Fans ofThe Beatlesknow that the shared songwriting credit,Lennon-McCartney, held less salt the longer the band’s career went on. As young men,John Lennonand Paul McCartney would sit down together to craft a song together from start to finish. By the time the group began to recordHelp!,the pair’s true collaboration was becoming increasingly rare.
Lennon and McCartney began to drift at the dawn of the ’60s. As they developed their own personal writing style, they began to feel disdain for the process of working together, Lennon more so than McCartney. The Wings' frontman stated toNPRthattheir increasingly solo songwriting process wasn’t as dramatic as people make it out to be.
The four band members were often apart, living their very separate lives: traveling, spending time with family, and working on other projects. McCartney and Lennon could not help but find lyrical inspiration when apart, andthere was nothing stopping them from writing a complete song.
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Lennon Couldn’t Handle The Success Of The Hit
The Beatles were slowly maturing in the two years since their debut album,Please Please Me. Their sugary pop was becoming more substantial andtheir hits were growing larger and larger with each release. When the band releasedHelp!they were at the precipice of a tone shift that would cement their legacy as one of rock’s most influential groups.
Help!contains many memorable tracks, namely the title track and “Ticket To Ride,” but it wasn’t either of these high-energy pop songs that made Lennon green with envy.
The slow and contemplative"Yesterday" changed the tide of what the Beatles were capable of. The band could take risks, be vulnerable, and make a song that strikes a chord like a poem rather than a pop hit. Lennon despised that it was McCartney’s song that proved this to the public.
Lennon’s Desire To Have Written This Is Truly For Good Reason
Yesterday’s Lasting Legacy
“Yesterday” wasn’t simply a departure from their sound. Maybe if the song had been considered a Beatles deep cut that is only known by the group’s most devoted fans, John Lennon wouldn’t have cared that it was not his. The song wasnot only beloved by critics, but was also a commercial success. “Yesterday” spent a month at the top of theBillboardHot 100.
John Lennon’s anger didn’t seethe quietly; McCartney was well aware of his jealousy. In aCosmic Magazineinterview, McCartney revealed just how much it got under Lennon’s skin:“He was always civil. But it drove him nuts.”
The Lennon-McCartney writing credit likely compounded the problem for Lennon.
The Lennon-McCartney writing credit likely compounded the problem for Lennon. People probably congratulated him for the outstanding achievement that was “Yesterday,” and he just had to grin and bear it.
Lennon’s harsh critique of his songwriting partner’s ability to write a song made it impossible for him to be happy about McCartney’s success. Lennon would create many experimental and meaningful songs for The Beatles, like the classic “Strawberry Fields Forever.” However, this pivotal masterpiece would never beJohn Lennon’s own.
