was a single from the 1965 album 'Help!' and featured prominently in the film of the same name. The single became the band's seventh straight number one in the UK and their third consecutive effort to top the charts in America.
The song's lyrics follow a woman who had declined the chance to stay with the narrator and decided to move away instead. The song was John's idea and he said the song was "three-quarters mine and Paul changed it a bit."
John added: "He said let's alter the tune." In a 1980 interview, he doubled down, saying that Paul's only contribution was influencing how Ringo Starr played the drums.
Paul saw it differently. In 1997, he recalled: "We sat down and wrote it together … give him 60% of it". He continued: "We sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session."
In the same aforementioned 1980 interview, John explained that there was rivalry between him and Paul when it came to writing. Speaking about the creation of 'A Hard Day's Night', John said: "The next morning I brought in the song … 'cuz 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 … The reason Paul sang on 'A Hard Day's Night' (in the bridge) is because I couldn't reach the notes."
Irrespective of who wrote what of 'Ticket to Ride', it went down a storm with critics. Reviewer Ian MacDonald said it was "psychologically deeper than anything the Beatles had recorded before ... extraordinary for its time – massive with chiming electric guitars, weighty rhythm, and rumbling floor tom-toms".
In 2006, music writer Johnny Black said: "'Ticket to Ride' is a watershed single, the moment when The Beatles moved from cuddly mop-tops to strange and interesting sonic explorers. So it's fitting that it carries an enigma at its core (the song's meaning) – the first Rosebud in a catalogue of many."