Beatles: Lennon vs McCartney

[namkcuR]

Although every Beatles song not penned by Harrison is attributed to "Lennon/McCartney" or "McCartney/Lennon", we all know that generally speaking, whoever is singing the lead on any given song is usually responsible for the bulk of said song. So, my question is, which of the two - Lennon or McCartney - do you think is/was the better songwriter? For reference, I've compiled lists of what I, and I think most, consider to be each songwriter's best songs (I am fairly certain that the lists are accurate as to who wrote what):

Lennon

A Hard Day's Night
Any Time At All
I'll Be Back
Help
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Ticket To Ride
It's Only Love
Norwegian Wood(This Bird Has Flown)
Nowhere Man
Girl
In My Life
Rain
I'm Only Sleeping
She Said She Said
And Your Bird Can Sing
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
A Day In The Life
I Am The Walrus
Strawberry Fields Forever
All You Need Is Love
Dear Prudence
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Julia
Revolution
The Ballad Of John And Yoko
Come Together
I Want You(She's So Heavy)
Across The Universe

McCartney

I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Saw Her Standing There
Love Me Do
P.S. I Love You
All My Loving
If I Fell
Can't Buy Me Love
Things We Said Today
Eight Days A Week
I've Just Seen A Face
Yesterday
Drive My Car
I'm Looking Through You
Michelle
Eleanor Rigby
Here There And Everywhere
For No One
Hey Jude
Paperback Writer
Getting Better
She's Leaving Home
When I'm Sixty-Four
Lovely Rita
Lady Madonna
Back In The U.S.S.R.
Ob-la-di-Ob-la-da
Martha My Dear
Blackbird
Helter Skelter
Honey Pie
Hello, Goodbye
Penny Lane
You Never Give Me Your Money
Two Of Us
Let It Be
The Long And Winding Road

 

[financeguy]

I go for Paul McCartney.

 

[Zoots]

A Day In The Life
I Am The Walrus
Strawberry Fields Forever

That's my top 3 right there! So I guess I'm more of a Lennon fan.

It's funny but if you look at Paul's list, nearly every song has something to do with love!

 

[MrBrau1]

I think it's a toss up.

But Paul get bashed WAY to much.

Look at those tunes!

 

[namkcuR]

Do you know who wrote 'She's Leaving Home'? This may affect my response.

McCartney - added it to the list.

 

[financeguy]

Blackbird and She's Leaving Home tilt it towards McCartney for me. It it was not for those two, I would rate them equal. Sentimental choices I know.

 

[typhoon]

Some small corrections to Ruckman's list, since apparently all I do around here is wait for Beatles threads so I can correct shit:

• "Eight Days A Week" is mostly McCartney, even though Lennon sings the lead
• Lennon thought "It's Only Love" was one of the worst songs he'd ever written (not a correction, but I thought it was funny you had it up there; I like it, though)
• "Two of Us" was also Mac's baby (there's some question of whether it's about Paul and John or Paul and Linda)
• "I Want To Hold Your Hand" could probably go either way

But Paul get bashed WAY to much.

Yeah, sucks to live long in this industry.

 

[namkcuR]

McCartney has been around forever, is way past his prime - he got a chance to write past-prime music that wasn't even in the same platau as his Beatles-era compositions and people started thinking of him as 'old'. Lennon, on the other hand, went from the Beatles to making several great solo records to being dead without a chance to make music past his prime. As such, people see him simply as this larger-than-life legend who is eternally remembered as a younger and hipper than Mac.

 

[MrBrau1]

McCartney has been around forever, is way past his prime - he got a chance to write past-prime music that wasn't even in the same platau as his Beatles-era compositions and people started thinking of him as 'old'. Lennon, on the other hand, went from the Beatles to making several great solo records to being dead without a chance to make music past his prime. As such, people see him simply as this larger-than-life legend who is eternally remembered as a younger and hipper than Mac.

That's only true if you think John was great solo.

I think he sucked.

George was actually the best post-Beatle Beatle.

 

[IWasBored]

mccartney vs. lennon solo-wise is a whole different animal. i was under the impression that this thread was not about post-beatle beatles careers, but about the beatles.

all those songs are great, on both lists. i can't say i like one better than the other. about equal numbers from the mccartney list and the lennon list were songs that i declared my #1 all-time favorite song at one point in my life. coming from a kid who idolized paul mccartney...

 

[babyman]

I go for a draw

 

[Lila64]

Great songs on both lists, but I have to vote LENNON. More of my favorites are on his list:

A Hard Day's Night
Help
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Ticket To Ride
In My Life
Rain
She Said She Said
A Day In The Life
Strawberry Fields Forever
All You Need Is Love
Dear Prudence
Revolution
The Ballad Of John And Yoko

I just picked a few highlights from the list
And I saw McCartney 3 years ago, going again in Nov. Mainly for the nostalgia portion of it, and to take my daughter Maddy, again.

 

[U2girl]

Hard to pick, in general I enjoy McCartney's songs more on their albums and IMO he was absolutely great with melody. My top 10 would probably look more equal than that, though.

I think the whole "competition" and the eternal debate who of the two is better is unnecessary. They complimented each other and both should be mentioned in the same breath when talking about the band.

 

[Lila64]

I think the whole "competition" and the eternal debate who of the two is better is unnecessary. They complimented each other and both should be mentioned in the same breath when talking about the band.

 

[U2Man]

I go for Lennon & McCartney. . The greatest song writing couple in the history of popular music. No need to rank these two among eachother.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Some small corrections to Ruckman's list, since apparently all I do around here is wait for Beatles threads so I can correct shit:

Someone's gotta do it.

I think it was in Hard's Days Night and there was all the footage of the screaming fans at the concert, and they focused on one blonde girl just sitting there crying and calling out John's name. Gee, I wanted to be her

 

[POP-ROMANCER]

I go for Lennon. I think he was more expermintal with his songs, A day in the life, strawberry fields, magical mystery tour, revolution etc.

 

[timothius]

McCartney.

 

[MacPhistoPT]

I go with McCartney too but it's hard to choose between them...

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Gah, too damn hard! I'll go with my favorite though (Lennon).

 

[Flying FuManchu]

Death has been too kind to Lennon.

 

[lazarus]

This is a joke, right? McCartney wrote some great songs & a shitload of cheesy ones while John created some stuff that, I don't know, REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC. The fact that he gave us I Am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields, Tomorrow Never Knows, A Day in the Life, I Want You (She's So Heavy)...these are things that put him far above Paul, who's a great pop writer but not any better than Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Let's also not forget that John could do that pop or mellow stuff just as well as Paul; look at Imagine or Julia.

I can't believe we're having this discussion.

Also, John DOES have some great solo material. Plastic Ono Band is a staggering achievement, the most personal stuff John ever wrote and recorded. Imagine is great as well. Later albums like Walls & Bridges and Mind Games are mixed but you could say that about a lot of Dylan albums that are well worth buying.

There's a reason Paul gets a lot of flak--because he has written so many crappy songs. His ratio of good to bad material is staggering. I cringe nearly every time The Wings come on the radio. It's funny because Yoko is seen as someone who ruined John, but no one ever points the finger at Linda McCartney, who made a sappy Paul even sappier.

 

[OnFire]

I have them subcategorized as follows in order of songwriting style preference:

Witty, whimsical Lennon- My favorite, examples include She said, Norwegian Wood, I'm only Sleeping, Strawberry fields and tons of others.

In love Paul- Here, There and Everywhere. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head because it's the first Beatles song I learned to play on the guitar. Maybe the best pure ballad ever written.

Broken-harted Paul- Yesterday, for No One, etc.

Sneering Sarcastic Lennon- Piggy's, Dr. Robert, Walrus, etc. would be my least favorite if it weren't for the existence of...

Sappy, cheesy McCartney- Got to get you into my life! baddada, dada dah dah daaahh! Gawd, that sounds like something Chicago might do. I suppose Martin should be held equally responsible for this.

 

[corianderstem]

Sappy, cheesy McCartney- Got to get you into my life! baddada, dada dah dah daaahh! Gawd, that sounds like something Chicago might do.

You say that like it's a bad thing ... old school Chicago rocks!

I'm one of the people who thinks John Lennon is on the overrated side of the fence. Yeah, McCartney brought the cheesy, but Lennon's solo stuff? Not as great as some people think.

Neither alone were/are as great as they were together.

Edit: Okay, I realize this thread was supposed to be about the Beatles songs they wrote, so take my post as an off-topic comment.

 

[tiny dancer]

A hard choice for me, but I'll go with Lennon.

 

[Canadiens1131]

For melody and voice Paul is the superior of the two, in my humble opinion.

But as far as lyrics, no-fucking-body can or will ever write anything like Working Class Hero.

 

[Zoots]

I replied earlier saying I prefer Lennon. But really... even though my favorite songs are all mostly Lennon's, I cannot resist McCartney's melody and singing style esp. in songs like We Can Work It Out, You Never Give Me Your Money and Oh Darling. They compliment each other, really. Can't picture one without the other.

 

[namkcuR]

I replied earlier saying I prefer Lennon. But really... even though my favorite songs are all mostly Lennon's, I cannot resist McCartney's melody and singing style esp. in songs like We Can Work It Out, You Never Give Me Your Money and Oh Darling. They compliment each other, really. Can't picture one without the other.

"We Can Work It Out" is brilliant. The chorus in particular is one of the most brilliant choruses I've ever heard, musically and lyrically and delivery-wise:

Life is very short
and there's no ti-i-i-i-ime
for fussing and fighting my friend
I have always thought
that it's a cri-i-i-i-ime
so I will ask you once again

Obviously McCartney sings the verses, but I can't figure out who's singing the chorus, because the chorus has such a different sound and feel from the rest of the song, it's much darker and much more trippy.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

This is a joke, right? McCartney wrote some great songs & a shitload of cheesy ones while John created some stuff that, I don't know, REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC. The fact that he gave us I Am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields, Tomorrow Never Knows, A Day in the Life, I Want You (She's So Heavy)...these are things that put him far above Paul, who's a great pop writer but not any better than Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Let's also not forget that John could do that pop or mellow stuff just as well as Paul; look at Imagine or Julia.

I can't believe we're having this discussion.

.

What a pile of shit.

Paul was responsible for a lot of the trippier stuff on Tomorrow Never Knows and Strawberrry Fields...I fail to see how he was any less experimental than John, and for my money he was a little better with a melody and a MUCH better singer. Also, don't forget he came up with Eleanor Rigby and Helter Skelter which were very experimental for their time..it was he who came up with the great Sgt. Pepper concept and propped the band up during Let It Be (John was pretty weak on this album) and Abbey Road periods(he basically masterminded the immense medley with George Martin). Its just over-simplifying things to say John=experimental, a real artist, McCartney= a mere fluff artist..but then I'd expect such pretentious musings on this site.



As for their solo careers..neither did much for me there.

 

[MrBrau1]

Add "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" to the Paul list.